Mackinaw City

Visited Mackinac Island today with Nancy and Eddie from Dream Fever, Louis and Louise from General Delivery, and Russ and Cindy from Ladybug. Went over this morning on the ferry, a quick ride. Mackinac Island is an interesting place. Our guide told us that horseless carriages were brought to the island when they were first available, but the noise and pollution frightened the horses, so they were banned in1898. Since then, there have been no cars on Mackinac Island. Primary mode of transportation is bicycle, foot, or by horse and carriage. In the winter, snowmobiles are used; our guide told us that the legal argument used to allow snowmobiles where cars are banned was that snowmobiles run on the snow, not directly on the roads.


Originally, Mackinac Island was known as Michilimackinac, or the “place of the great turtle” because the hump backed island in the waters that join Lake Huron and Lake Michigan looks like a turtle. The first Europeans came to the island in 1671 when Father Jacques Marquette established a mission to the Huron Indians. The Island was passed back and forth between the British and the Americans; it became American after the American Revolution, was captured by the British during the war of 1812-14, then returned to the US after the war. In the 1820’s, the fur trade flourished on the island, by the 1830’s, commercial fishing had replaced the fur trade. Since then, tourists have become the main industry. Several hotels were built to house the tourists in Victorian times, including the huge Grand Hotel, built in 1887. The hotel has a 660 foot front porch, and there is a charge of $10. just to enter the building. We had the buffet lunch there, so the $10 entry fee was taken off of our lunch bill. It was a great buffet. Had we chosen to eat dinner there instead, we would have needed to be dressed appropriately. Men need ties and jackets, and a sign says that women should not be wearing pants. The dress code at lunch is a little more relaxed.

We visited the fort, which is a restoration of the fort as it would have been in the 1880’s. They have 14 original buildings, including the guardhouse, with a black hole for prisoners needing extra discipline, the infirmary, the officers ’quarters, the bathhouse, a tea room, quartermasters office. Soldiers in uniforms from the 1800s describe the uniform and perform a rifle shooting demonstration, as well as shooting a cannon.

It was a beautiful day to visit the island and it’s 17 fudge shops, many souvenir shops and flower lined streets. However, the clouds gathered in the afternoon, and the ferry ride back to Mackinaw City was in the rain (luckily, we were inside the ferry). Predictions are for stormy weather and gale force winds for the next few days, so we will spend more time here.