Wandering Around Mackinaw City

I've been to Macinaw City a few times but never really took the time to photograph it.  For the most part it is a tourist town but it does have an interesting history.

 Mackinaw City has its origins by the fact that the three major tribes of Michigan (Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi) would gather here to hunt, fish, trade and worship.  The first European to pass here was Jean Nicolet in 1633.  In 1715, the first European settlement was formed with Fort Michilimackinac.  At one point, people would come here to get on a car ferry to head to the Upper Peninsula.  That stopped with the building of the Mackinac Bridge.  People still come here to catch the ferry to Mackinac Island.

 After the French and Indian War, the British took posession of the area but still allowed French civillians to live here.    In 1763, the Native Americans captured the fort but allowed the British to return after the British agreed to trade more fairly with them.  During the American Revolution, the British abandoned and burned the fort preferring to stage from Fort Mackinac.

 After the Revolutionary War, this area obviously fell into American Hands.

 This is the Mackinac Bridge Museum, one of these days I'm going to have to go in here.

 In 1857, Conkling and Searles platted the land and gave it the current layout.  The gave it the design because they wanted to preserve the fort to the North and the possibility that a lighthouse would be built in town.  Because of its location, the town would serve an important role in transportation.

 Now the town is strictly tourist oriented.

And one of the top things to get here is fudge.