Lake Angelus, MI

Lake Angelus is a tiny Oakland County city that completely wraps around the lake carrying its name. The water was once called Three Mile Lake, and a summer community grew there in the early 1900s as Detroit-area auto people began spending time by the shore. Residents organized the place as a village in 1930 after a 1929 state law gave Lake Angelus home-rule authority; in 1984 they changed the form of government to a city. The lake is the whole organizing fact here—roads, parcels, rules, and the city boundary all make sense once you see the shoreline. It is one of those Michigan places where the map is basically a lake with a city around it.