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CITY OF MACKINAC ISLAND
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Fort Mackinac. Built in 1780 by the British and fortified by 4-foot-thick walls in places, the fort offers cannon firing, fife and drum music, fascinating historical exhibits, and great village views from blockhouses and from a tea room with delicious food ...
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Grand Hotel. Explore a living Victorian resort hotel, from its famous front porch with fine Straits view and its splendid gardens to an exhibit of top American Impressionist paintiings. ...
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Mackinac Island Carriage Tours. Get an island overview without walking, and find out about Mackinac's fascinating horse culture ...
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Doc Crain's natural and human history tours by foot and bike. Doc's entertaining, authoritative tours illuminate the island's Indian mythology, natural and human history, wildflowers in bloom. He works for tips ...
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Island hub by the Arnold Dock/ Main St. between Astor and Fort. The nexus of myriad useful things: an information kiosk, carriage tours, bike rentals, a grocery, a drug store, a visitor center ...
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Market Street, 1820s fur trade center. At the 1820s center of John Jacob Astor's Great Lakes fur trade, see period cooking and spinning in a French-Canadian house; a blacksmith shop; and the reconstructed store where the permanent hole in a voyageur's stomach led to understanding digestion ...
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Downtown shops and amusements. Among downtown's souvenir, gift, and fudge shops are unusual businesses featuring good flying toys, a haunted house, magic and gags, artists creating expressionist landscapes and scrimshaw engravings, art and accessories, and good books. ...
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An eastside walk to Mission Point. A half-mile eastside walk to Mission Point passes lots of history, with stops at two of Michigan's oldest churches at Ste. Anne's and Mission churches and possibly the Mackinac Island Butterfly House. ...
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An East Bluff Walk to Robinson's Folly. This blufftop walk past impressive cottages affords a good view of Lake Huron, and a return view down on the village. ...
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Ste. Anne's Catholic Church. The parish goes back to 1700 and before. Parishoners have included French-Canadian and Native American traders, Irish fishing families, and the late Senator Phil Hart, among others. It has a small museum and charming garden ...
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West shore walk. Views of the Round Island Lighthouse and the gorgeous sunset behind the Mackinac Bridge make this a favoritie evening walk ...
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Governor's Summer Residence. See where governors since Soapy Williams have spent summer vacations, networking as well as relaxing ...
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Somewhere in Time movie locations. Fans of this Christopher Reeve/Jane Seymour cult classic can get a map and visit its filming locations. Hundreds come for October's SIT weekend; thousands are in its fan club. ...
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West Bluff walk to Hubbard's Annex. A stroll past 16 grand and ornate summer "cottages" from the 1880s and 1890s, leads into another cottage area and ends in Lovers' Leap scenic overlook ...
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Mackinac Island Carriage Tours
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For first-time island visitors, a narrated carriage tour of almost two hours is an ideal introduction to the island. It gives them an idea of destinations to revisit and shows off the interior's natural beauty. The tour's last stop is at Fort Mackinac's hillside rear entrance. Visitors who get off here are spared the challenging climb up the bluff to the fort's front entrance.
Tours leave rain or shine. Only hail, which spooks the horses, stops them.
The tour, typically narrated from a script, goes along Main St. and uphill past Grand Hotel#,then into the island's interior. There's a brief visit to Surrey Square, a newish attraction developed by the carriage company. It has a historic carriage museum, working blacksmith, restaurant, fudge shop, and big, new Wings of Mackinac butterfly house suitable for weddings. All have entrance feees.
Passing the horse barns at the south end of Harrisonville, the village of year-round residents, the tour stops at the island's three cemeteries: the Post Cemetery for military burials of the fort: the Protestant cemetery; and the Catholic one.
The tour then passes Point Lookout at Fort Holmes. (Many island employees gather there to see July 4 fireworks and drink too much.) Next are Mackinac's natural highlights, much visited in the Victorian era — first Skull Cave, then stopping to get out and admire Arch Rock overlooking Lake Huron, and again getting out briefly at the Avenue of Flags , the fort's rear entrance. Visitors might be able to tour the fort and reboard a later carriage for a ride downtown, space permitting. But the views along the easy walk downtown are quite charming.
Our tour was fortunate in having as a guide Mike, an experienced carriageman, funny, and insightful about working with horses. (See box on Horse culture.) For his tours, Mike reads up on island history, too. (Mike and 7 other select carriagemen mainly do private tours by reservation, costing about $20-$25/person, after a minimum charge of $----.) Note: an increasing percentage of carriagemen are women.
Each carriageman curries, brushes, and bathes his or her horses. Then "they feel better, they sleep better, just like a person," Mike said. Horses work an average of four hours a day.
Most carriages weigh 10,000 pounds loaded. These horses weigh 2,300 pounds. Most can pull three to four times their own weight, but don't have to pull nearly so much. They get to choose how much they want to pull. If they are struggling, they are moved to a lighter carriage. "Or we'll sell them. We can't afford hay-burners. They are, after all, work horses, not pets."
Each horse has its spot in a team. The carriage company keeps teams together as long as possible. Some horses are trained to be universal replacement horses. Horses spend the winter in Pickford north of Cedarville. It takes three months to get them all off the island on ferries.
The worst enemy of the horse is a plastic bag blowing in the wind, Mike said.
There's so much to consider in understanding the island's horse culture. Where does the manure go? How much hay do island horses eat and where does it come from?
No island horses are purebreds, we learned. "Clydesdales are bred for looks. It should only take two Clydesdales to pull a wagon, and yet Budweiser shows them in a team of eight." Belgians are famous work horses. Most island horses are purchased at the bigAmish horse auction in Shipshewana, in northwest Indiana near Elkhart. (Held year-round on Fridays at 9 a.m., the auctions are where visitors can observe Amish culture in action and see how their face-to-face world produces terrific negotiators and networkers.) Some carriage horses are horses that didn't make it at the race track.
The Mackinac Island Carriage Tours company was formed by a group of carriagemen and run by their descendants. It claims to be the world's largest and oldest continually operated horse and buggy livery, with 100 carriages. See www.micht.com for details, FAQs, and a link to Elizabeth Edwards' interesting Traverse magazine article on the history of Mackinac carriagemen, "proud, stubborn, and mostly Irish," and how they took the initiative to ban automobiles from the island.
Tours start on the east end of Main St. at City Dock across from the Arnold Dock. (906) 847-3325. Tours cost around $19/adult, $8 for ages 5 to 12. Under 5 free. Tour season is Mau thru Oct. Tours leave according to demand, every 5 to 15 minutes or so, in May and Sept. starting between 9 and 4; from Mem. Day weekend thru Labor Day between 9 and 5. In Oct., weather permitting, 9 to 3. Wheelchair-accessible carriages by request. Call ahead, at least 24 hours.
Return to City of Mackinac Island
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