For those of you unfamiliar with Mackinac
Island, Michigan, it was the nation's 2nd National Park and a fort
originally built by the British during the American Revolution overlooks
the town. Fort Mackinac was turned over to the US following the revolution,
but the fort was lost to the British early in the War of 1812. A battle
was fought on Mackinac Island in 1814 when the US unsuccessfully attempted
to recapture the Fort. Fort Mackinac was returned to the US a second time
following the war and soldiers from the fort administered the national
park when it was established in 1875. Mackinac National Park closed
in 1895 when the fort was closed and the 3.78 square mile island became
the first Michigan State Park 126 years ago.
The resort island banned automobiles in 1905 and only
emergency vehicles are permitted today. Several movies have been filmed
on the Island, most notably "Somewhere in Time," staring Christopher Reeves,
Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer. Transportation is on foot, bicycle
or horse. Although the majority of the island is Mackinac Island State
Park, there is also a community with a population of about 500. Those
numbers are swelled with 5,000 seasonal workers during the summer. The
Island has many Victorian summer homes, which are called "cottages" no
matter how large they are. Some of them are on land rented from the state
park. After the horses, Mackinac Island is best known for many century
old lilac bushes and for fudge shops.
A dock porter took our checked luggage to Windermere
Hotel and we stopped by the hotel to check in and leave my backpack.
We were checked in by the owner of the hotel, Margaret Doud. She has been
the Mayor of Mackinac Island since April 1, 1975, making her the second
longest serving mayor in the United States. She has been elected to 47
consecutive one year terms! The Doud family purchased Windermere Cottage
in 1904 and converted it to a resort hotel.
The sign on the door said that face masks were required,
so we wore ours, but we soon saw that the staff only wore masks when the
owner was present and guests had already stopped wearing theirs.
Windermere Hotel has an excellent location, and its finest
feature is probably the view from the porch. There is no elevator, TV,
phone or in room refrigerator, but a shared refrigerator and microwave
are available on the first floor. The ice machine in on the first floor,
which isn't very convenient when you stay on the third, but after a day,
we learned that extra ice buckets are stored near the ice machine. so you
could pick up ice before climbing the stairs. The Windermere has a very
limited continental breakfast.
We stayed in Room B-1, with a queen bed and water view.
If you look at the picture of the hotel at the top of the page, it is the
room in the middle on the 3rd floor. The sign was just below our windows.
The room is rather small and while it worked fine for a couple of nights,
I would have wanted a larger room if we had stayed for more days. I think
it would be a nice room for a single traveler, who would need less room
and would benefit from getting to know other people on the porch.
There were screens on the windows, which kept me from
taking photos from the room as I planned.
One of the nice things Windermere Hotel does is provide
a selection of old postcards of the hotel and island at no charge. The
staff were all friendly and happy to talk about Mackinac Island.
Our room
Breakfast room
The Continental breakfast (photo from Sunday morning)
Windermere Hotel Porch
We took a leisurely walk to Grand Hotel, an iconic
1887 wooden resort hotel with a 660 foot front porch. After decades of
family ownership, it was purchased by a private equity firm in 2019 and
I wanted to see how it is faring under the new owners. During peak hours
there is a $10 fee for non guests to enter the grounds. That fee can be
applied to the $56.50 lunch buffet.
I have been very impressed with this buffet in the past.
The setting is beautiful and the service was very elegant. There have been
ice sculptures and a variety of dishes which blew me away. Unfortunately
the setting has become less elegant and the service has significantly slipped.
There were touch less machines at the start of each serving table which
were supposed to help you put on a plastic glove. I went to 4 machines
which did not work and one which was out of gloves before finding one that
worked.
The food was still good and included things like oysters
on the half shell and large chilled shrimp, but there were no dishes which
wowed me like the past. The deviled eggs were tasteless.
Worst of all, the service was mediocre. The server was
slow coming to get our drink orders and the dishes from our meal were not
cleared away even after we went to the dessert table, brought the dessert
back and finished our meal. My ice tea was refilled only once and the ice
was all melted within a couple of minutes of the refill.
It wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't a $60 dollar meal.
There was still live music and the dessert table had a nice selection of
tiny servings so we could sample several of them.
Grand Hotel has expanded many times, but the original building was
built in only 93 days in 1887.
Seafood table at Grand Hotel Buffet
Dessert table
The biggest change is the Esther Williams Swimming
Pool which was featured in the movie "This Time For Keeps," which stared
Esther Williams, Jimmy Durante, Johnnie Johnston and Lauritz Melchior.
The pool area has had a 6 million dollar make over and really isn't the
same pool anymore. Some people resent the changes, but I can see that the
pool will receive much more use going forward with its cabanas, water slide
and adults only area.
The pool used to be popular with people who weren't staying
at the hotel, but the fee for non guests has risen to $75/day. Hotel guests
pay another $350 to use a cabana.
Esther Williams Pool
Back downtown we visited many of the shops and spent a
couple of hours enjoying the view from the porch of the Windermere Hotel.
Our trip had been planned to coincide with this evening's
G
Mennen Williams Mackinac Celebration, a semiformal benefit by Mackinac
Associates (the fundraising arm of Mackinac State Historic Parks) at The
Inn at Stonecliffe, northwest of town. We had booked a horse drawn taxi
hours in advance and though we had to share it with other people traveling
to Stonecliffe, had the pleasure of being the ones whose schedule set the
time for the others. The taxi ride took about a half hour.
The G Mennen Williams Mackinac Celebration was canceled
last year because of Covid and social distancing was still a major concern
when planning this year's event. The Celebration is always held at a Mackinac
Island "Cottage," many of which are several thousand square foot. Stonecliffe
was built in 1905 as a private cottage but is now a hotel and has the space
to host a large socially distanced event outdoors.
We've only been members of the Associates for a year,
so the only people I knew at the event are state park staff, but everyone
present loves the area so it is easy starting conversations. There was
live music, a short program about what the Associates have accomplished
in the past year and a brief history of The Inn at Stonecliffe by recently
retired State Park Director, Phil Porter. There were multiple food stations
under a large tent with chefs from Stonecliffe. After eating, we took a
walk across the grounds to Sunset Rock to enjoy the view and ask someone
to take our photo.
Our horse drawn taxi arriving at The Inn at Stonecliffe
Phil Porter presents the history of Stonecliffe Cottage
Linda & I at Sunset Rock
Mackinac State Historic Parks Staff
Chief Curator Craig P. Wilson, Chief of Marketing Dominick M. Miller,
Director Steven C. Brisson
G. Mennen Williams Mackinac Celebration with the Mighty Mac in the
Distance
It was amusing seeing so many well dressed people get
on bicycles to return to their homes or hotels! We took a prearranged shuttle,
having a fun conversation with the other family sharing the ride. Getting
back to downtown a little after 9:30, we went to the Pink Pony where one
of our favorite singer/musicians, Myk Rise was performing. We missed him
last summer when live music was suspended. We had a nice hour listening
to Myk while enjoying drinks, Coney dogs & pretzel sticks from the
late night menu. The bar was packed and we invited a couple of people who
were standing to share our table.
Myk Rise
The walk back to Windermere Hotel was lovely under the
bright half moon.
Moon over the Windermere Hotel
