Estral Beach is a small village in Berlin Charter Township, Monroe County, in the southeastern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
Primarily made up of single-family homes, the village includes several seasonal homes. Although a small area of the village is zoned for industrial uses, it is currently used for growing soybeans or as open space. There are no shopping or service businesses within the village. The only licensed business in the village limits is the Sovey Street Bar, which serves food, beer, and liquor.
Estral Beach is fronted by Lake Erie, the Brancheau Tract, and the Strong Unit, while the mouth of Swan Creek is immediately to the southwest. The village is nearly surrounded by water, except for a slim stretch of land in the northeast and another in the northwest part of the village. The only land access to the village is by Port Sunlight Road, which forms a small portion of the village's western boundary in the north before becoming Lakeview Boulevard, the main road on the north part of the village.
Lake Erie provides opportunities for boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, fishing, waterskiing, and other watersports, while the calmer waters of the Brancheau Tract and the Strong Unit offer canoeing, paddleboarding, kayaking, fishing, and nature viewing, as does Swan Creek.
The Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is across the bay, to the south of the village. Nearby cities and villages include Rockwood (8.1 miles), Gibraltar (8.3 miles), Brownstown (9.9 miles), Flat Rock (10.6 miles), Trenton (12.0 miles), Grosse Ile (12.9 miles), Monroe (13.4 miles), and Carleton (13.5 miles).
Estral Beach was developed through the efforts of Stanley Stevens in the early 1920s. Beginning as a string of cottages along Lake Erie, the Estral Beach Hotel was built in 1921, and it was incorporated as the Village of Estral Beach in 1926. The Estral Beach Volunteer Fire Department was created in 1954, and continues to serve the village today, housed in the Village Hall. After a flood in 1952, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a clay dike system. After another flood in 1973, new clay dikes were built, and the original dike system was repaired.
Estral Beach will likely continue to be primarily a single-family residential community, as the village has no plans to encourage commercial or industrial development within the village limits.
The focal point of this guide is on the small village of Estral Beach, Michigan. Online resources representing the village or any individuals, businesses, organizations, attractions, or events within the village are appropriate for this category.
Recommended Resources
Estral Beach is a village of about four hundred people on the shores of Lake Erie in the southeastern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The official village website gives a history of the village, names the official village officials, and offers a village council guide, the rules of procedure for commissioners, meeting agendas and minutes, the village charter, ordinances, resolutions, and its master plan, as well as hall rental information, newsletters, and contacts.
http://www.estralbeachvillage.org/
