08.15.2023 Playing the tourist on Mackinac Island

Posted bytwosheepstothewindPosted inUncategorized

Getting old isn’t for sissies, and neither is playing the traditional tourist.

Vicki and I have been travelers, which I insist is different from being a tourist. Full-timing in a small RV lends itself to a moderate degree of travel and adventure. Vacationing takes more stamina and money than we have these days.

But for today, we played the tourist, making a day trip to Mackinac Island. (And it’s pronounced MAC-in-awe, according to the locals. Apparently it’s a French spelling of a Native American word.)

No cars are allowed on Mackinac Island, so bicycle rentals and horse carriage rides are essential.
And flowers were everywhere, even in bicycle baskets.

We saw some really cool stuff, including another ferry ride (this one a lot faster), visiting a historic fort, a museum dedicated to a tribe I had never heard of, the Anishnaabek, who lived and traded in this part of Michigan, and dropped by a blacksmith shop, a restaurant and a fudge shop. Fudge has been a tourist thing on this island for more than a century.

It was a gorgeous day to be on Mackinac Island. Not one but two lighthouses, of a sort, at the entrance to the island’s harbor, now used mostly by ferries and excursion boats.
Fort Mackinac was built by British forces on the edge of a bluff overlooking the island’s harbor. It saw action during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Despite British military successes on the island, possession went to the Americans each time. Eventually.
An island famous in these regions, as Father Claude Dablon said in 1671, and that fame has mostly grown in the intervening years.
Beaver pelts were turned into hats for the U.S. and Europe, not to mention incredible profits for John Jacob Astor.
Before the robber barrons you had the fur trade, which Astor turned into a financial and political empire.
As the fur trade faded, fishing became the next big endeavour, and it spawned an entire class of small fishing boats called Mackinaw Boats. Many were gaff-rigged like this model.
Canadian forces have returned to Fort Mackinac, seeking to enforce grazing rights on the lawn.
Reading was a valued endeavor at the fort, where the Reading Room had a collection of more than 600 books by 1890.

The fort was an interesting bit of history. Americans fought two battles there, losing both of them to the Brits, yet we got possession of the island back both times.

A reenactor dressed in the Army uniform of the 1890s, complete with Prussian-inspired pickle helmet, prepares to give a rate-of-fire demostration by inserting a brass cartridge into his breech-loading Springfield rifle.

Fun factoid: back in the late 1800s every military was fascinated by the Prussians in Germany and adopted those spiky helmets. Pickle helmets they were called, and still used by Germany in World War I.

I also watched a reenactor demonstrate rapid fire with a breech-loading Springfield 1873 rifle. Quite loud and rather impressive. He conceded that he wasn’t allowed live ammunition, just blanks filled with a full load of black powder.

He and the displays said that American soldiers were not know for their accuracy, but that it changed after Gen. George Custer’s defeat at the Little Big Horn. Soldiers at Fort Mackinac and elsewhere were drilled not just in loading and pulling the trigger, but in getting the bullet into a target, even up to 1,000 yards away. With iron sights, not a scope.

While I find that pretty impressive, I am left feeling that the military was making excuses for Custer and even trying to shift the blame to his soldiers and their poor aim.

From what I’ve learned, it seems more that Little Big Horn was more a failure of command. Custer ignored the intelligence from his scouts, divided his forces and was defeated in detail. But that’s another story (and I have pictures to post if I ever catch up with all the posts I should have been writing over the last two years.

On an island that bans horseless carriages, a blacksmith still has an important role, although this smithy shop doesn’t do all the work on the island.
Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. — Longfellow
Hot spot in a smithy shop
Tools of the trade

We enjoyed playing tourist for a day, but we were exhausted by the experience. Departure of the ferry to return of the ferry was about a seven hour day, and our feet are not letting us forget that.

The horses were a constant sight in the streets, as was the smell. Some complained, but it didn’t bother me.
Tree bark was used as roofing on some of the buildings.
At Horn’s Gaslight Bar, the Frisco (like a club sandwich) and the turkey Reuben were excellent choices.
While the educational panels in the Biddle House were certainly informative, they don’t lend themselves much to sharing in a blog post. Here is just a sampling.
We didn’t visit the Grand Hotel, seen here through the spray on the ferry windows, is where the Chris Reeve movie “Somewhere in Time” was filmed.

3 thoughts on “08.15.2023 Playing the tourist on Mackinac Island”

  2. A lady with her Westie (named Mac after Mackinac) was either from there or lived close by to where she spent a lot of time there. She shared many photos with our group of her pup and Westie gatherings and I always wanted to see more. Thanks for the photo’s and history lesson. Sorry about your aching feet tho!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to karenbava Cancel reply