MACKINAW CITY

At the Tip of the Mitt is Mackinaw City. We spent 5 nights at Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground. Near Lake Huron and 3 miles from the Mackinac Bridge. Curiously, some places in the area are named “Mackinaw” and some are named “Mackinac”. The pronunciation of both is the same… “Mack-In-Awe”.

On our first night, we were treated to the weekly fireworks display downtown. We were also notified that the conditions were right to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), but they did not appear.

Toured the retired USCG Ice Breaker Mackinaw, now a museum ship (Me, portal, helm, galley)

McGulpin Point Lighthouse and Headlands Dark Sky Park

Mackinac Bridge

Starting in 1954 it took 3,500 workers, 4 years, 895,000 blueprints, 71,300 tons of structural steel, 931,000 tons of concrete, 42,000 miles of cable wire, 4,851,700 steel rivets, and 1,016,600 steel bolts to build the 5-mile, 550′ tall suspension bridge over the Straits of Mackinac linking the Lower & Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Be sure and watch the video below as we pass under the bridge on the way to Mackinac Island.

Watch the 2-minute video below as we pass under the bridge…

Mackinac Island

Considered Michigan’s “Crown Jewel” destination, here is Mackinac Island…

• Area of 3.8 square miles and it is 8.2 miles around the island on M-185
• Cars haven’t been allowed on the island for over 100 years
• Grand Hotel’s front porch is the largest in the world (660 feet)
• War of 1812 battle took place at the island’s fort
• 1 million people visit each year
• 600 horses work on the island every year
• 500 year-round residents
• 1,500 bicycles are available for rent

Grand Hotel

Delivery “truck”

Fort Mackinac

Fort Mackinac was founded by the British in 1780 during the American Revolution.  Americans took control in 1796.  In July 1812, in the first land engagement of the War of 1812 in the United States, the British captured the fort.  In a bloody battle in 1814, the Americans attempted but failed to retake the fort.  It was returned to the United States after the war.  The fort remained active until 1895. 

Back on the Mainland at Colonial Michilimackinac In Mackinaw City

Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th-century French, and later British, fort and trading post at the Straits of Mackinac; it was built on the northern tip of the lower peninsula of the present-day state of Michigan.

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Next Up: Michigan’s Upper Penninsula