STORY PRODUCED BY THE CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira
Horse-drawn carriages clatter down car-free streets. The mouth-watering smell of fudge wafts from quaint storefronts. Ferries glide across the Straits of Mackinac, carrying visitors to Michigan’s famous – and most charming – tourist destination.
Located in the northwestern tip of Lake Huron between the Upper and Lower peninsulas, Mackinac Island hosts over one million visitors per year. Its beauty and stalwart community are the keys to its tourism success, according to a recent book.
Frank Boles, a retired Central Michigan University historian, has spent decades documenting Michigan’s past.
His latest book, “Visiting Mackinac: 150 Years of Tourism at Michigan’s Fabled Straits” (Michigan State University Press, $37.95), explores how Mackinac Island and the surrounding Straits region became a hub for travelers from across the country.
Boles’ fascination with Mackinac Island began in 1997 when his wife suggested they join the Mackinac Bridge Walk.
“I kind of grudgingly said, ‘Oh, what the heck? Five miles, but sure, we’ll do it.’ Well, we’ve done it every year since and fell in love with the Mackinac area, and that got me very interested in the history of tourism in that particular part of the state,” he said.
That walk sparked a deeper curiosity about the island’s history. He became captivated by how visitors from far away reached the island long before modern bridges and highways existed.
“It was a very beautiful place that nobody could get to very easily before the invention of regular steamboat traffic on the Great Lakes,” Boles said.
As steamboat service expanded, travelers discovered Mackinac Island’s scenic charm.
“Once there were regular steamboats, more and more people began to say, ‘Well, hey, I could take this boat, and the schedule’s pretty predictable, pretty regular. I can go see this place called Mackinac,’” Boles said.
Railroads soon made travel to Mackinac more accessible, where tourists could more easily get to the boat launch.
“With tourist trains running almost every day, the railroads tried to sell tickets by giving away tourist publications, many of which included generous descriptions of Mackinac Island,” Boles wrote in “Visiting Mackinac: 150 Years of Tourism at Michigan’s Fabled Straits.”
The rise of rail travel coincided with the growth of middle-class tourism.
“Taking a vacation became a favorite middle-class activity. Going on vacation was made more possible, not only because people had more money but because of the growth of railroads,” Boles wrote.
The island’s accessibility and its reputation spread through descriptions in national newspapers and travel accounts.
In the 19th century, Mackinac Island was still a working fishing village. While travel writers praised its “magical landscape,” local policies were being passed to control the smell of discarded fish organs.
The community had to decide whether to remain an industrial fishing port or reinvent itself for tourism, a turning point that reshaped the island’s future.
Pre-Civil War era writers promoted Mackinac Island with vivid descriptions of its beauty and scenic landscape, inspiring people to visit and marking the beginning of tourism on the island, Boles said.
The arrival of the Grand Hotel in 1887 transformed the island, mixing luxury with accessibility and drawing national attention.
Mackinac Island’s tourism history involved more than its natural beauty. Conflict over island development sometimes divided the community, said Boles.
Meanwhile, some businesses found creative ways to promote the island.
During the 1920s, the manager of the Grand Hotel once announced that Hollywood star Gloria Swanson was coming to stay there. On the day of her supposed arrival, he appeared on the porch with a veiled woman posing as the actor. The real Swanson never came but the stunt drew attention from the press and added to the island’s charm, Boles said.
Tourism there has always been more than just about natural beauty. Boles said the story of the island includes conflicts among industry, development and preservation.
Later, in the 1920s and 1930s, another battle arose over whether to allow automobiles on the island. The Great Depression temporarily settled the debate as tourism slowed, but when visitors returned after World War II, Mackinac Island embraced its car-free identity.
Through each generation, Boles said, the community has had to weigh progress against preservation, choosing what kind of island they want it to be.
“It may be beautiful, but tourist sites are made by people. And people have different ideas. Tourism is not necessarily about promoting beauty. It’s about the people who are doing it as an industry, making money,” he said..
“It is a beautiful site but as I think I say somewhere in the book, there’s probably 10 other beautiful sites in Michigan I could cite which are as pretty. It’s not unique.”
“What’s unique, I think, is the devotion of the community to tourism, not necessarily because they wanted to, but because they had to,” he said.
Isabella Figueroa Nogueira writes for Great Lakes Echo.
