 | | Life without cars results in a parade of people along Huron Street coming and going toward Mission Point. Marquette Park here is one of the few public sitting spaces downtown. (Bring a groundcloth!) Above are the West Blockhouse and the Officers’ Stone Quarters, where the Tea Room’s terrace offer an unsurpassed view of village and harbor, along with Grand Hotel lunches, suppers, and signature caramel ice cream pecan ball. The path and stairs up to the fort are a workout. The carriage tour drops visitors off at the hillside rear entrance for an easy walk back. | Built in 1780, this British and American military outpost is the real thing—14 historic buildings professionally restored, the rest carefully recreated. You're in Michigan's oldest building (1780) with walls over four feet thick - the Officers' Stone Quarters - when you visit the Kids' Quarters hands-on museum or have lunch, dinner, or the signature Grand Pecan Ball ($6) at the Tea Room.
The fort is a big place - 11 authentically furnished buildings, plus four blockhouses or gun platforms spaced far apart around the perimeter stone walls and palisades. You probably don't want to see it all, unless you're very keen on military life. There's a lot going on, with events held on the half-hour, often repeated. To make the most out of your visit, know about the highlights ahead of time. (You can print out a very clear map by visiting www.mackinacparks.com , clicking on "Fort Mackinac," and then clicking on "map' in the white area.)
 | ...continued below...
Frequent demonstrations on military music and riflery are surprisingly interesting. The fort is interpreted is it was in 1880, when its functions were largely ceremonial. The spikes on soldiers’ helmets were inspired by the much-admired Prussian army. Across the parade grounds to the right are the Officers’ Stone Quarters (1780), possibly Michigan’s oldest building. It houses Kids’ Quarters hands-on exhibits and the Tea Room with its fantastic terrace view. | Also, be prepared for a hike. The fort is 150 feet above Main Street. First you go up the Fort Street hill, then along a ramp and up 27 steps in through the South Sally Port. Another consideration: most buildings are not air-conditioned, and they do heat up on warm afternoons. Wheelchair and carriage access is at the rear, by the Avenue of Flags. At the end of the carriage tour you can be dropped off there.
The fort has been restored to the 1880s, its last years of operation, when was basically a federal tourist attraction with soldiers as park rangers. (The spiked U.S. Army helmets show the Prussian influence. Prussian power and glamor were at a high point, widely admired, after Prussian's resounding 1871 victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The war was a ploy by Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck to unite the many large and small German states.)
First, the events. In high season, from June 11 through August 21, the fort is open from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (New evening hours allow for dinner at the delightful tea room on a terrace overlooking Mackinac village.) Events take place either on the central parade ground or, in the case of cannon firing, at the gun platform on the corner wall behind the front sally port entrance. All summer events are of general interest, with a special focus on children.
A guided fort tour follows rifle firing and military music on the parade grounds at 10, 1, and 4:30. A soldiers' life tour is held after cannon firing at the corner gun platform at 11 and 3. Cannon firing followed by a general tour is at 1, 4:30, and 5:30. Concerts of military music and dance are held at noon and 2. At 3:30 a court martial is reenacted; the defendant, ordered to take the water wagon downtown and fill it, was found in a saloon, horses hitched outside. A 6:30 cannon firing ends the day. Every half hour between 10:30 and 4 when nothing else is scheduled, there's at least rifle firing and military music.
In spring and fall, from May 6 through June 10 and from August 22 through October 9, events are pared back to cannon firing and walking tours on the half hour from the corner gun platform, alternating with rifle firing.
Don't miss:
• the 12-minute AUDIO-VISUAL INTRODUCTION to the fort at the 1878 Post Commissary by the front sally port entrance
• The centerpiece, 3,500-square-foot exhibit "MACKINAC: AN ISLAND FAMOUS IN THESE REGIONS." It is on the upper floor of the Soldiers' Barracks, either entered via the stairway below or by going around to the upper-level entrance by the Avenue of Flags. It dramatically covers island history from Ojibwa myth and trade through 20th century tourism - faith, fur, fort, fish, fun, and fudge - with original Mackinac Island art, fur trade "touchables," and a nifty touch screen video with home movie footage of island vacations, plus clips of Moral Rearmament and its Mackinac College, both aimed at "meeting a pervasive world crisis," MGM's swimming movie star Esther Williams in This Time for Keeps (1947), filmed at Grand Hotel, and behind-the-scene photos of Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve filming Somewhere in Time, also at Grand Hotel. Sit on a reproduction porch of a grand This museum area displays several interesting antiques. Here is a schoolteacher's painting on velvet of the island village and fort from about 1830. (A reproduction can be purchased in park shops.) Don't miss the a painting apparently commissioned by the British commander who took the fort in 1814 to depict his victorious capture of two American ships; the sword given by the American commander to his British counterpart in surrendering the fort in 1812; and a beautiful miniature birchbark canoe embellished with porcupine quills, sold in a Victorian-era souvenir shop.
• The MUSEUM STORE downstairs in the 1859 Soldiers' Barracks has, like all MSHP gift shops, unusual items relating to each attraction's theme and history.
• If you come with children, the hands-on KIDS' QUARTERS in the Officers' Stone Quarters are a must-do. Kids can play a giant fife, pretend to fire a cannon, see Victorian shadow boxes of fort life with audio recordings, try Morse code, play two versions of checkers (soldiers' favorite way to kill time), and take photos of the family as soldiers in a painted military mural. A special kids' gift shop offers unusual things related to the fort, sometimes quite inexpensive.
• The WEST BLOCKHOUSE has a terrific view.
• The TEA ROOM and RESTAURANT offers excellent food from Grand Hotel kitchens, on a terrace looking out over town, harbor, and straits. A little bit of heaven! Now open until 7:30 in summer. Sample fare: foot-long beef hot dog with onions and cheese ($7), sloppy joes with jicama-apple salad ($8); turkey and roast garlic wrap ($8.50), Caesar salad with grilled chicken ($10.50), the signature Grand Pecan Ball ($6, enough for two), half sandwich and soup ($9.50), and for dinner, appetizers, blackened whitefish ($21), chilled soup sampler ($7), braised lamb shank ($28), grilled steak burger ($13), all with vegetable and potato.
Other fort buildings appeal to various interests -the schoolhouse (more authentic to period than mostold-fashioned schoolhouses), the commissary (insight into provisioning over the long winter), and tubs in the post bathhouse. (Modern restrooms also have info on early indoor plumbing of the era.)
Adult: $9.50
Child: $6 (Age 6-17)
Open daily (dates vary slightly from year to year): May 5—June 9: 9 AM to 4 PM. June 10-August 20: 9:30 AM to 8 PM. August 21-October 8: 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM.
Return to City of Mackinac Island
|
