Garden Island's maximum length, from northwest to southeast, is approximately five miles (8 km). Currently, the island is not inhabited on a year-round basis; historically, this island was the home of many Anishinaabe. Some of these native Islanders lived on the island year-round, and others lived there during the warmer months. An increasing number of Anishinaabe from the mainland and Beaver Island owned farms on the "Garden Island" after the treaties of 1836 and 1847, planting corn and squash. Other Anishinaabe worked as fishermen. This Native settlement shrank during the early 1900s as most of its members moved away. Much of the land reverted to the state of Michigan as a result of the nonpayment of property taxes. The state never properly explained property tax law to the islanders. Other patches of land were abandoned. The last Garden Island resident, Peter Monatou, died in the 1940s.