17 Facts About Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.

The Anishinaabe peoples in the Straits of Mackinac region likened the shape of the island to that of a turtle so they named it "Mitchimakinak" "Big Turtle".

One winter the Mi-shi-ne-macki naw-go on Mackinac Island were almost entirely annihilated by the Seneca people from western New York, who were one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

The tribes who had inhabited Mackinac Island had been driven away by the Iroquois, leaving the island practically deserted until 1670.

Fort Mackinac Island remained under the control of the United States government until 1895.

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Much of the federal land on Mackinac Island was designated as the second national park, Mackinac National Park, in 1875, three years after Yellowstone National Park was named as the first national park.

Mackinac Island residents established souvenir shops to profit from the tourist trade.

Mackinac Island contains a wide variety of terrain, including fields, marshes, bogs, coastline, boreal forest, and limestone formations.

About half of the shoreline and adjacent waters off Mackinac Island, including the harbor 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.

Mackinac Island is frequented by migratory birds on their trips between their summer and winter habitats, as it lies on a major migration route.

Mackinac Island can be reached by private boat, by ferry, by small aircraft and, in the winter, by snowmobile over an ice bridge.

Mackinac Island has the only example of northern French rustic architecture in the United States, and one of few survivors in North America.

Mackinac Island contains examples of Federalist, Colonial, and Greek Revival styles.

All of Mackinac Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in October 1960.

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.

Mackinac Island's visitors became known as "fudgies" because their main reason to travel to the island was for their famous fudge.

Mackinac Island was featured on two episodes of the mid-2000s TV series Dirty Jobs.