Step Back In Time - Part 1

The ride to Mackinac Island is on a “jet boat” ferry which has a “rooster tail” behind it as you go across Lake Huron. Very cool!

Close your eyes and step back in time! You are strolling up the dock from the ferry, and through a portal into the 1800’s. There has been a ban on automobiles since 1898 and there is nothing motorized on the island. Everything is done by horse drawn wagon or bicycle. Walking down main street to the carriage stop you get a tour time and then grab a coffee (no Starbucks here). Sitting on a bench in front of the Chippewa Hotel on Main St you get a real feel for 1800 life. A 2 horse wagon goes by carrying bags of sugar from the docks to the Grand Hotel. A young man came up the street on a bicycle piled with 6 - 8 suitcases and a guitar case lying on top of them. He was a “bell boy” bringing bags to one of the hotels from the ferry. It is a very strange feeling.

Time for the tour (which was wonderful!). Don’t expect to get any where fast. The tour is complete relaxation (for us) as the carriage holds about 12 people and is pulled by two very large horses. The carriage headed down Main St and past Marquette Park which is full of Lilacs and then up a fairly steep hill. Too bad you missed the Lilac Festival by 1 week, but they are still in bloom. I’ve never seen so many different colors of pinks and purples! The drivers are all college students and do a great job with the narration as you arrive at the 1st stop - Surrey Hill. There is a Butterfly Conservatory here and naturally “a gift shop”. The main reason for the stop is to change from a 2 horse carriage to a 3 horse which pulls 35 people and a larger carriage. Driving through the forest we see wild flowers like Trillium and Yellow Lady Slippers (which I had never seen before). There is a very large fine for picking anything from the forest, but the Lady Slippers carry a $5000 price tag.

The carriage arrives at Arch Rock which rises 146 feet above the water. It is a natural curiosity and spans fifty feet at it’s widest point. Geologists explain the arch was formed by wind and water erosion over thousands of years…But the Indian legend is better. A young beautiful Indian maiden calld Ne-daw-niss (She-who-walks-the-mist) met a handsome brave who was the son of a sky spirit. They fell in love, but her cruel father forbid her to marry as he was non-mortal. He beat her and tied her to a rock high on a bluff. She wept softly for her love. Tears flowing down the bluff washed away the stone and formed the Arch. In time the brave returned, rescued her, and took her home to his people. (I like this version better.)

Leaving Arch Rock the carriage heads through the forest to Fort Mackinac. Here you will leave the carriage and spend as much time at the Fort as you want. Spending over an hour here is easy going through all the various buildings like the Post Hospital and Schoolhouse. The fort also offers spectacular views of town and the Straits of Mackinac. in one day!