The state of Michigan is our overall destination for a springtime trip to the north.  Our real destination is Mackinac Island, a place that has been on our bucket list for years.  We traveled with Carolina Tours to visit this magical place, sandwiched between stops at Frankenmuth and Dearborn.

Frankenmuth

Frankenmuth is a small city in Saginaw County, Michigan; it is nicknamed “Little Bavaria” because the area was settled in 1845 by conservative Lutheran immigrants from the Franconia region of Germany. These pioneers traveled via canals and the Great Lakes from New York and then traveled overland to the present location of the city.  The area remained a magnet for other Germans from the same region even after it lost its original purpose as a missionary post.

The Bavarian Inn has been a gathering-place for generations - millions before us have come to stay and play, eat chicken dinners and enjoy Bavarian hospitality.  We feasted on the Inn’s all-you-can-eat family-style chicken dinners. The spread -- chicken soup, cabbage salad, mashed potatoes with gravy, string beans, buttered noodles, dressing, cranberry relish, fried chicken, and rhubarb crisp for dessert -- right out of a grandma's cookbook. 

 

The Inn is also a good place to learn how to make pretzels.  We had a lesson from a real expert, but ours still looked a bit strange.  This was not a problem – they tasted great!

 

Zehnder's Holz Brucke (German for wooden bridge) is located over the Cass River and leads to the historical town center.  It is built in a style similar to covered bridges of the Black Forest or a river valley in Switzerland.  The structure is constructed using traditional covered-bridge timber framing techniques, using oak, spruce, Douglas fir, and cedar.  Wooden pegs and trunnels were used instead of nails. 

 

The Bavarian Belle is moored on the river near the covered bridge.  A local family purchased this authentic stern-driven paddle-wheel riverboat, brought it by truck (think WIDE LOAD) from the Mississippi River to Frankenmuth, carefully restored it, and now offers one-hour narrated boat tours of the Frankenmuth area.  This was a wonderfully relaxing way to see the sights!

Located on the town square, the Bavarian Inn Glockenspiel Tower houses a 35-bell carillon, which rings four times a day.  It also sounds the 5-bell Westminster chime on each quarter hour.  On a large stage beneath the bells, the figures act out the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamlin; this tale dates back to the 13^th century and tells of a plague of rats in the German town of Hamlin.  The carved wooden figures and the illuminated clock were imported from Germany. 

 

 

Also on the town square, there is live entertainment every night.  These performers played some traditional German tunes as well as familiar American golden oldies. 

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland claims to be the “World’s Largest Christmas Store, and it may well be; the store covers 2.2 acres and contains some 50,000 ornaments, 500 Nativity scenes, a Christmas-cookie café.

 

 

On the grounds near the store, there is a replica of Austria's "Silent Night" chapel.  The idea for this place took root when the store’s founder (Wally Bronner) visited Austria in 1976 and saw the original St. Nicholas church, where “Silent Night” was first performed, accompanied by guitar, in 1818.  Bronner collected copies of the song in over 300 different languages.

Elsewhere around town, there are plenty of shops to buy things to eat – fudge and taffy were popular spots – and lots of folks seemed to enjoy the horse and buggy rides.  We’re holding out for Mackinac Island.

 

Gnome-hunting is a free activity and a good way to explore the town and meet some locals.  We picked up a gnome hunt sheet and a map at the visitor center and set out in search of the gnomes located in 35 places around town.  They were indoors and out, and none of them were easy to find (up high on shelves, hidden under tables, perched on a tree limb).  We were promised a prize if we found at least 10 gnomes, but the visitor center was closed when we got back from our trek around town.  We’re saving our list for when we get back to Frankenmuth!

Mackinaw City

Michigan has two peninsulas – the Upper and the Lower. Mackinaw City is located at the very top of the Lower Peninsula, where the closest point between the peninsulas is the Straits of Mackinac – approximately 4 miles in length.  Because of the distance and difficulty in getting back and forth between the two peninsulas, the State Highway Department started ferry service in the Straits area in 1923.  Ferry boats were very popular and the demand increased until in their last year of operation, they transported 900,000 vehicles. They simply couldn’t keep up with the demand, leading to the construction of the Mackinac Bridge, which was opened on November 1, 1957.

The Mackinac Bridge is currently the third longest suspension bridge in the world. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan is the longest, followed by the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark.  The Mackinac Bridge is still the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet.

Mackinaw City is also the place to catch the Mackinac Island Ferry.    We hopped aboard Shepler’s Ferry, known as the fastest way to get to the island – 16 minutes.  It was very cloudy that afternoon, but we still got some nice views of the bridge, as well as Mackinac landmarks – the Grand Hotel, the Victorian cottages, and Fort Mackinac. 

 

 

MACKINAC ISLAND

Mackinac Island is a mere speck in gigantic Lake Huron, which forms the eastern border of Michigan.  The early Native Americans thought the island was shaped like a turtle, and at least these turtle images were easy to spot.  The island is only 2 miles wide and 3 miles long, but it holds great historic significance for the state.  Once the center of the American fur trade, today Mackinac Island is a major summer retreat for families and adventurers of all types.  Mackinac Island State Park encompasses 82% of the island; the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. 

 

Cars have been banned on the island since the late 1800s; Michigan State Route 185 is the only state highway in the country that is not utilized by vehicles.  If you want to get around Mackinac, you have to travel by foot, bicycle or horse.  Fortunately, there are 70 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails, as well as 1500 bikes for rent and 500 horses to pull carriages.  These are needed for the islands 1 Million visitors and 500 permanent residents. 

The Grand Hotel sits high on the green hillside, beckoning visitors to a bygone era of old world hospitality and charm. Back to a time of horse-drawn carriages, afternoon tea, and croquet on an endless lawn.  An era of dining to chamber music and dancing the evening away.   The hotel, which was built in 1887, is a grand example of Colonial Revival architecture.  It is the world’s largest summer hotel and boasts that it has the world’s longest front porch (660 feet).  Its slim lines, roof line curves and symmetry of the towering columns give the hotel a graceful appearance. 

 

Hotel porters met us at the ferry and directed us to the waiting carriages to carry us to the Grand Hotel.  It would have been faster to walk to the hotel, but you might as well arrive in style.  Broad steps lead up to the endless porch, with enormous planters overflowing with red geraniums.  Guests relax in the porch’s white rocking chairs and gaze down the steep hill planted with beautiful flowers to the broad green lawn below.  There, vacationers play bocce and croquet or just stroll among the gardens. 

 

 

 

Just beyond the lawn area, there is a trail down to the lake shore.  There we found the monument memorializing the big scene in the movie “Somewhere in Time,” which was filmed in and around the hotel. 

Inside the hotel, each of the 385 guest rooms is uniquely decorated by designer Carleton Varney.  Ours was colorful, to say the least:  turquoise wallpaper, purple carpet, lime green ceiling, and pink & purple flowered bedspreads.  If that wasn’t enough, the bathroom was hot pink to match the beds.  The public areas were also done by Varney with Victorian-style furniture and elegant wallpapers and carpets. 

The view from our room was lovely – we could see lots of Lake Huron, as well as the nearby Round Island, with its iconic Round Island Lighthouse.  It was completed in 1895 and operated until 1947 when a new automatic beacon was built.  Today, the lighthouse serves as a sentinel for the past, reminding visitors of the often precarious sailing and rich history of the Straits of Mackinac. 

Every evening at the Grand Hotel is an event.  Dressing for dinner is still required – good thing we had advance warning!  Dinner in the Main Dining Room is an elegant five course affair.  After dinner, there’s coffee and music in the Grand Parlor, followed by music for dancing in the Terrace Room. 

 

We mostly relied on our feet to get around the island – it’s not very big and there’s not much traffic in May.  We did have a buggy ride island tour one morning – it really is a delightful way to travel.  It was nice to ride through the inner sections of the state park - lots of wildflowers in bloom.

From the hotel, it’s a short walk (or buggy ride) to those impressive Victorian cottages that we saw from the ferry. These “cottages” have been an element of the landscape for about 125 years.  They have become a part of the history, ambiance and character of the island.  Summer and permanent residents own the 40 historic cottages on the East Bluff and West Bluff and along the shore by the marina, and many of which are worth several million dollars. But the property the houses sit on is owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the cottage owners lease the property from the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, usually for 20-year stints. 

 

 

 

Another great house, built in 1902, the Michigan Governor's summer residence on Mackinac Island is a three-story structure located on a bluff overlooking the Straights of Mackinac. The residence was originally built as a summer cottage for a Chicago attorney; it was purchased in 1944 by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and since then, the Commission has maintained the residence.  The house is approximately 7,100 square feet and has eleven bedrooms, nine and one-half bathrooms and a full basement.  It is open is used by the Governor to host important events with national and state leaders. The house was named to the National Register of Historical Places in 1997.

Historic Fort Mackinac sits near the center of the island and the Mackinac Island State Park, on a bluff overlooking the village and the harbor.  The fort was founded in 1780, and its possession was traded several times between Britain and America several times in the years after the Revolutionary War and before the War of 1812.  All the buildings are original and include some of the oldest public buildings in Michigan. 

In front of the fort is Missionary Bark Chapel, is a reconstruction patterned after the chapels built on the island in the late 1600s.   According to descriptions by Jesuit missionaries, these bark chapels were built among the Indians of the Great Lakes.  In such primitive huts, far from civilization, the courageous French "black robes" lived and sought to turn the minds of the savages to Christianity.  Father Claude Dablon wintered on Mackinac Island in 1670-71 to carry on his missionary work here.  Wonder he didn’t freeze to death.

 

Behind the fort, the Post Cemetery was the final resting place for Fort Mackinac soldiers and their families. Local tradition is that both American and British soldiers from the War of 1812 are buried here, as well as several civilians.   There are about 108 burials in the cemetery, but only 39 of those graves are identified - the simple wooden grave markers have long since decayed and disappeared.  

Elsewhere in the state park, there are some interesting geological features.  Arch Rock is a natural limestone arch formed during a post-glacial period when high lake levels and wave action created openings in the rock.   It stands 146 feet over the Lake Huron shoreline--nearly 15 stories tall. In the local Indian tradition, the Great Creator blew the breath of life into the newly formed earth and created Arch Rock. The rock’s limestone formation took thousands of years by wind, water and receding glaciers to be created.  It was a bit foggy that morning, so horse and buggy made a nice way to get there! 

 

Skull Cave is a small natural cave that was originally carved out of the rock by the natural processes of the long-since disappeared Lake Algonquin. The little cavern earned its current name in the 18th century when the local Native Americans began using the natural niche as a burial spot.  After being used by countless generations of Native Americans, it was quite a grisly site by the time it was “discovered” by a fur trader in 1763.  Looking for somewhere to hide, the trader took refuge in the cave and later wrote that he had spent the night on “nothing less than a heap of human bones and skulls, which covered the floor!”

Most island activity is centered in the village – a stretch of shops and restaurants along the shore near the ferry landings.  Carriages clip-clop down the street while bicycles roll through town.  There may not be any cars here, but there are plenty of horse-drawn wagons and buggies to transport everything that needs to move around the island – people, hay, compost, recycling, sod, plants, groceries, goods and supplies for shops and restaurants.  There’s even a taxi stand for the horse-drawn taxis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving a team of horses around the island may seem like fun, but traffic jams happen here, as well as the island’s version of road rage (sometimes it’s the driver, sometimes it’s the horse).  The drivers also take care of the horses – keeping them and the stables fresh and clean.  Fortunately for them, there’s another team of workers to keep the streets reasonably clean.  It’s still important to watch where you step.  

 

Mackinac Island is well-known for its fudge, especially the double chocolate variety.  Island fudge-makers import 10 tons of butter per year, as well as 10 tons of sugar per week during peak season to make their signature treat.  Nearly 80% of the sugar used comes from the state of Michigan.  There are 14 fudge shops on the island, most making their candy on marble-top tables right in front of the shop, so you get a free show with your purchase.   

 

Commerce isn't limited to fudge shops.  The Straits of Mackinac was a center of the fur trade from the late 1680s, and by 1805, activity was centered in John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. This is where furs and other trade goods were processed.  A retail store was established in 1820 as an outlet so the company could sell surplus merchandise to employees, community residents and soldiers from the fort.  

Stepping into Doud’s Market is America’s oldest family-operated grocery store. This Mackinac Island landmark is steeped in history — with reminders in the form of family pictures that stretch back to 1884 when it was founded by brothers James and Patrick Doud. 

All over town, there are charming and/or historic houses and other buildings.  Here are a few examples:  

 

The Stuart House was built in 1817 to house the resident agent of Astor’s American Fur Trading Company.  Robert Stuart was the agent living there until 1835, when the fur trade had greatly declined.  It has been used as a boarding house and a hotel; today it houses the city museum.

The Astor House was established as headquarters for the American Fur Company, and for a time William Backhouse Astor lived here and ran the business from here.  Most of the wealth of the Astor empire began on Mackinac Island in this house.

Constructed about 1852, Island House was one of the first summer hotels on Mackinac Island. By the 1880s the Island House was known as "The best family hotel on the island."  Today, it still serves as a popular resort hotel.

The Lake View House, now known as the Lake View Hotel, is one of the oldest continuously operated hotels on Mackinac Island.  In the 1890s as Mackinac Island became a Midwestern tourist mecca, the hotel was enlarged; it’s still going strong today. 

And then there are churches.  Catholic missionaries may have been the first to arrive at Mackinac Island, but other denominations were soon to follow.

The Union Congregational Church, locally known as the Little Stone Church, was established in 1900.  Local residents and summer visitors donated funds for its construction. The structure was built of Mackinac Island stones in an eclectic Gothic style. Its stained glass windows tell the story of the Protestant movement on the Island.

Sainte Anne Church: In 1670, Jesuit Father Charles Dablon founded a birchbark mission chapel on Mackinac Island.  Abandoned in 1706 and reestablished around 1715, the new church was named Sainte Anne de Michilimackinac.  The church is the nation's oldest dedicated to Saint Anne and maintains baptismal records dating from April 1695.

Trinity Episcopal Church was built in 1882 to house the parish that had been holding services on the island since 1837. For many years the congregation met in the post Chapel at Fort Mackinac and in the Court House.  The church furnishings include an altar of hand-carved walnut, and two chancel chairs made by soldiers at the fort.

Last but not least, here is the City Hall and Police Station.  

 


Dearborn

Dearborn  is part of the Detroit metropolitan area.  First settled in the late 18th century by French farmers along the Rouge River, the community grew with the establishment of the Detroit Arsenal on the Chicago Road linking Detroit and Chicago. It later grew into a manufacturing hub for the automotive industry.

The city of Dearborn was the home of Henry Ford, who bought up farmland just outside the city for his estate, Fair Lane, and the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters. Today this area is also home to the Dearborn Proving Grounds, the Henry Ford (a reconstructed historic village and museum), the Henry Ford Centennial Library, the super-regional shopping mall Fairlane Town Center, and the Dearborn Civic Center. The remaining open land is planted with sunflowers and soybeans (Henry Ford's favorite). The crops are never harvested.

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and the sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production.  Although Ford invented neither the automobile nor the assembly line, he developed and manufactured the first automobile that middle class Americans could afford. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the 20th Century. His Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry.

As the owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation began as Henry Ford's personal collection of historic objects, which he began collecting as far back as 1906. Today, the 12-acre site is a collection of antique machinery, pop culture items, automobiles, locomotives, aircraft, made-in-America artifacts and anything else that caught Ford’s interest.  Some items include:

An Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile.  

The 1961 Lincoln Continental that President John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated, as well as vehicles that carried Presidents Eisenhower, FDR, and Teddy Roosevelt.

 

 

The rocking chair from Ford's Theatre in which President Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was shot.

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A collection of 17th- and 18th-century violins including a Stradivarius.

Thomas Edison's alleged last breath in a sealed tube.

Buckminster Fuller's prototype Dymaxion house.

The bus on which Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

A 1940s diner and neon signs from other American classics.

 

Bill Elliott's record-breaking race car clocking in at over 212 MPH at Talladega in 1987

Large and small locomotives.  The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Allegheny-class steam locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, was the most powerful steam locomotive ever built.

 

And more:  early airplanes, early tractors, and cars, cars, cars