Mackinac Island

The indigenous people of the Great Lakes were the first summer visitors to Mackinac Island. Because it was a hump-shaped island rising out of Lakes Heron and Michigan, they called the island Michilimackinac which translates to “place of the great turtle”.  For at least seven hundred years before the Europeans, the native people would paddle out to the island to fish during the summer months. The first Europeans arrived on the island around 1670 when a Christian mission was established on Mackinac Island. Soon the French came to establish an outpost for the fur trade until the British took over the island in 1761 after their victory in the Seven Years’ War. The British recognized the strategic importance of the island getting to work strengthening the defenses on the island and further expanding the lucrative fur trade. Following the American victory in the Revolutionary War, the island and the fort now came under control of the new United States until it was lost again to the British in the War of 1812. By December 1814 the war was over, and peace negotiations restored the island and Fort Mackinac to the Americans for good. It was also about this same time that the name was shorted to Mackinac, including the silent “c”.

By the 1820s, the American Fur Company’s headquarters were established on Mackinac Island and the fur trade flourished with millions of dollars worth of furs passing through the island every summer. As the fur trade moved further west, commercial fishing soon become Mackinac Island’s primary industries by the 1830s. The Straits of Mackinac were abundant in fish and the Great Lakes provided the perfect route to markets like Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Fort Mackinac had outlived its military significance and its soldiers were sent south to fight in the conflict. Following the Civil War, it was tourists who flocked to Mackinac Island in great crowds longing for a peaceful summer retreat to escape the hot, congested cities and forget the horrific war. As the island grew in popularity, Congress created Mackinac National Park as the nation’s second national park (Yosemite being the first).

The increase in tourism to the island created a tremendous need for overnight accommodations and soon the demand had outgrown early hotels like the Mission House, Lake View, and Island House. In 1887, the immense and palatial Grand Hotel opened its doors to island visitors after a construction period of only nine months and soon became the most fashionable summer resort on the Great Lakes. Early cottages on the island were soon being replaced by magnificent mansions to keep pace with the new resort. Just two years following the opening of the Grand Hotel, another Mackinac Island institution arrived when Henry Murdick began selling creamy fudge on the island: today there are 17 fudge shops in town!

In 1895, the US Army officially decommissioned Fort Mackinac and the federal government handed over the fort and the national to park to the State of Michigan where it quickly became the first state park. Today, over 80% of Mackinac Island is part of the state park and protected from development. The first automobiles began to appear on Mackinac Island in 1898 and carriage operators complained the noisy contraptions frightened the horses and threatened the island’s carriage tour economy. In 1898 automobiles were banned in the Village of Mackinac Island and a few years later in the state park as well. Today, the only motorized vehicles on Mackinac Island are emergency service vehicles and the largest employer on the island is the carriage tour company which has a herd of 600 draft horses! The only modes of transportation on Mackinac Island are foot, bicycle, or horse drawn carriages.

Although there is a small airport on Mackinac Island, most visitors and residents arrive on the island via ferry service from either St. Ignace or Mackinaw City (yes, the city opted for the phonetic spelling). It is a short 20-minute ferry ride to the island with passengers bringing onboard their luggage and bicycles. I opted for a ferry that diverts under the famous Mackinac Bridge to give you a bird’s eye view of this impressive structure. After decades of planning, the “Mighty Mac” opened in 1957 as the largest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere at 5 miles long and 200 feet over the Straits of Mackinac. Interstate 75 runs over the bridge and connects Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas, however it doesn’t connect the island to the mainland.