Day 27

Today we had an excursion to Mackinaw Island. It has been a tourist destination for over a century. It changed hands between the French, British and Americans over the years. It was last in British hands when it was captured during the War of 1812. We got it back because of the treaty of Ghent which ended the war officially in 1815. An interesting tidbit is that Mackinaw Island was the second National Park, with Yellowstone being the first. That lasted from 1873 to 1895. During that period the army garrison at the fort was responsible for administration of the park. In 1895 it was decided to give the park over to the state of Michigan for a state park and so it was no longer a national park.

There are no motor vehicles on the island. There are 600 horses which provide transportation. There are also a bazillion bicycles for rent. By noon the place is a mob scene. All access to the island is via private ferries which work well. We hopped the first ferry at 7:30 and found it almost empty. Once on the island at 8:00 we had an hour to wander about and check things out before the horse carriage service started at 9:00. After that we went by carriage to see the main sights.

Fort Mackinaw was interesting because although abandoned by the army in 1895, it has been continuously occupied since then. The result is that the buildings are intact as they were. I like seeing the real stuff. There was a canon firing and tours with people in 1895 period uniform that were well done. There was also a firing of a trap door Springfield rifle. These were neat because the weapons used were the authentic rifles. They were chambered in .45-70. They were the type rifles that the troops under Custer were armed with at the Battle of Little Big Horn. They had one big flaw. There was a marked tendency of a failure to eject meaning that the trooper had a spent cartridge stuck in the barrel. That was thought to be a contributor to the massacre of Custer and his men.

The most iconic thing on the island is the Grand Hotel. It was opened in 1887. It is supposed to have the largest front porch in the world. In today's photo you can see the porch extends the whole width of the structure. We walked up there. It is very genteel. There are waiters everywhere serving drinks to the people seated in rocking chairs. It is also a very expensive place to stay.

We ended the day at an ice cream parlor and shared a double cup of ice cream. It was very nice. Then we went right across the street to the dock and took the 4:30 ferry back to the mainland.