There are many facets to Mackinac Island. The most well known one being tourism:
You will note that the two main Mackinac Island tourism benefactors are featured on the far left. They would be Jane Seymour and the late Christopher Reeves.
Mackinac Island has an official island map distributed by the tourism bureau and referred to by official bodies like the city council. On it, there is a special insert showing all of the official Somewhere in Time “historic sites” throughout the island.
Enough said.
(Not to worry, I intend to devote a day to going on a whirlwind tour of culture and sophistication to see said sites of great history. I’ll keep you posted.)
I’m fairly confident that the other people featured in this picture have not visited Mackinac Island, but you get the idea. Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour are everywhere. You can buy their 1980 faces on mugs, sweatshirts, mouse pads, socks, charm bracelets, anything you never knew you needed with Somewhere in Time on it.
This tourism aspect of the island is cheesy but has its advantages. First of all, residents, of which I am considered, get discounts at all of the gift shops, fudge shops and most restaurants. Score!
Second, while it is a little tacky—and those middle school tour groups get under your skin VERY quickly—it is pretty darn wholesome. The gift shop owners are not creepy guys standing on curbs shouting, “hey, girlie, wanna buy a sweatshirt?” They’re usually retired people from down state, like Buzz, the man who owns the other half of the building the Town Crier rents. Buzz is a retired school teacher—from Flint, I believe—who owns the upper-scale gift shop in the front of our building.
The view from Fort Mackinac
Though the tourists who come here may overvalue the “history” of the sites on Mackinac Island (one woman coming over from St. Ignace with us photographed everything from her luggage being loaded onto the ferry to the cannon outside the fort that was only added in the ’90s) they are mostly coming here to keep it in the family. Traveling within Michigan, but still going somewhere far-removed from daily life.
And though people can’t afford to jet off to Barbados anymore, there are definitely some nicer options on the island containing less contact with fudgies.
The Fudgeless Part
The state park comprises 80 percent, or 1,800 acres, of the 2,317.5 acre-wide Mackinac Island. It is truly beautiful.
View from Arch Rock
Obviously, the fact that there are no cars along Mackinac Island’s highway M-185 (yes, a legally recognized highway), adds a lot to the pure-nature feel.
Arch Rock
And, to me at least, the Great Lakes are truly spectacular. I don’t think I will ever get tired of looking at Lake Huron (and Lake Michigan). If I ever have three stories to write and deadline is tomorrow (which never happens), or get bogged down after dealing with some nasty interviewee for a story, I just go down to the water, and it all melts away. Be it a glorious, sunny day or a frigid rainy one, the lakes are wonderful. They’re just so expansive and humbling. My issues always look a bit smaller.
Combine the water with caves and cliffs like Arch Rock and Sugar Loaf, and you’ve got a pretty darn gorgeous bike ride through the state park.
I wish I could make it out there more often, but, of course, all of the people, and therefore the stories, are back in town, so I’m usually only out there when I can squeeze a run or bike ride into my day.
It should be noted that the entire human population of Mackinac Island doesn’t live right on the two streets you see when you get off the ferry. Most of the lower-budget full-time residents live in Harrisonville, a couple streets just up the hill from Grand Hotel. Some locals refer to Harrisonville as “the village.”
There are, of course, many wealthier residents who have houses closer to the water. (The uber-expensive mansions are up on the hill tops, like on the southwest side of the island. They’re the houses with all the tiers you see coming over on the ferry.)
Other than the mansions scattered about, most of the homes are pretty modest, but nonetheless costly. This house here is 2800 sq ft, slightly nicer than Harrisonville, but not a hilltop mansion. It’s going for $645,000 (reduced from $785,000).
This next guy has been trying to sell his house for years. It’s a mansion right downtown by the marina. He keeps developing “newsworthy” events to do with his house so he can get it in the paper. It’s called Anne Cottage. Nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms. Jacuzzi, sitting room, library and a billiard room (which I think I’ve only seen on a Clue game board). It’s up for grabs at a mere $3.5 million.
The following one is in Harrisonville. Most of the houses there look like something you’d find in any middle-of-nowhere, northern Michigan town. It’s 1,320 sq ft and is going for $279,900.
Most of the year-round residents (about 600 island-wide) live in Harrisonville.
Resident Life
Mackinac Island Public School. It has a beautiful view of the bridge.
Mackinac Island Public School has its own district (Mackinac Island School District, go figure). The superintendent is, therefore, is also the principal. It has all grades K-12, but many are combined. Kindergarten and first are together, sixth and seventh, and others depending on how many kids are in the grade each year.
There were 77 kids in the school this year. The graduating class had 10. One year, the graduating class consisted of one boy and one girl. Kerri (the other intern) and I wonder if they dated but are too embarrassed to ask.
The school sports teams do pretty well, considering the same kids seem to play on all of them, but at least anyone who tries out gets to play. Oftentimes they combine with other area teams for games, and school alumni volunteer to fill in the gaps during practices when, for example, the volleyball team has only three girls. Often, they can’t compete in regional or state competitions because there is a minimum team size requirement.
Another view of the school. It's larger than it looks and beside it is the Grand Hotel grounds.
The school itself is beautiful. It’s right on the water, and was just remodeled in 2000. It consists of one large hallway, with a huge, new gym at the end. Barb, the secretary, says kids start school on one end in Kindergarten, and walk out the other end of the hallway a graduate.
All in all, it seems like a great place to go to school. Students may not get all of the experiences of other schools, but they do get plenty of individual attention, and, in many ways, they have more opportunities than the rest of us had in school. Everyone participates in everything–the sports teams, and the school play, and the extracurriculars, and everyone wins the awards and get the scholarships.
This is mirrored in the town and government itself. There is a bit of bureaucracy/nepotism. The city council, school board and most of the committees consist of the same group of people, and Margaret Doud has been the mayor for 35 years. Everyone knows about everyone and everything going on. This does help at times when they can make allowances in their policing because they are personally familiar with the details of each situation.
View from school
When I see the same few people in meeting after meeting, I have to wonder a little why they voluntarily dedicate the majority of their lives to sitting in meetings and dealing with paperwork, but, honestly, the reason is because they all really care.
Even the rude, argumentative ones and the stubborn ones afraid of change (because even a town as small as Mackinac Island has to have them), all debate, make controversy, and make tedious rules and amendments because they care about the community and they want to help it.
It’s frustrating, mystifying and endearing all at once.
I think that description can be applied to most of Mackinac Island.
