The past comes to life at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, next to the Mackinaw Bridge. Technically known as Colonial Michilimackinac, this historic gem is an 18th-century French and British fur trading and military outpost on the Straits of Mackinac. Historians have reconstructed the fort using maps and 60+ years of archaeological excavations. Today, it’s a fascinating look into the history of the seldom-traveled Mackinac area.
If you’ve reached the top of Michigan, you’ve come a long way, no matter where you started. It’s not the easiest place to get to, which makes its history even more unique. Once you set your eyes on the Straights of Mackinaw, Mackinac Island, the bridge and the great expanse of water surrounding everything, you’ll wonder about the people who first braved this rugged land. Fort Michilimackinac goes a long way toward answering those questions. Here’s what I experienced during my visit:
1. The Landscape Surrounding Fort Michilimackinac
My favorite part about visiting Fort Michilimackinac is the views. The fort sits on the shoreline of Lake Superior in the Straights of Mackinaw, just alongside the Mackinaw Bridge. The day I arrived, the sky was bright and looking out on the expanse there was blue water, a spectacular bridge, and otherwise, the same view that Native Americans would have had for hundreds of years before settlers arrived.
The Visitor’s Center entrance is near the Mackinac Bridge. There you can buy tickets, snacks, and souvenirs typical to the area, such as copper, Petoskey stones, and fudge. Tickets to enter Colonial Michilimackinac grounds are $14.50 each, but the view of the Mackinaw Bridge from its ramparts is worth the price alone. It can take as little as an hour to tour Fort Michilimackinac but plan to spend three if you’d like to see several demonstrations and all of the exhibits.
Beyond the visitor’s center doors, you’ll walk the shoreline toward the rough-hewn wooden fort. Trees line the shore to the left and Lake Superior to the right. In the distance, you’ll see traditional American Indian tents and a recreation village, while along the path, you’ll find reenactments and demonstrations.
2. History and Importance of Fort Michilimackinac
The French built the fort in 1715 as a trading post on what was then considered the frontier. It was intended to function as a supply depot for the area’s traders. However, when the British won the French and Indian Wars, they took over the fort.
By 1781, the British abandoned the wooden fort and built a new one on Mackinac Island called Fort Mackinac. They burned the remains of Fort Michilimackinac. What you see today is recreated by historians. Today, Fort Michilimackinac is a National Historic Landmark and is one of the best excavated early French colonial archeological sites in the United States.
3. Reenactments and Demonstrations in Colonial Michilimackinac
Walking through the site, you are stepping back to 1777, as the British managed the fort during the American Revolution. But not all the reenactments are about war. Most are about the way of life during the time and the things people made to survive. Along the shore, I watched a man dressed in period costume as he handcrafted a canoe from a tree.
The reenactments and demonstrations at Fort Michilimackinac change depending on the time, day and season. You may see and hear how residents of this fur trading community participated in the war or how to see interpreters representing voyageurs, British soldiers, and French-Canadian merchant families.
There are costumed reenactments of a French colonial wedding and the arrival of voyageurs, musket and cannon firings, period cooking, crafts, and gardening demonstrations, among others. I saw several during the few hours I visited.
4. Buildings and Exhibits in Colonial Michilimackinac
Fort Michilimackinac includes an archaeological site, about 15 buildings on tour, and a rampart with views of the area. Each building is furnished with period settings or themed exhibits. In several buildings are displays of the many archaeological treasures found at the site, firearms, and those depicting life as a British soldier, settler, or Native American.
Typically, visitors can see reenactments of colonial life at the fort with demonstrations of blacksmithing, ironworking, basket weaving, boat building and other 18th-century practices that made up daily life at the fort. Colonial Michilimackinac hosts special events in warm months, including reenacting the 1763 Native American attack on the British-held fort.
Two short movies about the fort and the area’s history will give you the background you need to understand better and enjoy what you’ll see.
- Michilimackinac: Crossroads of the Great Lakes, a 15-minute movie, play in the King’s Storehouse.
- Attack! at Michilimackinac depicts defending the fort from attack. It plays in the Southwest Rowhouse.
5. Archelogy at Fort Michilimackinac
The archelogy work, led by Michigan State University, has been ongoing each summer since 1959. Archeologists excavated and rebuilt much of the fort during the 1960s and have worked on separate sections in and around the fort ever since. It’s one of the longest projects of this kind in the United States.
The powder magazine you can see today is the most intact building ruin at Michilimackinac. Others uncovered include multiple rowhouse units, most notably the home of Ezekiel Solomon, Michigan’s first Jewish settler. Visitors can observe archeologists working in the dirt today, excavating part of the Southeast Row House.
Over 1,000,000 artifacts have been recovered since 1959 and many are displayed in fort exhibits.
If you visit Colonial Michilimackinac
There are picnic grounds between the Visitor’s Center and the fort entrance and nearby in the free area of Michilimackinac State Park within walking distance of the parking lot.
After you visit, there’s plenty to do in the modern village around the fort, now known as Mackinaw City. It’s also well worth your time to take a ferry to visit Mackinac Island, where no motorized vehicles are allowed and life moves much slower.
If you like history or places like Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village, Jamestown or Colonial Williamsburg, you should add Fort Michilimackinac to your list of places to visit.
Colonial Michilimackinac is open from 9 am to 5 pm from May to October.
Read more Michigan stories here.
