Black Beach
Silver Bay, MN 55614
About Black Beach
Black Beach is the shoreline park below Silver Bay, and its striking dark sand is a byproduct of mining: the colour comes from taconite tailings dumped offshore in the 1960s (BusinessNorth, accessed 2026-08-13). That practice ended and processing waste disposal moved onto land.
What makes it worth a page is the second act. Rather than treating the beach as an embarrassment, Silver Bay made it a city park and campground, and it is now one of the most photographed places in Lake County and a significant part of the town's shift toward tourism.
It is a genuinely unusual thing: an industrial byproduct that became a public recreational asset, on a shoreline where the plant that created it is still operating above. For visitors it reads as striking scenery; for residents it is the town beach.
Lake Superior here is cold enough year-round to incapacitate a swimmer quickly, and near-shore ice in winter is unreliable.
Good to know: dark sand beach, Lake Superior shoreline, campground, day use, photography.
Neighborhoods it serves
Where these facts come from
- BusinessNorth, Mining town embraces tourists (Black Beach tailings origin) accessed 2026-08-13
Last reviewed 2026-08-13 by Guide editorial.