What a wonderful day at Mackinac Island! (Pronounced Mackinaw) The French spelling ends with "ac" and the British spelling "aw" but they are both pronounced "aw"! Confusing. We took a hydro-jet ferry across from St. Ignace (the accent is on the FIRST syllable!).
It takes 18 minutes to go about 5 miles.
The island is amazing. They passed an ordinance in 1898 when the first horseless carriage appeared on the island that banned private motorized vehicles. They do have an ambulance, one police car and 5 fire trucks!
People travel by foot, bicycle, or horse.
Deliveries are made by wagon
Even garbage pick up is by wagon
Employee Parking
Police parking - there is one unmarked police car on the island but we didn't see it.
The only policeman we saw
There is no mail delivery - the locals have a saying "Rain, sleet, or hail, here you pick up your own mail."
We took a beautiful carriage tour of the island.
We passed by - but did not stop - at the Grand Hotel. This was built in 1887 and took only 93 days to complete. It has 400 rooms - each decorated differently. 7 of the rooms were designed by former first ladies. It has the longest covered porch in the world - 660 feet long. Currently rooms are rented for over $1,000 a night in peak season.
We did go to the Grand Hotel Carriage House where they have a museum of carriages. We learned so many facts about carriages. Did you know that a passenger is "trapped" in the back seat of a "Trap". The front seat must be lifted forward to allow exit or entry to the back seat.
Here is a "surrey with a fringe on the top"
From there we were driven through the State Park. In 1875, Mackinac was designated the 2nd National Park, just 3 years after Yellowstone was declared the 1st one. In 1895 the Federal government turned all the land over to the state and it became Michigan's first state park. More than 80% of the island is State Park with miles of trails.
Arch Rock - a popular place to stop and take pictures. The water was clear from way up here!
Last stop was the Fort. It never saw much action but was the site of two battles during The War of 1812.
The fort overlooks the bay
Here are three soldiers representing uniforms of the 1880's.
Back in town, we walked the streets and toured a few more historic buildings.
A beautiful church - the stained glass windows were almost all "in memory of..."
Replica of a bark mission church
A bark roof
I decided that you must be a master gardener to live on Mackinac Island, I have never seen so many healthy, gorgeous plants and gardens!
Borders...
Hanging Baskets...
Begonias...
Hydrangeas...
And, well, just and!
Then there are the homes
In town there were many beautiful, well kept homes.
Lilac House - just for Joni :)
On the beach are the mansions $$$$
On the hill side next to the Grand Hotel are the fairy tale castles.
But the main street in town is completely dedicated to separating tourists from their money (with over 10,000 visitors each day during peak season):
I'll leave you with your mouth watering for the famous Mackinac fudge - one of sixteen fudge shops in town!
Docked at St. Ignace Marina 7/31/17
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