My Visit to Mackinac Island, Michigan

The day after we arrived in Mackinaw City (July 24th), I got a ticket on Shepler's Ferry and went to discover Mackinac Island. Now, if you don't know what Mackinac Island is, do you remember the movie, Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour? Well, this is the island that movie was filmed at the Grand Hotel. Mackinaw and Mackinac are really the same name. The Native American, French and English each had a different pronunciation for the same word. Mackinac Island is called "Land of the Great Turtle" because it shape resembles a turtle. Native Indians called the land Michinnimakinong and the French sounds changed the word and the British even another variation. Eventually, Michilimackinac was shortened to just Mackinac. Mackinaw City is the only entity spelled with the French "ac" but pronounced "aw".

I got my ticket from Tee Pee Campground. It was the best deal for the ferry - even cheaper than online with the discount and they called the shuttle for me. Within 3 minutes, the shuttle was at the office and I got on board for Shepler's Ferry in downtown Mackinaw City. I waited in line for a few minutes for the Mighty Mac departure for my 30 minutes ride to the island. The nice thing about the time I left is that in the mornings between 9:15 and 10:30 a.m., the Mighty Mac steers over to the Mackinac Bridge and you get to go under the bridge before heading over to the island. The cool thing about Mackinac Island is that there are NO cars or trucks on the island. There are 3 modes of transportation - walking, biking or taking the carriage...horse drawn carriage! They even have horse drawn carriage taxis!

Our boat guide told us that the Mighty Mac was begun in the Spring of 1954 and opened Nov. 1, 1957. The bridge is a 5 miles long suspension bridge that links Michigan's two peninsulas and Lake Michigan and Lake Huron at the Straits of Mackinac. The two main towers are 3,800 feet tall and tower piers below the water are 210 feet. There are 42,000 MILES of wires in the main cables - the longest in the world - that means the wires in the cables nearly goes around the early twice! It's quite the bridge - even more than the Golden Gate!

Fort Mackinac

Mackinac Island was Michigan's first state park in 1895 with lots of history. Once I got to the island, the first thing I did was secure my ticket for the Mackinac Island Carriage Tour and butterfly sanctuary ticket which didn't depart until 11:20 a.m. The tours start every 10 minutes and is a very popular thing to do. The total cost was $36 and the tour was super great. I waffled on whether or not to do the Butterfly Sanctuary, but I'm sure glad I did. First, you board a two-horse drawn rolling rig with a tassled top that takes you downtown and shows you the sights in the busy parts of the island and then makes their way up the steep hill of Cadotte Avenue, past the Grand Hotel and Grand Hotel Jewell Golf Course, to the top of the hill where you depart at the Carriage Barns and Butterfly Sanctuary.

Getting ready to leave

View of Fort Mackinac at the top of the hill.

Historic Building

Every home in the downtown corridor is used as a B&B

Mackinac Island Post Office

Passing other horses on the road.

The Grand Hotel

These trees were also making their way up the huge Cadotte Hill.
Horses have to stop many times before they can get to the top.

A gorgeous view of the Grand Hotel

The best paid people on the island are the carriage drivers from the Grand Hotel.
They drive down to the docks to pick up overnight guests.
Most people are getting married on Mackinac Island so they get the VIP treatment.

Many people are employed at horse pooper scoopers to keep the streets clean.

The horses only do two tours per day and they are brushed, fed and rested until the next day.
The horses are treated very well and then traded out for another set of horses.

Nearly at the Barns.

Once we got to the Barns at the top of the island, we disembarked to enjoy the surroundings for as long as we wanted. The Wings of Mackinac Butterfly House was here and I LOVED being here! I think I spent an hour enjoying the butterflies. They landed all over me and two of them stayed on the front of the shirt for over 30 minutes!

The butterflies has bright blue wings when the wings open.

These butterflies stuck to me for over 30 minutes.

Butterflies in my hair.

A butterfly even stayed on my back.

The brown butterflies had blue inner wings.

Here's a video on The Butterfly House.

Also on the premises was the Grand Hotel Stables and the Iron Works building. The horses are treated like royalty for the Grand Hotel.

Two young blacksmith apprentices.

The blacksmith really taught these kids well. I was impressed.

Once you finish at the barns and stables, you get in line to take a 3-horse carriage ride along the top of the ridge, down past the old Cemeteries (Queen Anne's and Post Cemetery), through Mackinac Island State Park and over to Arch Rock.

From Arch Rock, we boarded our carriage again and went down to Fort Mackinac. Those who wanted to pay to see the fort would disembark and tour the fort. The rest took the carriage back downtown. I chose to see the Fort and so, I got off and learned more about this. Fort Mackinac was a working for from 1780-1895. I loved that Fort Mackinac overlooks the town and the lake.

I learned the Boy Scout and Girl Scouts from around Michigan go to Mackinac Island each taking a week to volunteer to be tour guides, watch over the heritage homes and help people on the island with questions. They are housed in buildings for the week they volunteer. What a super opportunity!! This is a photo of the barracks where the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts live. It's right across from the fort up on the hill.

Following Fort Mackinac, I walked back downtown and walked around the back side and took a few more photos before heading back to the boat for the return trip to Mackinaw City. Did you see all the boy scouts in the photos?

The Michigan Governors Summer Home

Park Entrance to the Fort

The fort from the park looking up

Marquette Park below the fort

Scouts walking to their post.

Many homes are run as B&Bs

My ticket into Fort Mackinac also gave me entrance to the museums and historic buildings. This is the McGulpin House, one of the first residences on the island built before 1780.

Another building, was the American Fur Company store. Be sure to read the amazing story of Alexis St. Martin who was shot in the store. The whole opened his stomach and never healed over. Quite interesting to read!!

After these building, I noticed it was about 4:00 p.m. so I thought I'd better get on the boat and head back to Mackinaw City. It was such a fun day and I would have loved to have a bike to discover all the island. I barely scratched the surface. What a fun place to live! On November 1st, when the tourist season officially closes on the island, trucks will come over to transport the horses back to the mainland for the winter months. Shops are closed up and the island is cleaned up one last time...and then, in spring, it will reopen for another wonderful summer season of tourists. There are some full-time residents who do live on Mackinac Island and during the winters when Lake Huron freezes over and deer and other animals can walk to the island. Also, some days, people from the island can snowmobile to St. Ignace but if the day warms too quickly often, the snowmobiles will drop through the ice. Lake Huron is known as the snowmobile cemetery.