City of Mackinac Island Lodgings

McNALLY COTTAGE
(906) 847-3829; mcnallycottage.com

This homey, friendly downtown guest house has been in the same family since it was built in 1889. It offers some of the island's most authentic, least expensive lodging. There's an unobstructed lake view from two upstairs rooms and the glassed-in front porch, where a continental breakfast is served, and where coffee and tea are available all day. 9 pleasant rooms on two floors have many bed configurations. One has 2 doubles and a trundle bed to sleep 5, with a private bath and lake view, for $110/night. A 2-room suite for 4 with sitting room is $175. Other rooms with private baths are $105 and $120. Each can be combined with another room for a sort of family arrangement with one shared bath. Be aware, as many as 7 guests might share the shower, with a sink and commode in a separate room. Not air-conditioned. No TV or internet. Guests use the office phone when necessary. No smoking except in yard. Best to call in April for summer. Before mid-June and after the third week of August, availability on short notice is usually good.


Right downtown on Main just east of Hoban Street, near the Shepler Dock. Open late May-Labor Day. Children welcome; no extra charge. Too many stairs for handicap access. No pets.

CLOGHAUN BED & BREAKFAST
(888) 442-5929; (906) 847-3885. cloghaun.com

This handsome, comfortable home from 1884 sits up behind its flowery front yard on Market St. at Hoban. Cloghaun (pronounced "clo-HAAN") is centrally located but quieter than Main St. Family antiques from the late 1800s create a real period mood throughout the house. The resident innkeepers put out an ample, homemade breakfast buffet and and afternoon tea with sweets in the breakfast room. There's a library, well stocked with classic books and videos, with a cable TV/VCR. The front porch is a fine place to gather, relax, and enjoy the passing parade.
All 11 guest rooms have two queen or double beds. Two rooms open onto the second-floor front balcony. They are $190 in summer and on weekends, $155 midweek in May and after September 15. Other rooms have private baths ($170 and $120) or two share a bath ($105 and $75). Rates are for 2 persons. $20/extra person. Reserve six months ahead for good summer availability. July is 80% booked in mid-April. No smoking.
Historical note: Building the house took 36 years of hard work by Irish immigrants Bridget and Thomas Donnelly. Bridget's uncle Charles O'Malley, builder of the Island House, Mackinac's first hotel, helped them and many other Irishmen to escape the Potato Famine by coming to America. Thomas worked digging the Soo Locks (the Irish often started out on the dirtiest, hardest work) and saved $500 with which he and Bridget purchased this land. He fished out of Cheboygan, where the large family lived.
Finally in 1880 they could afford to start building. That took another four years. Thomas lived only two years past its completion. Then Bridget and daughters took in tourists. Daughter Nellie dubbed the house "Cloghaun" or "stony ground."
Check out the website for "top 10 Mackinac experiences" and "top 10 Irish blessings." March, 2008.

Open from May through October. Children over two welcome. $20/extra person. Too many stairs for handicap access. No pets.

LILAC HOUSE
(906) 847-3708

Its downtown location on the corner of Market Street and Astor puts this family-run bed and breakfast in the middle of things but off to one side. Co-owner Mary Gillespie Thompson was born and raised on the island. This is a Victorian-era middle-class home, pleasantly decorated but nothing too elaborate. Its wrap-around porch lets guests watch the passing parade. Five upstairs guest rooms share two baths. Rates are $85 for 2 (for the larger rooms), $75 for the smaller. Bed configurations vary; some sleep 3. The large front room suite with private bath is $130 for two. A continental breakfast is available in the parlor. For summer it's best to reserve by in April or earlier.

On Market at Astor. Open from around May 1 through Oct. 1 usually. Too many stairs to be handicap accessible.

GRAND HOTEL
(800) 33-GRAND

Grand Hotel
(800) 33-GRAND; grandhotel.com

On a bluff looking west across the Straits to the Mackinac Bridge, Grand Hotel is its own world, nearly half a mile from Mackinac village, up a hill. Across a romantic lane from the flowery side entrance is its front golf course.
Two railroads and a steamship line joined up to build the hotel, finished in 1887. It's a living Victorian resort, as advertised. It has (perhaps) the world's longest porch, lined with 100 rocking chairs. Guests pay $450 and up for a room for two in high season (plus a 19.5% added charge covering tips and more, and 6% state sales tax). They are treated like royalty. The wait staff are the elite of Jamaica's hospitality profession, so irreplaceable that Grand Hotel opened up in March of 2005, northern Michigan's least attractive month, to be sure its staff would be among the 60,000 to get U.S. temporary work visas, part of post 9/11 tightening up. People from many countries make up the hotel staff.
As a Grand guest, you needn't pay another penny except for a simple lunch out — if you can avoid the hotel shops. The Grand is on the modified American plan; room rates include breakfast and dinner. Here these meals are served according to the principles of Victorian excess.
See grandhotel.com for sample menus and interesting Grand Hotel lore. Read all the history sections and scroll down home page to see "Reasons great and small" to visit. These include the gorgeous gardens, the Impressionist art, having after-dinner demitasse and pastries with piano standards playing, unscheduled tours of gardens (by the head gardener). kitchens (by the chef), and hotel history by the hotel's inimitable historian, Bob Tagatz.
All these little extras in the Grand experience can be relished just as much if you get the smallest room with no view. After all, Victorian summer hotels were about socializing — and sometimes finding eligible mates for young ladies from smaller places — not about cocooning in a luxury room. Many extras can be enjoyed by anyone who pays $15 to visit the hotel and grounds during the day. (See the Grand Hotel Points of Interest page.) Guests enjoy lots of little free perks, including croquet and bocce in the Tea Garden; the Esther Williams pool; coffee at 7 a.m. on that wonderful porch, duckpin bowling; demitasse after dinner; dancing to a swing orchestra after 9.
Rooms, all individually decorated, start at $225/person midweek, $245 weekends for cozy but cute rooms with no view. Internet specials and packages at less busy times can be significantly less. Rates for larger lake-view rooms are $305/person/night, $330 on weekends. On some selected dates, couples can stay for $549 a night with a third night free. A few large theme rooms ($345-375/person/night), pictured on the web site, were inspired by political figures. Six First Ladies were consulted on their rooms. The Theodore Roosevelt Room gives you a chance to sit in a horn chair (made of wild game horns) as mounted wild game heads look down at you.
Management takes great pride in the hotel's reputation as a great family resort. Kids 11 and under stay and eat free. (Ages 12 to 17 are $55/night extra, 18 and up $119 extra.) Sharing little civilities with your children and grandchildren — at tea time and the formal dinner, dancing to big band music together, playing at a golf course where "you can take your 10-year-old and not feel pressured"— may be worth every penny. For adults, there's dancing under the stars in the Cupola. For no extra charge, children 5 and over can take part in group programs at lunch and dinner, including games, picnics, tours of the fort and butterfly house, hayrides, art projects, and more. (Sign up upon arrival.) Wireless internet in all rooms and public areas.
The Grand Hotel can be a very busy world, with many of Michigan's most important conventions in shoulder seasons. Tour groups and daytime visitors are any time. Bear in mind, too, that though little luxuries abound, the Grand is mostly an old hotel (some theme rooms are in a new wing), and its walls can seem mighty thin if your neighbors are four laughing women who have had a few drinks. Smoking allowed in bar only. March, 2008.

Usually open from May through October. Rates: see above. Kids 11 and under stay free. 12-17 $55/night. Wheelchair access through lower level, elevator. Some accessible rooms. No pets.

BOGAN LANE INN
(906) 847-3439; boganlaneinn.com

On a quiet side street between the Island House and Ste. Anne's, this simple family home with a pleasant front porch is like a true European bed and breakfast, or like visiting a relaxed relative. Trish Martin, chief innkeeper, is assisted by her mother. Trish is also the island naturalist, a longtime year-round island resident and sometime teacher - an ideal source of info on island history, nature, and everyday life. Family furniture, mostly old enough to be called antique, gives the living room, with books and games, a nice been-here-forever feel. A fireplace takes the chill off cool days. (The inn is open year-round.) A light continental breakfast is served in the dining room. Safe bike storage in the side yard. A great location for walking, near the marina, fort, and East Bluff, close to the Island House and not far from downtown. Two sets of two rooms, all upstairs, each share a full bath. Varying configurations of twin and double beds. $85 for two people. The porch room with four twins is $125. Rates include all taxes. Many repeat guests. Book early for summer. Better off-season availability. No smoking. ceiling fans. March, 2008

Open year-round. Children welcome. $20/crib or rollaway. Not handicap accessible. Stairs.

SMALL POINT
(906) 847-3758; (765) 847-3758 in winter

Just past Mission Point, on the shore road near Robinson's Folly, this 1882 Gothic Revival cottage is the real thing, what the "cottage look" started out being: a mix of older furniture brought from home over the years. Recently redecorated. Big front porch offers views of sunrise, freighters. It was the summer home of a Michigan state senator, real estate investor, and partner in Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company who started out in Albany, built canals and lighthouses in Canada. Comfortable atmosphere, genial hosts. Guests can use fridge, watch TV with hosts, eat at tables on porch and deck (but not in rooms). Bikes for rent at a nominal fee. Cribs available. One downstairs bedroom may work for people with disabilities. Two upstairs rooms have private baths; three share a bath. Rooms $95-$105, taxes included. Reserve well ahead if possible. Breakfast includes breads, cereals, hard-cooked eggs, juice. Smoking permitted on porch, deck only. No credit cards. March, 2008

Lake Shore Dr., ¾ mile east of Mackinac Village. Handicap access: see above. No pets.

HOTEL IROQUOIS
(906) 847-3321

A wonderful, quiet waterfront location on Windermere Point, a block west of bustling Main Street and its shops, has been optimized by a luxurious 1990s expansion and remodeling of this hundred-year-old Victorian hotel. Big dining room windows look out at the water. Condé Nast Traveler's2005 readers' survey put it among the top 100 U.S. hotels; in 2006 it was in Travel and Leisure's Top 500 of the world's best hotels.
Margaret McIntire and daughters head up the top-notch staff. Rooms range from suites (1 or 2-room) with water views to smaller rooms facing the garden. Rates for two in season (May into September) range from around $180 to $595, depending on view, size, and amenities. See the web site for shoulder-season specials (May, June, Sept.) on certain dates.
    Most of the first floor is given over to the dining room. Common areas are a pleasant front porch and an enclosed side porch. Children are welcome, though they would find more to do at large resorts. No smoking anywhere.

Open from mid May into mid- October 22. Handicap access: 6 stairs to enter. Call. Two rooms are on the first floor.

BAY VIEW at MACKINAC
(906) 847-3295; mackinacbayview.com

One of Mackinac's most romantic lodgings, this bed and breakfast has a wonderful waterfront location east of the marina, on the slower-paced, leafy, more residential part of Main St. near Ste. Anne's. This Victorian-era house, the family home and then the tourist home of innkeeper Doug Yoder's grandmother, has been remodeled and expanded. Doug's vivacious Southern wife Lydia is also an innkeeper.
Bay View now has 20 beautifully decorated guest rooms, romantic but not over the top. Many are quite large. Most have water views. They have TV/DVD if desired, phones, queen beds or larger, and private baths. All are air-conditioned. The "executive suites" are ideal for romantic cocooning. Wireless internet throughout. Common areas include a long, glassed-in side veranda overlooking the marina, where afternoon tea and lemonade and evening dessert are served. The rear sun deck looks out at Round Island. Guests love to sit and relax in the wicker chairs on the big front porch, enjoying the bells of Ste. Anne's, the clip-clop of horses, and the passing parade of people and bikes. There's a free video library in the living room-lobby. For no extra charge a fabulous full hot breakfast is served in the dining room.
Rooms in summer for 2 with harbor views start at around $145 weekdays, $195 weekends. Some rooms sleep 3. Harborview balcony rooms are around $70 more. Ask about the bridal room with lots of amenities. In spring and fall, rates are lower, and the third night is half off. Check online specials. Only small weddings are allowed. For summer availability, it's best to call by January 1. No smoking. No pets.

Open May thru Oct. High season is from mid- June thru Sept. Adult atmosphere. One room wheelchair-accessible.

HARBOUR VIEW INN
(906) 847-0101

Next to Ste. Anne's Church on Main Street three blocks east of Marquette Park and the harbor. The elegant 1840s home of wealthy fur trader Magdelaine La Framboise is now the core of this three-building, 65-room inn. It has a variety of accommodations, from 21 "cozy" rooms in the original building to larger rooms and two-room suites in the two rear buildings, sited to form a courtyard-garden with gazebo and whirlpool. Room rates in summer, and on most weekends, are $179 for standard rooms facing the street, $199 for "garden" rooms, $239 for harborview rooms, and $299 for the two-room suites with sofa-sleeper in sitting room and a semi-private balcony or terrace. $30 less for June midweek, $50 less for September midweek. Ask about specialty suites with whirlpools. Add 12% resort tax to 6% Michigan sales tax. All rooms have cable TV and phones. Two-thirds are air-conditioned, so far. Near the Ice House (behind Island House), the Beanery, Brian's BBQ.
    Décor is "Mackinac Summer Cottage" (i.e., flowery and in the Carleton Varney style) in the new buildings, more loosely 19th century traditional in the main building. Common areas are big front porches with harbor views on two floors, the expanded parlor/library with fireplace where Mme. La Framboise entertained, and the large side lobby. A deluxe continental breakfast is served in the dining room. Weddings are small, receptions confined to the dining room and courtyard, and over by 10 p.m. with no amplified music.

Open May 4 through October. Children are best housed in suites; $20/extra person. Elevators make all public areas and some rooms ADA accessible.

HARBOR PLACE STUDIO SUITES
(800) 626-6304; (906) 847-3347; harborplacestudiosuites.com

Next to the Shepler Dock at busy Main St.'s west end. Each of 8 functional, modern one-room studios has a sitting area, dining area by a window, and complete kitchen. Each has a phone, cable TV, coded wireless internet, and a washer-dryer.
All units are reached by 1 or 2 flights of stairs. 4 studios ($300/day, $1,800/week in season) have harbor views and balconies. 4 face the street ($$250/day, $1,400/week). Call for special off-season rates. Owned and managed by Island House Hotel. March, 2008

Open all year. No handicap access: many stairs. Pets: call.

SUNSET CONDOS
(800) 473-6960; sunsetcondos.com

On the island's west side by Stonecliffe and Lake Huron, this condo complex is a 15-minute bike ride to town. Units have many floor plans and sizes, all with patios or decks, most with full kitchens. The web site has floor plans, photos, and rate charts.
Smallest is the walk-out "patio studio" with a queen bed, sofa sleeper, and usually a minifridge and microwave. In high summer season it's around $150/night, in early June and late August it's $100. Check for off-season and winter rates. All larger units have full kitchens, fireplaces, and decks. The larger 1-room condo "suite" ($190 AND $150) also sleeps 2 to 4. It has a full kitchen, fireplace and deck. A 1-bedroom condo sleeps 4 to 6 ($295/$235); a 2-bedroom, 3-bath condo sleeps 6 to 10 ($395/$325). All these have full kitchens, fireplaces, and decks. Loft condos are more.
All units have phones and cable TV. No internet. Not air-conditioned. Lake breezes make it seldom necessary, and it always cools off at night. Sunset views look across to the Mackinac Bridge. Many picnic tables and grills are on the grounds. There's an outdoor pool for guests. Bike rentals are at Stonecliffe (originally the Cudahy family mansion) next door. There the Grand Hotel's Woods restaurant has an intimate, magical aura created by its authentic hunting-lodge atmosphere and a genial staff, including a Detroit jazz pianist. Stonecliffe adjoins the Grand's 9-hole Jewel golf course. Hert's Trail goes down to Stonecliffe Shore Road. Memorable Sunset Rock is a short walk east. It's a 25-minute walk to town. Taking a horse-drawn taxi is about $6 a person. All no-smoking. March, 2008

Phone for off-season availability. Wheelchair-access: some ADA accessible, some others would work. Dogs allowed in some units.

MACKINAC ISLAND HOUSE RENTALS
(800) 473-6960; sunsetcondos.com

Seven large, mostly vintage summer homes, some on East and West Bluffs, can be rented for a minimum of two weeks, per island ordinance. A web site has ample photos and details about ambiance, sleeping arrangements, etc. but no rates. There is no internet. We were told rents are from $8,000 to $16,000 for 2 weeks, which sounds like a lot until you do the math. It works out to around $50/person/day, before 16% taxes. Managers also manage Sunset Condos. No smoking. Pets permitted at some.

ISLAND HOUSE
(800) 626-6304; (906) 847-3347; theislandhouse.com

Almost next to Marquette Park, rambling Island House sits up from Main St., 2 blocks east of downtown. The rockers on its long porches look out at the marina, Round Island lighthouse, and shipping lanes. The location is outstanding.
Island House was Mackinac's first hotel. Its central core goes back to 1852. 4-story wings were added later. The renovated hotel is now fully is air-conditioned. All rooms have cable TV and phones. Of its 96 rooms, 67 are "traditional" (i.e., narrow but not small, with one window, facing the side). These are $200 in summer and $180 in May and Sept. Pleasant 4th floor rooms are less; deluxe and premium rooms and suites are more. See web site for photos and details. Children ages 6 to 13 are $10 extra, adults $20. All rooms come in a variety of bed configurations, usually for up to 4 people.
There's a complimentary full breakfast buffet. Many seating areas are in the large, cheerful lobby, where high-speed, coded internet is available. (Also in the business center.) There's a small indoor pool. The 1852 Dining Room with water view serves breakfast and dinner. The popular courtyard Ice House Bar and Grill serves sandwiches, salads, and drinks. Bike rental on premises.
Like most Mackinac hotels, the Island House caters to tour groups and business meetings as well as individual travelers. Victor Callewaert and family purchased Harry Ryba's empire of fudge shops, hotel, and restaurant. Victor is often around; his son Todd is general manager. Because Island House is large, two weeks' notice is often enough for non-special summer weekends. No smoking except in 1852 Bar. March, 2008

Open from early May into late Oct. Wheelchair-accessible public rooms via lift by front entrance stairs. Two ADA accessible rooms. No pets.

MISSION POINT RESORT
(800) 833-7711; (906) 847-3312

Half a mile east of Marquette Park, at the end of the shady, residential part of Main Street, the four buildings of this resort are arranged on grounds overlooking the island's southeast side, a good place for boat-watching. Conferences are Mission Point's marketing focus in shoulder seasons; in summer families are the thing. Kids 18 and under stay free, 12 and under eat free (except for dinner at the Epicurean). Parents can leave children ages 4 to 10 in Kids' Club for a day's worth of planned activities (half a day for ages 4 to 6) with lunch - for no extra charge. There are field trips, nature hikes, arts and crafts, games - so parents are FREE to go off on their own. Children's staffers are enthusiastic, some of them future teachers. Each day activities for tweens are posted by the front desk. There might be tie-dying T shirts, or a putting tournament, or pool and pizza parties. Other activities are for the whole family.
    The outdoor pool and hot tubs enjoy a wonderful Lake Huron view. There's a new 18-hole executive putting course ($10 for adult guests, $5 for children), lawn bowling, croquet, horseshoes, and tennis. Bike and roller skate rentals are on site. There's a health club for adults. Arch Rock is a quarter mile away along the shore road.
    The resort started out as Mackinac College, founded by Moral Rearmament as a four-year college to train future leaders to think globally in pursuing its goals of reenergizing the spiritual and moral tone of society in general. (It was started by a U.S. Lutheran minister in Oxford, depressed about the "lost generation" and shallow, commercial values following World War I. MRA's "Up with People" chorus toured college campuses in the early 1960s, hoping to inspire. Surely they confused some, who wondered if they were linked with John Birch Society right-wing hyper-patriotism. (They weren't.) The college went bankrupt after graduating one class. The 500-seat theater, dorms, and classrooms remained. Mission Point has knit them together with a spectacular log kiva, the resort's main lobby. The bar and terrace-level Euro Garden Café take advantage of the splendid Lake Huron views across to Round and Bois Blanc islands.
    The theater shows movies at 9 p.m. Mondays and now hosts four nights a week of Mackinac Magic, a fast-paced blend of illusion, comedy, mystery, and pageantry. Tickets are $22.50 for adults, $17.50 for children 5 to 11. See web site for details. Mackinac College had its own sound stage and movie production studio, which was a thrilling discovery for the technical crew filming Somewhere in Time on the island. The cast and crew stayed here (before Mission Point Resort happened) while filming many scenes at Grand Hotel.
    See the web site for photos and details of room rates. Guest rooms are some of the island's most comfortable, decorated in themes of Great Lakes boating, northwoods wildlife, and Up North cottage life. All have cable TV with HBO, coffeemakers, down comforters, and ceiling fans. (There's no air-conditioning. Lake breezes and cool nights make it largely unnecessary.) Rates depend mostly on view and building. Ask about which might be warmer on the island's few hot days. The "carriage" room is least expensive: $224 on summer weekends, $194 weekdays, or $149 and $119 in May, September, and October. The "forest" is $314 on weekends, $284 weekdays, and $279 and $249 in shoulder seasons. Add 6% state sales tax and 8% resort levy to rates. For families using the Kids' Club and other programs and activities, Mission Point can be a good deal on a relaxing vacation.

Open from May through October. Kids 18 and under free. Wheelchair access to all public rooms and some guest rooms.