The Past Preserved, Michigan's Mackinac Island, Site of the MAC 2000

by Jim Mersman

In September, there will be a Grand Celebration commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Antique Classic Boat Society in a place of Golden Sunsets & Silver Memories, Michigan's Mackinac Island. Located between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, there is a strong link between the island, its premier resort, The Grand Hotel, and the Les Cheneaux Islands area to antique boating. In a two-part series, we will examine this link in an effort to inform those attending MAC 2000 about the significance this area of Michigan has played in the preservation of the past.  For more information about MAC2000, visit their web-site.

The Straits of Mackinac, which join Lakes Huron and Michigan, were formed long ago by huge glaciers When the last glacier retreated Indians followed into Northern Michigan and settled. These Indians gave the 2,200-acre island the name Michilimackinac, meaning Big Turtle. Today, the name has been shortened to Mackinac, pronounced Mak-in-naw. The area has been under French, British and ultimately American jurisdiction. The restored Fort Mackinac is the oldest original military site in the Midwest and is filled with informative displays, exciting audio-visual programs, and interactive exhibits for children. The Fort's Tea Room offers light lunches and a panoramic view of the entire island, and the Straits area.

For nearly 100 years, Mackinac's cottage communities have reflected the island's popularity as a fashionable attractive summer resort. In the late 1800's wealthy Midwestern industrialists who wanted to spend more than a few nights on Mackinac built their own summer cottages on the east and west bluffs. These Victorian cottages remain today as they were then, complete with every detail, down to the porches with swinging hammocks, high windows, white painted fences, and billowy cushions. Several cottagers owned steam yachts and sailboats which they moored in the island's bay during the summer. They used their boats for fishing trips, excursions, racing, entertainment and even to get to church. Many vessels, such as John Cudahy's "Gerald C.", were seventy feet or longer, providing ample room for parties and informal gatherings. Decks were lavishly decorated with oriental rugs and wicker chairs, and tarps were used to keep the sun off the pale-skinned Victorians.

By far the most famous hotel and landmark of the island is the Grand Hotel. It seems perfectly natural that you are met at the ferry dock by a liveried driver in a horse-drawn carriage. The plan of three turn-of-the-century transportation giants was to build a hotel that would emulate the true "Grand Hotels" of Europe. These men preferred simpler structures than the era's more decorative Victorians, but still incorporated classic details in the columnar facade, accented by a low row of dormers. Constructed in 1887 with one and a half million feet of sturdy Michigan white pine and completed in a remarkably short four month period, the elongated building was designed to reflect the dramatic line of the bluff. Wrapped around the outside there is the 660-foot porch, the longest in the world, dotted with white wicker and old fashioned rockers, and embellished with over 2,000 geraniums in some 300 planters, along with 3,000 more planted in adjacent flowerbeds. Add to the display more than one hundred thousand assorted perennials and annuals blooming throughout the season and the effect is simply spectacular. The interiors of the hotel was nothing short of plush. The hotel was decorated with imported carpeting, colorful Persian rugs, delicate chandeliers that cast prism shadows on the walls, heavy brocade draperies, brass spittoons, tiffany lamps and ornate woodwork. The facilities were lavish, colorful and metropolitan. The Grand Hotel ballroom was the scene of the most elegant and fashionable dances. The gentleman always dressed in "white tie and tails", and the ladies wore their finest ball gowns. The highlight of the summer's sporting events was the annual field-day sponsored by the Grand Hotel. The hotel's social director organized the activities which were open to all island visitors and residents. The events included a bellhops' washtub race, a dog swimming race, a gentlemen's swimming contest, horse races, and a rugby football match. In 1896 the field-day began with a yacht race boasting five entries in the first class category.

Perhaps the most noticeable first impression visitors get of Mackinac Island is the absence of automobiles. Visitors and residents travel by foot, bicycle or horse drawn carriage. Tour carriages and taxis will take you wherever you want to go and it's not long before you adjust to a slower pace . Since 1896 "horseless carriages" have been prohibited from the island. Today one of the best carriage collections in the country is in the stable of the Grand Hotel. W. S. Woodfill, proprietor of the hotel from 1933-1978, preserved and collected an assortment of fine carriages, none of which has been manufactured for more than sixty years. They are preserved in mint condition and best of all, the visitor is welcome to come to the stable at the rear of the hotel to see all this elegance. The Grand horses are also stabled there. The Woodfill collection includes a Brewster gig, an opera carriage, a Brougham, a Victoria, a Trap, a Vis-a-Vis, a Gentleman's buckboard, a basket Phaeton, a station wagon, and a hackney surrey. The Studebaker Company was known for its carriages long before it began to produce automobiles. The rumble seat, running boards, convertible tops, and many other carriage aspects were built into early cars.

With the rise of sport fishing in the 1880s Mackinac Island visitors took advantage of the nearby Les Cheneaux Islands where local guides helped tourists find perch, black bass and pike. Small hotels and eating-places catered to the sporting crowd who made the overnight train trip from Detroit to the Straits aboard the Michigan Central Railroad. The second part of this article in the next Rudder will focus on this important time and how that area developed to be the birthplace of the first Chris Craft dealership in the country.

Mackinac Island along with the Grand Hotel is a place where elegant style and genteel grace remain a way of life. The site of the Grand Celebration of the 25th anniversary is truly a study on how to preserve the past and is an event not to miss. See you there.