Apple Island Sanctuary contains examples of every type of ecological system identified within the southeastern Michigan region.

No evidence however exists that pottery production ever occurred on the island, nor is there a local source of flint or other stone suitable for the manufacturing of tools.

A third dig conducted in August 2008 concluded that, "[i]t is currently impossible to determine how often or for how long the site was occupied by American Indians or exactly when this may have occurred.

Only carefully planned and executed archaeological excavation and professional analyses documenting undisturbed deposits can determine the facts regarding the potential importance of this site on Apple Island.

The results of the test suggested that it "appears to be only one of several rather level promontories extending without discernible interruption from the central plateau of the island toward northwestern shore.

While additional deep testing may reveal other information, at this time the most appropriate hypothesis is to regard all of these adjacent landforms as non-cultural portions of the higher soils, dissected by centuries [if not millennia] of natural headward erosion and downslope weathering.

[8] The poem chronicles an insane Native American maiden's devotion to her deceased husband, and her subsequent murder at the hands of her tribe.

Samuel W. Durant's 1877 publication, The History of Oakland County Michigan, first mentions that Apple Island and 107 acres (0.43 km2) on Orchard Lake's south shore were reservation lands.

While which Native American tribes inhabited the site prior to white settlement is unknown, each tribe left artifacts as to its way of life; the entire West Bloomfield lakes area has yielded many hammerstones, chert spearheads and bird stones left by Native Americans.

[4] Upon this island, a great abundance of rich history, most of which is surely simply unknown or mythical, is clearly visible through the various artifacts collected.

West Bloomfield records show that "non-resident" Joseph Allen, Julia Ann Galloway's husband, paid $1.23 in taxes on the island in 1847.

He was a founding member of Detroit's St. Andrew's Society in 1849, and co-owner of Jack & Coats, a wholesale and retail dry-goods store on Jefferson Avenue.

[24] Campbell was a successful Scottish dry goods merchant with a store on Jefferson and a founding member of the St. Andrew's Society.

[26] Colin Campbell's wife Caroline was instrumental in the formation of Orchard Lake Community Church, Presbyterian in 1871.

In 1863, Ward moved to a farm at Orchard Lake after his prosecution of "log thieves" caused his children to be harassed.

After Ward Strong died in 1970, the island was conveyed to its present owner, the West Bloomfield School District, for use as an educational nature center.