MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. – It’s 6 a.m. on a Friday morning, and the streets are eerily quiet as I jog along Main Street – Lake Huron to my left and the charming homes of this old island retreat to my right. I don’t have to worry about running in the middle of the street. There are no cars, nor will there ever be.
In the distance, there’s a young man with a pushcart making his way down the street on his way for an early delivery at a nearby shop. Then I hear the echo of horse hooves striking the pavement on an adjacent street.
Have I run through a portal, landing in a time far in the past? My imagination is suddenly checked as the sound of a foghorn echoes across the lake, and I watch as the island yawns and stretches, coming to life. Bicycles are released from their nightly moorings, and riders, eager to experience the sights around Mackinac, begin pedaling through town.
This must be what it’s like for most people visiting historic Mackinac Island for the first time. The island, on the southeastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, offers a wonderment of experiences – horseback riding, golf, kayaking, hiking and more – all within the 4-mile coastline that wraps around this island.
Dominick Miller, marketing manager for Mackinac State Historic Parks, says the island’s no-motorized-vehicles law dates to 1898 when a car spooked the horses, “upsetting a lot of carriages.”