Mackinac Island
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- This article is about the island in Michigan. For the city of the same name, see Mackinac Island, Michigan. For the state park, see Mackinac Island State Park.
Mackinac Island (pronounced [ˈmækɪˌnɔː], like MACK-in-aw, note the silent "c") is a small island, 3.776 square miles (9.779 km²) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, which lie between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island's strategic position amidst the commerce of the fur trade of the Great Lakes led to the establishment of Fort Mackinac on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the scene of two strategic battles during the War of 1812.
In the late 19th century the island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. It continues to be famous for its lack of automobiles and its Victorian resort hotels, especially the Grand Hotel with its 660-foot (201 m) long front porch. Of the island's total area, over 82 percent is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.
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[edit] Description
The city of Mackinac Island occupies the entire island as well as all of Round Island, which sits across the passage just to the south. (Round Island is currently uninhabited and is owned by the U.S. Forest Service in its entirety, part of the Hiawatha National Forest.)
The island has a year-round population of 523 persons (2000 census), mostly in the historic community located on the southern tip and in the community of "Harrisonville" farther inland. The population grows considerably in the resort season, when it is crowded with tourists, accommodating an average of 15,000 people per day. The highest point of the island is the historic Fort George (since 1815 officially called Fort Holmes), which is 320 feet (97 m) above the lake level and about 890 feet (270 m) above sea level. The Mackinac Bridge dominates the view from the west side of the island.
Mackinac Island is accessible by private boats, by ferry, and by small planes. The airport has a 3,500 foot (1,070 m) paved runway, and charter air service from the mainland is available. In the summer tourist season, three ferry services shuttle visitors to the island from St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. During the winter months when the lake is frozen, the island is accessible by snowmobile. Residents take their Christmas trees to British Landing (the site of an 1812 assault on the fort), and place them along a route marking relatively safe ice.
Motorized vehicles are prohibited on the island with the exception of emergency vehicles, service vehicles, and, during the winter, snowmobiles. Travel on the island is by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. Bicycles, carriages, and saddle horses are available for rent, although inexperienced carriage drivers and riders are advised to avoid busy town areas. An 8 mile (13 km) long road rings the island and numerous roads, trails and paths cover the interior. The road encircling the island and most closely hugging the shoreline is M-185, one of the few highways in the United States without motorized vehicles.
The island is famous for the multiple candy shops that line the streets of the village. The most popular items at these stores are the locally-produced "Mackinac Island fudge" and taffy, leading to the popular nickname of visiting shoppers as "fudgies". Spring brings a popular Lilac Festival to the island. News stories are covered by the local weekly Mackinac Island Town Crier.
The island has a significant number of hotel and bed and breakfast rooms for overnight guests, and some cottages for rent. No camping is allowed on the island.
[edit] History
The island was at the center of a thriving fur industry beginning in the 17th century and lasting into the early 19th century. The Mackinaw Fur Company was merged with the Southwestern Fur Company by John Jacob Astor to form his American Fur Company.
The island changed hands from the French to the British after the French and Indian War. The British controlled the island for a time after the American Revolutionary War and built and garrisoned Fort Mackinac in 1781. The British relinquished Fort Mackinac to the United States in 1796 but maintained a military presence nearby at St. Joseph Island in Lake Huron. The British continued to exert a strong influence over the area between 1796 and 1812, and maintained friendships with local native tribes. A British detachment from St. Joseph Island captured the fort in the first engagement of the War of 1812 and held it against subsequent American attacks until the end of the war, when it was returned to the U.S. by the Treaty of Ghent in 1815.
In 1875, much of the island was designated as Mackinac National Park, the second national park of the United States (after Yellowstone National Park, created three years earlier). When Fort Mackinac was decommissioned in 1895, the land was given to the state of Michigan and it became Michigan's first state park, Mackinac Island State Park.
[edit] Name
The name of the island has been shortened from "Michilimackinac". One interpretation of this name is that it means "great in number of turtle" in the Ottawa and Chippewa language, though more likely the name came from the Menominee language. The island is fancifully said to be shaped like a turtle. Before the arrival of the Anishinaabe peoples to the region, the Anishinaabe claims the island was the home to the "Misi'nimäk Kimiko Wini'niwuk" ("Michilimackinac men", "Mackinac Island Band of Menominee" or Mishinii-makinaakoo-ininiwag in the contemporary Ojibwa spelling). Father Frederic Baraga simply defined in his dictionary the name of this band of Menominee as "some strange Indians"—a tribe not familiar to him.
[edit] Miscellaneous topics
The island is served by the Mackinac Island Public School.
The short-lived Mackinac College was founded on the island in the late 1960s. The college closed after several years, and some time later the campus was turned into the Mission Point Resort.
The 1947 movie This Time For Keeps and the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time were filmed on Mackinac Island.
[edit] References
- Mackinac Island: Blocks 1000 thru 1046, Census Tract 9504, Mackinac County, Michigan United States Census Bureau
