Mackinac Island

Infobox Islands
name = Mackinac


image caption =
locator
location map|Michigan|label=Mackinac Island|mark=Green pog.svg|lat_dir=N|lat_deg=45|lat_min=51|lat_sec=40|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=84|lon_min=37|lon_sec=50
map_custom = yes
native name = Michilimackinac
native name link =Menominee language
location = Lake Huron
coordinates=coord|45|51|40|N|84|37|50|W|type:isle
archipelago =
total islands = Three
major islands = Mackinac, Bois Blanc, Round
area =convert|3.776|sqmi|km2|3|abbr=on
highest mount = Fort Holmes
elevation = convert|890|ft|m|0|disp=/|abbr=on
country = United States
country admin divisions title = State
country admin divisions = Michigan
country largest city = Mackinac Island
country largest city population = 523
country 1 =
country 1 admin divisions title = County
country 1 admin divisions =Mackinac County
country 1 largest city =
country 1 largest city population =
country 2 =
country 2 admin divisions title =
country 2 admin divisions =
country 2 largest city =
country 2 largest city population =
population = 523 residents and as many as 15,000 tourists per day during peak season
population as of = 2000
density =
ethnic groups =Infobox_nrhp | name =Mackinac Island
nrhp_type = nhld


caption = Bikers on M-185 (Main Street) at mile marker 0 in downtown Mackinac Island
location= Mackinac Island, Michigan
lat_degrees = 45
lat_minutes = 51
lat_seconds = 45
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 72
long_minutes = 37
long_seconds = 51
long_direction = W
locmapin = Michigan
area =
architect= Unknown
architecture= No Style Listed
designated = October 9, 1960cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=275&ResourceType=District
title=Mackinac Island |accessdate=2008-06-27|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966
governing_body = State
refnum=66000397cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Mackinac Island (pronEng|ˈmækɨnɔː respell|MAK|in-aw) is an island covering Convert|3.8|sqmi|km2|1 in land area, belonging to the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European exploration began in the 17th century. It served a strategic position amidst the commerce of the Great Lakes fur trade. This led to the establishment of Fort Mackinac on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the scene of two battles during the War of 1812.

In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. Much of the island has undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration; as a result, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. It is well known for its numerous cultural events; its wide variety of architectural styles, including the famous Victorian Grand Hotel; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.

Description

Mackinac Island is about Convert|8|mi|km|0 in circumference and Convert|3.8|sqmi|km2|1 in total area. The highest point of the island is the historic Fort Holmes (originally called Fort George by the British before 1815), which is Convert|320|ft|m|0 above the lake level and Convert|890|ft|m|0 above sea level. According to the 2000 census, the island has a year-round population of 523. [cite web | title = Mackinac Island, Michigan | publisher = city-data.com | url = http://www.city-data.com/city/Mackinac-Island-Michigan.html | accessdate =2007-03-14 ] The population grows considerably during the summer as hotels, restaurants, bars and retail shops, open only during the summer season, hire short-term employees to accommodate as many as 15,000 visitors per day. [cite web | title = Eselco Inc · 10-K405 · For 12/31/96 · EX-13 | publisher =SEC Info | date =1997-03-31 | url = http://www.secinfo.com/dRqWm.8b28.d.htm | accessdate =2007-03-14 ] [cite web
title = Welcome to Mackinac Island
publisher = Superior Sights
url = http://www.superiorsights.com/cities/mackinacisland.html
accessdate = 2007-03-14 ]

The island can be reached by private boat, by ferry, by small aircraft, and in the winter, by snowmobile. The airport has a Convert|3500|ft|m|-1 paved runway, and charter air service from the mainland is available. [cite web | title = By Air | publisher = Mackinac.com |url=http://www.mackinac.com/content/gettinghere/byair.html | accessdate = 2007-03-14 ] In the summer tourist season, three separate ferry services shuttle visitors to the island from St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.cite web | title = Mackinac Island FAQs | publisher = Mackinac State Historic Parks | url = http://www.mackinacparks.com/parks/mackinac-island-faqs_39/ | accessdate =2007-03-14 ]

Motorized vehicles have been prohibited on the island since 1898, with the exception of snowmobiles during winter, emergency vehicles, and service vehicles. Travel on the island is either by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. Roller skates and roller blades are also allowed, except in the downtown area. Bicycles, roller skates/roller blades, carriages, and saddle horses are available for rent. An convert|8|mi|km|adj=on road follows the island's perimeter, and numerous roads, trails and paths cover the interior. [cite news
last =Dearle
first =Brian
title = Mackinac Island
publisher = The New Colonist
url = http://www.newcolonist.com/mackinac.html
accessdate =2007-03-14 ] The road encircling the island and closely hugging the shoreline is M-185, the United States' only state highway without motorized vehicles. [cite web
title =Exhibits
publisher = Mackinac Island State Parks
url = http://www.mackinacparks.com/exhibits/mackinac-island-state-park_9/
accessdate = 2007-03-14 ]

The island is the location of Mackinac Island State Park, which covers about 80 percent of the island and includes Fort Mackinac and portions of the island's historic downtown and harbor. No camping is allowed on the island, but numerous hotels and bed and breakfasts are available. [cite web
title = Accommodations
publisher = Mackinac.com
url = http://www.mackinac.com/content/accommodations/index.html
accessdate = 2007-03-14 ]

The downtown streets are lined with many retail stores, candy shops, and restaurants. A popular item at the candy shops is the locally produced and nationally known "Mackinac Island fudge", leading to tourists sometimes being referred to as "fudgies". Many shops sell a variety of fudge, and some of the confectioners have been operating for more than a century. The popularity of the fudge has lead to the sales and marketing of Mackinac Island fudge not only throughout Michigan, but outside the state of Michigan as well. [cite news
last =Straus
first = Frank
title = The Sweet Surrender of Mackinac Island Fudge
publisher = Mackinac Island Town Crier
date = 2006-02-11
url =http://www.mackinacislandnews.com/news/2006/0211/Columnist/053.html
accessdate = 2007-03-14 ] [cite web
last = Slevin
first =Mary McGuire
title = Shopping
publisher = Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau
url =http://www.mackinacisland.org/shopping.html
accessdate =2007-05-30 ]

History

Archaeologists have excavated prehistoric fishing camps on Mackinac Island and in the surrounding areas. Fishhooks, pottery, and other artifacts establish a Native American presence at least 700 years before European exploration, around AD 900. The island is a sacred place in the tradition of some of its earliest known inhabitants, the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribes, who consider it to be home to the Gitche Manitou, or the "Great Spirit". According to legend, Mackinac Island was created by the Great Hare, Michabou and was the first land to appear after the recession of the Great Flood. [cite web | last =Zacharias
first =Pat | title =The breathtaking Mackinac Bridge | work =Detroit News | url =http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=156&category=locations | accessdate =2007-07-18 ] The island was a gathering place for the local tribes where their offerings were made to Gitche Manitou and was where tribal chiefs were buried.

The first European likely to have seen Mackinac Island is Jean Nicolet, a French-Canadian coureur de bois, during his 1634 explorations. The Jesuit priest Claude Dablon founded a mission for the Native Americans on Mackinac Island in 1670, and stayed over the winter of 1670-71. Dablon's fall 1671 successor, the missionary and explorer Jacques Marquette, moved the mission to St. Ignace soon after his arrival.cite book | last =Hamilton | first =Raphael N., S.J | title =Father Marquette | publisher =William B. Eerdmans | location =Grand Rapids | pages = 43 ] cite book | last =Boynton | first =James, S.J. | title =Fishers of Men: The Jesuit Mission at Mackinac, 1670-1765 | publisher =Ste. Anne's Church | year =1996 | location =Mackinac Island | pages =14-15] With the mission as a focus, the Straits of Mackinac quickly became an important French fur trading location. The British took control of the Straits of Mackinac after the French and Indian War and Major Patrick Sinclair chose the bluffs of the island for Fort Mackinac in 1780.cite web
last =Petersen
first =Eugene T.
title = High Cliffs
publisher = Mackinac.com
url = http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_highcliffes.html
accessdate = 2007-03-04 ] cite web
last =Slevin
first= Mary McGuire
title = History
publisher = MackinacIsland.org
url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/history.html
accessdate = 2007-03-08 ]

Although the British built Fort Mackinac to protect their settlement from attack by Americans and native tribes, the fort was never attacked during the American Revolutionary War and the entire Straits area was officially acquired by the United States through the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, much of the British forces did not leave the Great Lakes area until after Jay's Treaty established U.S. sovereignty over the entire Northwest Territory in 1794. [cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Brinkley |title=American History: A Survey |year=2003|edition=11 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education |location=New York |isbn=0-07-242436-2 |pages=141, 173] During the War of 1812, the British captured the fort in the first battle of the conflict because the Americans had not yet heard that war had been declared. The victorious British attempted to protect their prize by building Fort George on the high ground behind Fort Mackinac. In 1814, the Americans and British fought a second battle on the north side of the island. The American second-in-command, Major Andrew Hunter Holmes, was killed and the Americans failed to recapture the island.

Despite this outcome, the Treaty of Ghent forced the British to return the island and surrounding mainland to the U.S. in 1815. The United States reoccupied Fort Mackinac, and renamed Fort George "Fort Holmes", after Major Holmes.cite web | last =Brennan | first =James | title =Fort Holmes | publisher = The Michigan Historical Marker Web Site | url = http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0078.htm | accessdate =2007-03-04] Fort Mackinac remained under the control of the United States government until 1895 and provided volunteers to defend the Union during the American Civil War. The fort even served as a prison for three Confederate sympathizers.

John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company was centered on Mackinac Island after the War of 1812 and exported beaver pelts for thirty years. By the middle of the 19th century, commercial fishing for whitefish and lake trout began to replace the fur trade as the island's primary industry. As sport fishing became more popular in the 1880s, hotels and restaurants accommodated tourists coming by train or lake boat from Detroit and similar cities.

Following the Civil War, the island became a popular tourist destination for residents of cities on the Great Lakes. Much of the federal land on Mackinac Island was designated as Mackinac National Park in 1875, just three years after Yellowstone was designated as the first national park. To accommodate an influx of tourists in the 1880s, the boat and railroad companies built hotels, including the Grand Hotel. Souvenir shops began to spring up as a way for island residents to profit from the tourists. Many wealthy industrialists built summer cottages along the island's bluffs for extended stays. When the federal government left the island in 1895, all of the federal land, including Fort Mackinac, was given to the state of Michigan and became Michigan's first state park. The Mackinac Island State Park Commission appointed to oversee the island has limited private development in the park and requires leaseholders to maintain the island's distinctive Victorian architecture.cite web
last =Petersen
first =Eugene T.
title =A Historic Treasure Preserved
publisher = Mackinac.com
url =http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_nocars.html
accessdate = 2007-03-05 ] cite web
last =Petersen
first =Eugene T.
title =The Victorian Era: A Resort Meca
publisher = Mackinac.com
url = http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_victorian.html
accessdate =2007-03-05 ]

Motor vehicles were restricted at the end of the 19th century because of concerns for the health and safety of the island's residents and horses after local carriage drivers complained that automobiles startled their horses. This ban continues to the present with exceptions only for emergency and construction vehicles.cite web
last =Slevin
first= Mary McGuire
title = Mackinac Island Fact Sheet
publisher = Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau
url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/pdfs/mackinacislandfactsheet.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-03-05 ]

Etymology

Like many historic places in the Great Lakes region, Mackinac Island's name derives from a Native American language. Native Americans in the Straits of Mackinac region likened the shape of the island to that of a turtle. Therefore, they named it "Mitchimakinak" (Ojibwe "mishi-mikinaak") [cite book|last=Nichols|first=John D.|coauthors=Nyholm, Earl|title=A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|year=1995] meaning "big turtle". The French used a version of the original pronunciation: Michilimackinac. However, the English shortened it to the present name: "Mackinac." [cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |title=Mackinaw |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Mackinaw |accessdate=2007-03-08] [cite web |last=Ferjutz |first=Kelly |title=Broadcloth, Brocade and Buckskin -- Return to the past on Mackinac Island |publisher=FrugalFun.com |url=http://www.frugalfun.com/mackinack.html |accessdate=2007-03-08]

Historic places

All of Mackinac Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in October 1960. In addition, because of the island's long history and preservation efforts starting in the 1890s, eight separate locations on the island, and a ninth site on adjacent Round Island, are listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places.

*Fort Mackinac was built in 1780 and was closed as a fort in 1895 as it no longer had any strategic purpose. It has been restored to its late 19th century state through efforts beginning in the 1930s. [cite web
title = Fort Mackinac
work =Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula
publisher = Midwestern Guides
url = http://hunts-upguide.com/city_of_mackinac_island_fort_mackinac.html
accessdate =2007-05-23 ] [cite web
title = A Brief History of Fort Mackinac
publisher = Mackinac Island State Park Commission
url =http://www.mackinacparks.com/parks/a-brief-history-of-fort-mackinac_606/
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*The Matthew Geary House was built in 1846, was added to the register in 1971, and is now available for vacation rentals. [cite web
title = Geary House Rental
publisher = Mackinac Island State Park Commission
url = http://www.mackinacparks.com/parks/geary-house-rental_583/
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*The Grand Hotel is a Victorian-style structure that opened in 1887. It gained national prominence after the 1980 film "Somewhere in Time" was shot on location at the hotel. [cite web
title = Grand Hotel
publisher = Roadside America
url = http://www.roadsideamerica.com/hotels_motels/hotelinfo/93841.html
accessdate =2007-09-10 ]

*The Indian Dormitory was constructed after the signing of the 1836 Treaty of Washington as a place for Native Americans visiting the island to receive their yearly allotments and as a school. The building was restored in 1966 and converted to a museum. It has not been open to the public since 2003, and since has fallen into disrepair with no plans to reopen it in the next few years. [cite web
last = Petersen
first = Eugene
title = Indian Dormitory
work = History of Mackinac Island
publisher = Mackinac.com
url = http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_indian.html
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*Mission Church was built in 1829 and is the oldest surviving church building in Michigan. Restoration efforts have returned the church to its 1830s appearance. [cite web
title = Your Wedding at Mission Church
publisher = Mackinac Island State Park Commission
url = http://www.mackinacparks.com/parks/your-wedding-at-mission-church-_108/
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*Mission House was built in 1825 as a boarding school for Native American children. It became a hotel in 1849 and a rooming house in 1939. It is restored and now houses State Park employees. [cite web
title = Mission House
publisher = MI State Historic Preservation Objects
url = http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/9195.htm
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*The Round Island Lighthouse is located just south of the island on the small, uninhabited Round Island. The light was built in 1894 and automated in 1924. Extensive restoration efforts began in the 1970s and the exterior and structure have since been repaired. [cite web
last = Pepper
first = Terry
title = Round Island Light
date =2003-12-12
url = http://www.terrypepper.com/Lights/huron/roundisland/roundisland.htm
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*The Agency House of the American Fur Company was built in 1820 as the home for the company's Mackinac Island agent, Robert Stuart. It is now open to the public as a fur trade museum. [cite web
title = Market Street, 1820s fur trade center
work = Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula
publisher = Midwestern Guides
url = http://hunts-upguide.com/city_of_mackinac_island_market_street__1820s_fur_trade_center.html
accessdate =2007-05-23 ]

*The Michigan Governor's Summer Residence was built overlooking the harbor in 1902 and was purchased by the state for use as a governor's residence in 1943. [cite web
title = Governor's Summer Residence Tours
publisher = Mackinac Island State Park Commission
url = http://www.mackinacparks.com/events.phtml?event=1&catid=24&month=8&year=2005&eventid=7
accessdate = 2007-05-23 ]

*The entire island, Haldimand Bay, and a small shipwreck form a historic district.cite web
title = MICHIGAN - Mackinac County
publisher =Nationalregisterofhistoricalplaces.com
url =http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/mi/Mackinac/state.html
accessdate =2007-03-09 ]
*Post Cemetery, one of four locations in the United States where the U.S. flag is always flown at half-staff.

Culture

Mackinac Island is home to many cultural events, including an annual show of American art from the Masco collection of 19th-century works at the Grand Hotel. There are at least five art galleries on the island. [cite web | last =Slevin | first =Mary McGuire | title = The Arts | publisher =Mackinacisland.org | url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/arts.html | accessdate =2007-03-10 ] Mackinac Island has been the setting of two feature films: "This Time for Keeps" in 1946 and "Somewhere in Time," filmed at the Grand Hotel and various other locations on the island in 1979. [cite web | title = Titles with locations including Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA | publisher = IMDB | url = http://www.imdb.com/List?endings=on&&locations=Mackinac%20Island,%20Michigan,%20USA&&heading=18;with+locations+including;Mackinac%20Island,%20Michigan,%20USA | accessdate = 2007-07-20] Mackinac Island has been written about and visited by many influential writers including Alexis De Tocqueville, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Edward Everett Hale, Mark Twain, and Constance Fenimore Woolson. Favorable growing conditions have allowed lilacs to thrive on the island. Since 1949, the island's residents have been celebrating the lilacs with an annual 10-day festival, culminating in a horse-drawn parade that has been recognized as a local legacy event by the Library of Congress. [cite web
title = History
publisher = Mackinac Island Lilac Festival
url = http://www.mackinacislandlilacfestival.com/
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ] [cite web | title =Tocqueville's Mackinac | work =Tocqueville's America | publisher = University of Virginia | url = http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/TOUR/macktxt.html | accessdate =2007-07-20 ] [cite web | title = Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 | publisher = University of Illinois Press | url = http://www.press.uillinois.edu/pre95/0-252-06164-0.html | accessdate =2007-07-20 ] [cite web | title =Preservation of Thoreau Country | publisher = The Thoreau Society | year =2006 | url = http://www.thoreausociety.org/_resources_preservation.htm | accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] [cite web | last = Havranek | first = Carrie | title = Lose Yourself on the Tiny, Exclusive, Still-Affordable Mackinac Island | publisher =Frommer's | date = 2005-05-19 | url = http://www.frommers.com/articles/2834.html | accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] [cite web | title = Michigan Salutes Mackinac Island | work = DOCUMENTS NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE | publisher = Michigan State University | month = June | year = 1995 | url=http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/red_tape/stat9502.htm#3 | accessdate =2007-07-20 ]

Most of the buildings on Mackinac Island are built of wood, a few are of stone, and most have clapboard siding.cite web | title = National Historic Landmark Nomination - Mackinac Island | publisher = United States Department of the Interior | url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/pdfs/nationalhistoriclandmark.pdf | format = PDF | accessdate =2007-03-10 ] The architectural styles on the island span 300 years, from the earliest Native American structures to the styles of the 19th century. The earliest structures were built by the Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Chippewa tribes before European exploration. At least two buildings still exist from the original French settlement in the late 18th century, making Mackinac Island the only example of northern French rustic architecture in the United States, and one of few survivors in North America. Fort Mackinac, with its whitewashed stone walls instead of the more traditional wood, is a European adaptation of Islamic military architecture. Mackinac Island also contains examples of Federalist, Colonial, and Greek revival styles. Much of the island, however, is built in the style of the Victorian era which includes Gothic Revival, Stick style, Italianate, Second Empire, Richardson Romanesque and Queen Anne styles. The most recent styles used on the island date from the late 1800s to the 1930s and include the Colonial and Tudor revival styles. [cite web
last =Slevin
first =Mary McGuire
title = Architecture
publisher =Mackinacisland.org
url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/architecture.html
accessdate =2007-03-10 ]

The island's newspaper is the "Mackinac Island Town Crier", owned and operated by Wesley H. Maurer Sr. and his family since 1957 as training for journalism students. [cite web
title = ST. IGNACE
work = Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula
publisher = Midwestern Guides
url = http://hunts-upguide.com/st__ignace_detail.html
accessdate = 2007-05-22 ] It is published weekly from May through September and bimonthly during the rest of the year. [cite web
title =Contact Us
publisher = Mackinac Island Town Crier
url = http://www.mackinacislandnews.com/common/contactus.html
accessdate = 2007-05-22 ]

Honor Scouts

Every summer, Mackinac Island accommodates at least 50 Michigan Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts over alternate weeks. These scouts serve the state as the Mackinac Island Governor's Honor Guard. The program began in 1929, when the State Park Commission invited eight Eagle Scouts, including young Gerald Ford, to serve as honor guards for the Michigan governor. In 1974, the program was expanded to include Girl Scouts. The program is popular and selective. Scouts raise and lower all of the flags in the city and in Fort Mackinac, serve as guides, and complete service projects during their stay. These scouts live in the Scout Barracks located behind the fort. [cite web
title = Mackinac Island Honor Scouts
publisher = Girl Scouts - Michigan Trails
url = http://www.gsmt.org/programs-mihs.shtml
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ] [cite news
last =Wilson
first =Suzanne
title = A 75-Year Tradition of Summer Service
work = Scouting Magazine
date = May-June 2005
url =http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0505/a-year.html
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ] [cite web
title = Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp
publisher = upscouting.org
url = http://www.upscouting.org/missc/media/2008MISSCFacts.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ]

Ecology

Mackinac Island contains a wide variety of terrain, including fields, marshes, bogs, coastline, boreal forest, and limestone formations. The environment is legally preserved on the island by the State Historic Park designation. About half of the shoreline and adjacent waters off Mackinac Island, including the harbor (Haldimand Bay) and the southern and western shore from Mission Point to Pointe aux Pins, is protected as part of the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve, a state marine park. [cite news
last = Bailey
first = Dan Holden
title = Mackinac Straits
work = Diver Magazine
date = September 1999
url = http://divermag.com/archives/sept99/mackinac_sep99.html
accessdate = 2007-05-23 ]

As it is separated from the mainland by 3 miles (4.8 km) of water, few mammals inhabit the island, except those that traverse the ice during the winter months. Coyotes have recently been reported.cite web | title = Coyote Population Begins To Cause Concern on Mackinac Island | publisher = St. Ignace News | url = http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2006/1026/News/100.html| accessdate = 2008-04-12] Bats are the most abundant mammals as crossing the water is no obstacle for them. There are many limestone caves serving as homes for the bats and many insects on the island for the bat to prey on. The island is frequented by migratory birds on their trips between their summer and winter habitats. Eagles and hawks are abundant in April and May, while smaller birds such as Yellow Warblers, American Redstart, and Indigo Bunting are more common in early summer. Near the shoreline, gulls, herons, geese, and loons are common. Owls, including Snowy Owls and Great Grey Owls, come to the island from the Arctic to hunt in the warmer climate. Other birds, such as chickadees, cardinals, Blue Jays, and woodpeckers, live on the island year-round. Toads have also been found. cite web
last =Slevin
first= Mary McGuire
title = Ecosystem
publisher = MackinacIsland.org
url = http://www.mackinacisland.org/ecosystem.html
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] Mackinac Island contains over 600 species of vascular plants. Flowering plants and wildflowers are abundant, including Trillium, Trout Lily, Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Buttercups, and Hawkweeds in the forests and Orchids, Fringed Gentian and Jack-in-the-Pulpit along the shoreline. The island's forests are home to many varieties of trees, such as maple, birch, elm, cedar, pine, and spruce.

Geology

Mackinac Island was formed as the glaciers of the last ice age began to melt around 13,000 BC. The bedrock strata that underlie the island are much older, dating to Late Silurian and Early Devonian time, about 400 to 420 million years ago. Subsurface deposits of halite (rock salt) dissolved, allowing the collapse of overlying limestones; these once-broken but now solidified rocks comprise the Mackinac Breccia.

The melting glaciers formed the Great Lakes, and the receding lakewaters eroded the limestone bedrock, forming the island's steep cliffs and rock formations. At least three previous lake levels are known, two of them higher than the present shore: Algonquin lakeshores date to about 10,000 years ago, and the Nipissing shorelines formed about 12,000 years ago.cite web | title = Geology and Glacial Lake Shoreline Features of Mackinac Island | publisher =American Institute of Professional Geologists | url = http://www.mi.aipg.org/2007%20Ann%20Mtg/2007Conference-Field%20Trips.html | accessdate =2007-05-18 ] During an intermediate period of low water between these two high-water stages, the Straits of Mackinac shrank to a narrow gorge which discharged its water into Lake Huron through Mackinac Falls, located just east of Mackinac Island.cite web | title = Ancient Waterfall Discovered Off Mackinac Island's Shoreline | publisher = Mackinac Island Town Crier | url = http://www.mackinacislandnews.com/news/2007/0825/Front_page/003.html| accessdate = 2007-09-10 ]

As the Great Lakes assumed their present levels, Mackinac Island took on its current size. The steep cliffs were one of the primary reasons for the British army's choice of the island for a fortification; their decision differed from that of the French army, which had built Fort Michilimackinac about 1715 near present-day Mackinaw City. The limestone formations are still part of the island's appeal. However, tourists are attracted by the natural beauty rather than the strategic value. One of the most popular geologic formations is Arch Rock, a natural limestone arch, 146 feet (45 m) above the ground. Other popular geologic formations include Devil's Kitchen, Skull Cave, and Sugar Loaf.

Popular Culture

Mackinac Island appeared on Dirty Jobs 2007-08-07, with host Mike Rowe as a Mackinac Bridge maintenance worker, and a short while later on 2007-08-28, as a Mackinac Island horse manure and garbage removal/composting collector. [cite web|url=http://www.michigan.gov/filmoffice/0,1607,7-248-46449-174459--,00.html|title="Dirty Jobs" airs Mackinac Island episode August 28.|publisher=Michigan Film Office|accessdate=2008-06-08] [cite news|url=http://www.mackinacislandnews.com/news/2007/0602/Front_Page/002.html|title=Island Work Featured on 'Dirty Jobs' : Discovery Channel Show Gets the Dirt on Toughest Island Jobs |last=Gould |first=Karen|date=2007-06-07|publisher=Mackinac Island Town Crier|accessdate=2008-06-08]

References

External links

* [http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys180-199.html#M-185 M-185 Route Listing at Michigan Highways]
* [http://www.mackinacisland.org Official Tourism Website for Mackinac Island]
* [http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19267_20424-54596--,00.html Michigan History, Arts, and libraries] - Mackinac Island