August 30-September 1, 2023
The time has finally come. I’ve been excited for our stay on Mackinac Island, even making reservations over 6 months ago.
This little island is a paradise with natural landmarks, amazing sunrises, wonderful food, and beautiful scenery. With 4.35 square miles, you can wander the entire island. The name, Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) was originally called Michilimackinac, which means “Great Turtle” to the Ojibwemowin. The island was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes with the former trading post, Fort Mackinac, still standing today.
What makes the island unique is that, since 1898, no motor vehicles (except ambulance, police, and fire) are allowed on the island. The only means of transportation are feet, horse and carriage, and bikes. Additionally, horses and bikes are available for rent.
As we arrived in the marina, we were surprised at the clarity and color of the water. The aqua-blue is surreal and photos don’t do it justice.
The air is filled with the sweet smell of fudge and not so sweet scent of horses.
We disembarked the boat and took down the bikes. It was time to go exploring.
Devil’s Kitchen
Devil’s Kitchen is a small cave along the perimeter of the island carved by waves of Lake Huron. The Native Americans thought the cave was inhabited by bad spirits who would eat people who ventured too close to the cave. The cave is blackened with soot, allegedly from the evil spirits’ cooking fires.
It was a quick bike ride from the marina along the shoreline. Michael enjoyed climbing inside and peeking into the holes.
The Horses
Everywhere you turned, there were horses pulling carriages. Some were tours, some were taxis, and some were delivery carts, and others were garbage carts. You can rent a horse to explore the nature paths or even drive your own carriage.
For dinner one night, we had to take a taxi to and from the restaurant.
The Grand Hotel
A notable site on the island is the Grand Hotel. When Mackinac Island became the second National Park in the United States in 1857, there was an increase in visitors to the island, resulting in the need for a hotel.
The hotel rooms are all different from each other in at least one aspect. Seven suites are named for and designed by former First Ladies of the United States including the Jacqueline Kennedy Suite, Lady Bird Johnson Suite, etc.
The front porch is the longest in the world at 660 feet in length overlooking a tea garden and swimming pool. Next to the pool is the lawn with lawn games. Inside the lobby and parlor are beautiful. The hotel is well known with it appearing in the film, Somewhere In Time (see below the trees from a scene in the movie). Additionally, the hotel hosted the first public demonstration of Edison’s phonograph.
Shhh, the Secret Garden
Next to the Grand Hotel is the Secret Garden, which is a little challenging to find. A small path winding behind trees leads you to an opening with lovely flowers. The garden sits in the middle of everything, but you must stumble upon it to find it (or ask staff for directions).
Forging Memories
The Hodak Family participated in a unique experience where we were able to forge a knife. Chad Osborne, Forged in Fire finalist, has a forge on the island and you’re able to make and take something home. The staff helped heat a portion of a horseshoe while Boris and the kids used hammers to bang them into blades. The staff then finished the process with grinding the edges.
The Food and Fudge
Mackinac Island is known for their fudge.
As the island evolved from fur trading to a Victorian-era resort destination, vacationers began to identify the island with sweets. Sweets consisted of candy made from maple sugar and the idea of people enjoying sweets while on vacation became a “part of the Mackinac Island tourist experience.”
In 1887, the Murdick family came to the island for Sara Murdick to work on canvas awnings at the Grand Hotel. Henry and Newton (Rome) Murdick decided to open a candy shop and were the first to make fudge on marble slabs, giving the fudge a unique flavor and providing a show for customers to watch. Thus the selling of fudge began.
During tourist season, five tons of fudge is made everyday on the island. There are 13 fudge shops on the island and a favorite past time is to sample the different fudge.
In addition to fudge, there are many fine restaurants on the island ranging from fine dining to casual. The Grand Hotel has a lovely restaurant, but has a dress code requiring dressing up and men to be in ties and jackets. We opted to dine at the Woods, which didn’t have as strict of a dress code. We took a horse drawn taxi and enjoyed a wonderful meal.
The restaurant also has an original duckpin bowling lane.
The main street had a few fun establishments with live music, fun drinks, and good food.
Exploration
My favorite part of the island is the opportunity to explore and get lost. It’s about 8 miles around the perimeter with many trails intersecting the island….you can’t really get lost. We found a natural spring, arch rock, old buildings, and many other pleasant surprises.
Arch Rock is a favorite for visitors. We had to climb 207 steps to get there, but we arrived in time to enjoy the sunrise.
The Detroit Institute of Arts has an Inside/Out program where they display artwork around the island for the public to enjoy.
Here are some additional images of the sights we’ve seen here on the island.
What’s on that island?
On our way to Mackinac, we passed by an interesting house. It looked like it popped out of a scene from Alice in Wonderland. The house is on Dollar Island and was built in 1913.
Just A Bit Loopy 