Sans Souci is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Clay Township

Clay Township, Michigan

Clay Township is a civil township of St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 9,822. The township includes the inhabited Harsens Island.- Communities :...

 of St. Clair County

St. Clair County, Michigan

-Interstates:* I-69 enters the county from the west, coming from Lansing and Flint, terminating at the approach to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron....

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 at 42°34′45"N 82°33′51"W. Located on the eastern shore of Harsens Island

Harsens Island

Harsens Island is a wet marshy location at the mouth of the St. Clair River in the U.S. state of Michigan. Politically, the island is in Clay Township of St. Clair County.-History:...

 at the mouth of the St. Clair River

St. Clair River

The St. Clair River is a river in central North America which drains Lake Huron into Lake St Clair, forming part of the international boundary between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan...

, it lies at the edge of the St. Clair Flats Wildlife Area. M-154

M-154 (Michigan highway)

M-154 is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is entirely on Harsens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. It is one of only three trunklines in Michigan on islands. The other two are M-134 on Drummond Island and M-185 on Mackinac Island...

 is the primary road on Harsens Island. There is no direct road connection to the mainland; however, a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 transports vehicles across the North Channel of the St. Clair River, landing in Pearl Beach

Pearl Beach, Michigan

Pearl Beach is an unincorporated community in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a Census-designated place used for statistical purposes. The population was 3,224 at the 2000 census....

 near Algonac

Algonac, Michigan

Algonac is a city in St. Clair County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,613 at the 2000 census.Algonac is located at the southern end of the St. Clair River, just before it splits into a large delta region known as the St. Clair Flats. The St. Clair River drains Lake Huron into...

. "Sans Souci" is a foreign term of French etymology meaning, "without worry."

Sans Souci was established as a shipping and trading center on Harsens Island and was given a post office in April 1900. Meaning without care in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, it was named by its first postmaster, William LaCroix, who had large holdings there. The name of the post office was changed to Harsens Island in December 1960. "Harsens Island" is the name of the post office for the delivery area of ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 48028, which includes the settlement at Sans Souci. "Sans Souci" does not appear in the list of acceptable names for delivery.

While "Harsens Island" is the name of the post office, this is at variance with non-postal sources; in determining an official name for the place, the Board on Geographic Names

United States Board on Geographic Names

The United States Board on Geographic Names is a United States federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government.-Overview:...

 decided on a single official name in 1961, ruling in favor of "Sans Souci," by which name the community appears on maps. The ZCTA

ZIP Code Tabulation Area

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics from Census 2000. This new entity was developed to overcome the difficulties in precisely defining the land area covered by each ZIP code...

 for ZIP Code 48028 had a population of 1,285 at the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

.

In addition to Sans Souci, several other populated places are also located on Harsens Island and smaller islands to the south:

• Grande Pointe, on the northeast end of the island at 42°35′58"N 82°32′43"W, was a resort colony founded in 1888 by the Grande Pointe Improvement Company of Detroit. A post office operated from October 1889 until January 1892.
• Maple Leaf is located immediately southwest of Sans Souci at 42°34′41"N 82°34′11"W.
• Muirs is southwest of Maple Leaf on M-154 at 42°33′23"N 82°35′14"W.
• Clays Landing is further southwest on M-154 at 42°33′06"N 82°36′16"W.
• Bedore is on the Bates Highway (the continuation of M-154) at 42°33′28"N 82°36′47"W.
• Forster is on the Bates Highway past Bedore at 42°33′40"N 82°37′06"W.
• Riverside is on the Bates Highway past Forster at 42°33′32"N 82°37′49"W.
• Miller is on the Bates Highway past Riverside at 42°32′57"N 82°39′32"W.