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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA
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JUST OUT!
A new edition of Hunts' Mapguide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Over 300 entries, all conveniently located on maps and chosen because we think they are the coolest things to do in the U.P. (No ad tie-ins!) Great choices for restaurants, hikes, shops, adventures, museums, boat trips, waterfalls, vistas, road trips, and much more!
To learn more click UP MAP GUIDE
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MACKINAW CITY
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Colonial Michilimackinac. Reconstructed to its appearance under the British in the 1770s, this palisaded village, first French, then British, is one of Michigan's most interesting and important sights ...
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Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. This landmark lighthouse guided ships through the Straits of Mackinac from 1892 'til the bridge was finished in 1957. See exhibits and ongoing restoration, and climb the tower for great Straits and bridge views. ...
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Shepler's Lighthouse Cruises. A 3-hour cruise takes passengers under the Mackinac Bridge, then passes a variety of lighthouses on islands or hard-to-visit locations on its 20-mile route. ...
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Historic Mill Creek. A reconstruction of the 1790s water-powered sawmill that produced the boards and beams of some buildings in Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. The wooded, creekside site and its 3 1/2 miles introduce visitors to northwoods plants and animals, passing an active beaver colony on the way to a sugar shack. Demos and nature talks for children and adults. ...
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Colonial Michilimackinac
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Thanks to archaeological and historical evidence, Fort Michilimackinac, the Straits fur-trading post built by the French at the very tip of Lower Michigan in 17XX, has been reconstructed. The time period for the reenactment and furnishings is the 1770s, under the British. (French rule of North America was ended by the British victory at Montreal in 1760.) Aside from the British soldiers, the inhabitants of the palisaded village-fort at that time continued to be mostly French-Canadian, and many of the buildings were French-Canadian, too. The attached rowhouses with several dwelling units and steep, dormered roofs are typically French. They contrast with the soldiers' barracks, a good example of British military architecture of the 1770s. An excellent drawing and map of the fort can be downloaded and printed from the Colonial Michilimackinac section of www.mackinacparks.com .
The British victory at Montreal gave them control of the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes region in the heart of North America. To conduct and profit from the fur trade, the British needed the French traders, voyageurs, and métis (mixed-blood) and Indian intermediaries. So the village within the fort, and most of the increasing number of houses outside the fort, continued to be built according to French-Canadian construction principles.
Most of the costumed interpreters here represent French-Canadians. Between June 12 and August 21, when you stop in at various buildings, you will meet a fur-trader counting his pelts, a woman in a rowhouse cooking a French-Canadian meal and tending a kitchen garden, a priest, a fiddler,and, in the barracks, a British soldier. Outside the log palisade a Native American woman works by the summer encampment, consisting of a cone-shaped temporary wigwam and a domed, bark-covered, more permanent waginogan. More cooking and crafts are demonstrated here.
Colonial Michilimackinac gives the best idea of French-Canadian life in the late 1700s of any place in Michigan. The French were great tellers of spooky stories and contés, adapted to local settings. One famous French legend takes place in old Grosse Pointe, now a Detroit suburb, originally a French settlement. Ghost stories and sitting around the campfire do go together, and Were-Wolves and Will-O-The-Wisps by Dirk Gringhuis might be a memorable book for Mackinac vacation reading. Gringhuis's Lore of the Great Turtle: Indian Legends of Mackinac Retold also has good read-aloud stories.
Both are sold at the gift shop here.
One significant and famous event seems to get downplayed these days at Colonial Michilimackinac — an incident inspired by Pontiac's War in 1763. Except for the Iroquois, most Native Americans were far more simpatico with the French-Canadians, and worked with them after the French defeat in 1760 to take the Great Lakes back from the British. (Indians correctly feared that English-Americans would push west and colonize their hunting lands.) Pontiac, the eloquent, shrewd, and brave leader of the Ottawa outside Detroit, devised a plan to take the fort at Detroit. After some successes, his plan failed. But it inspired other Indians to attack other forts. At Michilimackinac, briefly, the area Ojibwa leader became friendly with the British commander. His people came to celebrate King George III's birthday with a lacrosse-like ball game along Lake Michigan, right outside the gate. Ojibwa women stood by, wrapped in blankets despite the heat. After awhile, as planned, the players neared the open gate, hit a ball inside, and dashed in to get the ball - as the women passed them weapons hidden in their blankets. Within minutes 20 British soldiers and one trader inside the fort were dead. (The French traders went to their homes and survived.) The British commander had ignored rumors of the attack, but New Jersey-born trader Alexander Henry had taken them seriously. He hid, survived to tell the tale, and went on to travel and trade in the Upper Great Lakes. He heard stories about the the Ontonagon Boulder, a huge piece of copper near the Ontonagon River, a site covered by the Victoria Reservoir near Rockland. and found it, With the help of savvy Indians, he found the Boulder, in a prequel to Upper Peninsula copper mining on an industrial scale. Henry wrote a book about his adventures and become a Montreal merchant, living until 1824. French and French-Canadian development and influence in Michigan lasted into the `1820s. The first important backer of the University of Michigan was a Michigan territorial legislator and French-Canadian priest in Detroit, Father Gabriel Richard. An exscellent overview of the French in Michigan can be found in the first 107 pages of Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State by Willis Dunbar with George May. It's an invaluable reference for anyone interested in the history of Michigan and our region. May had a special interest in how Native Americans fared here. His use of "squaw" is now considered offensive, but he gives a satisfying overview of a neglected era of Michigan history.
Daily reenactments between June 9 and August 25 (2007 hours) are high points of Fort Michilimackinac. The arrival of the voyageurs at 11:30 and 2:30 is a favorite. The legendary tough little paddlers, brightly sashed, paddle up to the fort's "water gate" and jump out with a new load of trade goods from Montreal.(Short men were chosed as voyageurs because of limitations of leg room and weight.) At 1 and 4 the colorful French colonial wedding and dance takes place in the reconstructed colonial Ste. Anne's Church. Walking tours of the village are at 11, 2, and 3:15. Children's games are at 10, 11:30, and 5. In between, there's quite a bit of cannon and musket firing.
An ongoing archaeological dig takes place each summer within the fort. Find the rowhouse near the priest's house to enter the underground exhibit "Treasures from the Sand" about artifacts recovered through digs, and what they have to say aboutfort life. At "Redcoats on the Frontier" inside the soldiers' barracks at the fort's center, visitors can see and hear about British soldiers' daily lives at Michilimackinac from 1761 to 1781.
In spring and fall, Colonial Michilimackinac buildings and exhibits are open without interpreters. Cannon firings and musket drills are the only events.
2007 season: May 7-Oct. 7. Shop (no admission charge) and visitor center are open 9-5 at least, to 9 from mid June thru late August. Fort hours: May 7-June 8 9-4. June 9-Aug. 25 9-6. Fall 9-4. Longer hours on Mem. & Labor Day weekends. The fort is just west of the Mackinac Bridge. Nicolet, the street parallel to I-75, takes you to the visitor center and gift shop built under the bridge. Parking is by shop and along the street in front of the fort and Mackinac Point. (231) 436-4100. Admission $9/adult, $5.25 ages 6 to 17. Wheelchair accessible: 10 of 13 main buildings. Other buildings moderately accessible.
A good deal for visitors is the Triple Choice Pass: one-time entry over a 7-day period to any 3 historic sites: Fort Mackinac on the island, Colonial Michillimackinac, Old Mission Point Lighthouse, or Mill Creek. It's $20/adult, $12.50/ages 6-17.
The best deal of all, depending on size of family, is anannual family pass for $59. It gives unlimited admission for a year for two adults and all dependent children or grandchildren under 18 to all Mackinac State Historic Park sites, plus a 15% discount on all gift shop merchandise, and other extras.
For an accessibility packet for all Mackinac State Historic Park locations, call (231) 436-5563 or e-mail a request to Katie Cederholm at cederhok@michigan.gov.
Return to Mackinaw City
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