American Legion Veterans Memorial Park

Here are picnic tables by a gazebo with telescope, a large pavilion with restrooms, and a red, white and blue play structure with a tunnel slide. Once scuba divers used the gravel beach to visit wrecks in the Straits Area Underwater Preserve. Now the city has built a ramp to facilitate these explorations.In mid-August there's a treasure hunt. Tokens are sprinkled on the lake bottom and the diver who finds the most wins.

Just north of the park, what's now known as the Star Railroad Dock was where the Chief Wawatam docked. The Chief, a specialized icebreaker carferry, carried rail cars across the Straits for over 75 years. The Star Line ferry now uses the Railroad Dock as an auxiliary dock with summer passenger service to Mackinac Island. The yellow boxcar on the dock is a home of Mackinaw Parasailing, "flying above it all."

The park is right where Bus. Look 75 swings north, meets the water, and becomes State Street. Wheelchair-accessible.

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ST. IGNACE
POINTS OF INTEREST

Mackinac Bridge. In 1957 this majestic bridge finally connected Michigan's two peninsulas across the 4-mile Straits of Mackinac. It's thrilling to cross, beautiful to look at day and night. See history displays and videos at striking Bridgeview Park off the St. Ignace approach. ... more

Bridgeview Park. Great views up at the Mackinac Bridge from a pleasant park with picnic shelters. Interesting historical video monitors and pictures with text about the bridge and previous transporation across the Straits are in an enclosed pavilion with restrooms. ... more

Museum of Ojibwa Culture. See how Ojibwa social values and their subsistence culture adapted to the climate. View change at the Straits in the 1660s from the native perspective of indigeous Ojibwa and Odawa and Huron newcomers, when the French fur trade was moving in. A fine small museum. ... more

Marquette Mission Park. The peaceful park has well-done interpretive panels about the Straits history of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Huron people and Father Marquette's Catholic mission, possibly at this very location. An authentic Huron longhouse and Ojibwa tipi are open without charge. ... more

Native Expressions Ojibwa Museum Store. This peaceful shop carries traditional crafts (quill work, baskets, more) plus certified contemporary Native American art. Here too is the U.P.'s largest selection of books and music about Eastern Woodland Indians and French-Canadian Great Lakes history ... more

Downtown St. Ignace. Downtown highlights: an interesting book and magazine store, a shop with antique lighting and furniture, and a choice arcade of shops ... more

Huron Boardwalk. A mile-long harborfront path with benches shows off a busy harbor and has Mackinac Island views. Interpretive signs and a Mackinaw boat convey the area's rich history ... more

American Legion Veterans Memorial Park. A waterfront park with picnic area, telescope, popular play structure, and beach often used by scuba divers visiting shipwrecks. At the nearby Star Dock, Mackinaw Parasailing ... more

Sunset Cruise or Vespers Cruise under the Mackinac Bridge. 1-hour narrated ferryboat cruise or vespers cruise take visitors under the Mackinac Bridge and out into Lake Michigan for seeing the sunset. ... more

Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. Docked at St. Ignace, this modern icebreaking harbor tug clears the Straits for freighter traffic each year and is occasionally open for scheduled tours ... more

Dock #3 Park. Former staging area for the car ferry neeed before the Mackinac Bridge, this uncroded park is a nice place for picnics and a view of the Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. ... more

St. Ignace trolley tour. 2 1/2-hour tour of area on 30-person bus goes across the bridge for Mackinaw City sights as well as St. Ignace's ... more

US-2 Mackinaw Bridge to Naubinway. A terrific introduction to the U.P. after crossing the Bridge, long vistas revealing one shoreline point after another emerge ... more

MANLEY'S FISH MARKET. Outstanding fresh and smoked whitefish, homemade jerky, and beef sticks. They can be eaten at picnic tables on a pleasant, shady lawn ... more

John Herbon Pottery Studio. John Herbon and three fellow potters work and show here. John's classic shapes are simply embellished with lizards, fish, ... more

Jabber Joe's. Offbeat variety/antique shop with frozen custard, too. Strong on candy, repro toys. ... more

Castle Rock. Stairs lead to the top of a natural limestone tower with a grand view of St. Martin Island, St. Ignace, and Mackinac ferries. A great family roadside attraction ... more

Horseshoe Bay Wilderness Trail/Hiawatha National Forest. A one-mile hiking trail through a mixed forest and wetland leads to a secluded Lake Huron beach, part of the 3,800-acre Horseshoe Bay Wilderness within the Hiawatha National Forest. ... more

Carp River Canoe Trail. An easy, scenic trout stream for family paddling with informal campsites by the river ... more

St. Ignace Wi-fi Hotspots. Public Library has wi-fi. 110 W Spruce St. just off I-75 Business (State St) south of downtown. ... more

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