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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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Region: St. Ignace & U.S. 2 to Naubinway
MACKINAW CITY
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Before the Mackinac Bridge was finished in 1957, life in Mackinaw City revolved around the ferries. Central Avenue was (and still is) the main business street, mostly lined with tourist shops. Now Mackinaw City has blossomed into a sometimes crowded, Branson-style tourism destination quite different from the little town's traditional role as overnight lodging for Mackinac Island day trippers. Mackinaw City now has some 50 lodgings. Those south of Central along the water are big, colorful neo-Victorian affairs, like nothing Mackinaw City had ever seen before.
Unlike St. Ignace, Mackinaw Ciy is far from a year-round community. Its permanent population is under 900. There's no real supermarket. (Cheboygan, with its Kmart, Wal-Mart, and historic Cheboygan Opera House, is where Mackinaw City residents tend to shop, go to the doctor and pharmacist, and where many Mackinac State Historic Parks employees choose to live.)
In 1997 innovative Mackinaw City ferry owner Bill Shepler, Jr. joined with other investors to create Mackinaw Crossings, a festival marketplace with 100 shops and eateries, a musical revue, and a free nightly laser light show in summer. The Crossings is built on what used to be a staging area for ferries. Shepler also offered Disney courses to raise the customer service bar for local businesses and employees — a good idea that worked.
But the 800-seat theater didn't at all live up to expectations. And tourism has been mostly off since 9/11. By summer of 2006 some of the retail space was empty. Now one of the partners, a leading Missouri developer from Springfield, has bought everyone else out and, in light of Michigan's poor economy, renegotiated leases tenants regard as more realistic. There's talk of a miniature train and other kid stuff, and a Bass Pro Shop that would be the farthest north in the U.S.
Thunder Falls, a huge waterpark, is just off Exit 339, the first exit for drivers coming from the south.
Open from early June thru Labor Day, it can cost families a pretty penny. 2006 rates were $16 for kids 48" and under, $22 for others.Twilight rates are about $8 less. Kids can enjoy a free attraction at the north end of Mackinaw City, across from the park by Fort Michillimackinac. Running through the dancing fountain in front of the Fort Gift Shop and Candy Kitchen. has become a kid magnet.
See www.mackinawcity.com, the chamber of commerce web site, or call (231) 463-5574 for visitor information, including the latest visitor info on the new Mackinaw Maritime Museum (the 1944 icebreaker long based in Cheboygan). Lodgings listings are keyed to a convenient pdf locator map. (Don't be fooled by the lookalike, www.mackinaw-city.com . It's a membership site representing only a few larger lodgings.)
For people traveling with dogs, Sunrise Kennels (906-643-7726) across the bridge in St. Ignace boards dogs for a day or two.
Three historic attractions of the Mackinac State Historic Parks system are in Mackinaw City: Colonial Michilimackinac (the reconstructed second French fort at the Straits), the Old Mackinac Point lighthouse, and Mill Creek south of town, a reconstruction of a sawmill begun in the 1780s to saw lumber for Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island.
Old Mackinac Point, right at the base of the Mackinac Bridge and the Lower Peninsula's very northern tip, is a much larger park with benches near the water and picnic tables. It's a nice place to stroll at sunset or sit and picnic. Its centerpiece, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, is now open, for a fee, to visitors as a restoration in progress. Its tower can be climbed.
Mackinac State Historic Parks owns the lighthouse and the adjoining small fog signal house. There the Lighthouse Information Center has exhibits, ticket sales for touring the lighthouse, and a shop with books and mementoes about Great Lakes maritime subjects and lighthouses.
The earlier village of Mackinaw City, with small houses on rectangular blocks, is north of Central and mostly east of I-75. (West of I-75 and south of Lake Michigan, houses are more apt to have been built as summer houses.) At the east (Lake Huron) ends of the east-west streets are pleasant little waterfront parks with seating and bridge views
Pronunciation advisory: "Mackinac" is perhaps the most widely mispronounced of any Midwestern place name. Get it right! Here's a simple fact: no matter how it's spelled, "Mackinac" and "Mackinaw" are always pronounced the same way - the "Mackinaw" way. The "c" in "Mackinac" is silent, so the last syllable is "naw." The French spelled the Indian word "Mackinac," the English spelled it "Mackinaw." Mackinaw City, at the north tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, is spelled the English way.
Very briefly, here are a few retail highlights:
• VIEWS OF THE PAST. Marquette photographer Jack Deo has assembled some 50,000 historic photos and cataloged well over 10,000. It all startedi in the 1970s when Jack found and bought collections of negatives of Upper Peninsula photographers from the late 1800s. Often he prints from the original glass-plate negative.
Photographs from towns and cities throughout Michigan and beyond are arranged by place and theme. Prints or reproductions are sold, either framed or not. Hundreds of Michigan towns are represented. These are popular nostalgia gifts. Most of the collection has been digitized and posted online at www.viewsofthepast.com. Musical, film, and sports celebrities are more recent additions—for example, from "Anatomy of a Murder," "Somewhere in Time," and most every Tigers' World Series. Inside Mackinaw Crossings near the Huron Ave./U.S. 23 entrance. (231) 436-7793. Open from May thru Oct.. From Mem. to Labor Day open 10 to 10. Otherwise 10-6. Call for possibly extended hours. Wheelchair accessible.
• ISLAND BOOKSTORE. A good independent bookstore with coffee bar. No wi-fi, but customers can check e-mail on computers. Outstanding selection of Mackinac books, shown on its web site for mail order215 E. Central. (231) 436-2665. Open from mid-May into late Oct. Summer hours (mid-June thru Labor Day) open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days
• MACKINAW KITE COMPANY. Things that fly - for fun and for decoration. Plus, yo-yos, juggling gear, spinners, puzzles and other toys. Mail order via on-line web site. 105 N. Huron, just north of Central by the water. (231) 436-8051. Open May into Oc.
•MUSEUM SHOPS at •COLONIAL MICHILIMACKINAC (beneath bridge) and OLD
MACKINAC POINT LIGHTHOUSE.
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 .
Back to St. Ignace & U.S. 2 to Naubinway
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MACKINAW CITY
RESTAURANTS,
LODGINGS
& CAMPGROUNDS
These are our choices, not ads.
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MACKINAW CITY
RESTAURANTS
AUDIE'S RESTAURANT
(231) 436-5744
Audie's is just about the only Mackinaw City restaurant you need to know about. It's open year-round, with a varied menu of from-scratch cooking at many price points, in family, fine-dining, and lounge settings. Audie's is a calm, efficient oasis in summer.
Top regional ingredients include bacon and smoked pork chops from Plath's Meats in Rogers City, morels in season, and of course whitefish, fresh daily for most of the year. Of the 8 whitefish preparations, oven-roasted whitefish with a parmesan-herb crust is the favorite. It's around $15 as a Family Room entree (with a side salad, starch, and roll), around $19 in the elegant Chippewa Room. It offers an extensive wine list, many appetizers like crab cakes and Oysters Rockefeller, special-occasion desserts, and seasonal specials like Steak Diane Morel, or elk medaillions with venison sausage. Hand-cut steaks and vegetarian pastas are on both menus. Guests in the Welcome Lounge (smoking permitted) can order from either menu.
Breakfast ranges from heart-healthy oatmeal with fruit cup and banana bread (under $5) to specialty omelettes ($7) and two eggs plus whitefish (around $8.50 with hash browns) or smoked pork chop ($8). From the bakery, cinnamon rolls, strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream, and pies are under $3. Many sandwiches (under $8 with fries), salads, and entrees (around $13-$17 ) are on the Family Room menu. Budget-minded travelers, check out the daily specials: about $5 at breakfast, under $6 at lunch, and about $9.25 at dinner and for weekend buffets. (Prime rib is around $17.) The popular $9.50 Sunday dinner, stuffed pork chop or half a baked chicken with mashed potato, vegetable, salad bar and dessert bar, is still around $9.50. And the salad bar with a cup of soup ($7, also from scratch) can be a welcome change from unhealthy road food.
Banquets, catering, and meals for cruises and tours are a growing part of Audie's business. For box lunches, call a day or two ahead. Edgar Jaggi, trained in his native Switzerland, first set the culinary standards here when he and his wife, "Audie," were manager-owners. Now their son Nick, a Culinary Institute of America grad, is the owner-chef. GM Dennis Vartanian once worked with them at Boyne Highlands resort.
Complete menus with prices are at www.audies.com.
314 N. Nicolet. Take exit 339 just before the bridge, go east, then immediately left. (231) 439-5744. Open daily year-round. in summer, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Otherwise 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Children's menu. Wheelchair-accessible. Full bar.
SCALAWAGS
(231) 436-7777
Fans are drawn back by baskets of delicious fried whitefish (2 pieces plus fries and slaw for around $7.30), and a terrific whitefish chowder (around $3. There's also a full sandwich menu, fried chicken, walleye and perch. Pleasant indoor and outdoor seating, with an informal, fish-shop atmosphere. Owner-manager Brian Parker is now franchising the Scalawags concept in the Great Lakes area. A year-round Scalawags is in nearby Petoskey.
226 E. Central downtown (231) 436-5788. Open from May into Oct. July & Aug. hours: 11-10. May & Oct. 11-8. Otherwise 11-9. No alcohol. Wheelchair accessible.
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MACKINAW CITY
LODGINGS
See mackinawcitychamber.com
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MACKINAW CITY
CAMPGROUNDS
See mackinawcitychamber.com
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