Visiting Mackinac
Author: Frank Boles
Reviewer: Sophia Rose
Rating: B
What I’m Talking About:
In and around Michigan, Mackinac Island has a lure that has existed as a tourist destination for nearly 200 years, and that draw is stronger than ever even now. As an adopted Michigander, I have made my pilgrimage there and to the other communities in “the Straights of Mackinac,” and I felt the appeal personally. I was curious to learn more about this lovely area so picked up Frank Boles’ delve into the historic tour industry of Mackinac.
Visiting Mackinac was a clear-cut delineation of precisely what the author laid out in the blurb. It isn’t a surprise and goes back to the 1830s when the first European tourists, namely travel authors who were popular in their time visited and wrote up the grand old isle. Tourism didn’t really take off as an industry until post-Civil War years, when, desperate to find a new income after the fishing industry was diminishing, the locals turned to tourism. Even then, they had stiff competition and took many years to find their niche and establish Mackinac Island as distinct and an elevated vacation destination. I was interested in when Mackinac Island fudge made its first splash and how that came about with the Murdick family who brought the idea from New England.
A key factor on the road to being recognized was the government naming the island as the second National Park in 1875. The rich from all around the Great Lakes found the island and built their “summer cottages” – think more Newport, RI-style “cottage” in size and splendor. But, with the arrival of this splendor, the glaring need for a more glamorous hotel was more obvious. The Grand Hotel was the showpiece that came out of this and it is indeed the jewel in the crown. The book continues as the industry ebbed and flowed on the island, St. Ignace, and Mackinaw City dealing with commerce vs park conservation, and government bureaucracy among other issues including Hollywood coming to the island and political history made on occasion as the Island and local character evolved to include the Mackinac “Mighty Mac” bridge.
Visiting Mackinac extends to talk of the tourist industry around Mackinac Island to St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.
The final portion was welcome in that I wondered about the Native America aspect of Straights tourism history. Sadly, though, Native Americans were the early residents and had been part of the tourist trade from the beginning, providing authentic “Indian” merchandise, they fought an losing battle to eliminate the middle man (who skewed what was known of the Native American community) in sales and deal with the tourists directly.
The book portion ended at the 70% mark, but there was a large footnotes section (of all the footnote references throughout), indexes, and references that followed. I should also mention there are sketches, pictures, and charts scattered throughout.
I can value and appreciate all the research the author conducted to make a thorough job of the topic. Local lore is restricted to that which came about as a result of tourism. And, that was where my own misguided expectation got me into trouble. I had it in my head that there would be more colorful lore for the area and was primed to learn about life in the Straights for the last couple hundred years. But, that broader subject was not the point of the book. This was on me. Though purported not to be for academics, seemed to be exactly that especially when I got a gander at the reference materials that made up over a fourth of the pages.
So, upon completing Visiting Mackinac, I learned a great deal of local Michigan history for the area, but always through the lens of tourism. Still, that is an industry that drives this area so it was apropos, I thought. I skimmed in places, but was thoughtful over other passages. I’m glad to have picked this up, but I think I’d recommend it to a niche group who have an interest in history as related to tourism, particularly in this region of the Great Lakes and, specifically, Michigan.
My Rating: B
Sophia Rose
About the Book:
The Straits of Mackinac have been a tourist destination for more than 150 years. The story of how tourism developed on Mackinac Island and in the adjacent communities of St. Ignace and Mackinaw City is brought to life in this fascinating book, with stories from the people who helped shape it. This complex work explores the factors that shaped this region into the tourist destination that it is today. It includes historical context of how conflicting ideas developed a seasonal tourist industry and examines how tourism at the Straits of Mackinac developed within regional and national contexts as the tourist industry boomed in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This volume also shows how the people at the Straits responded to various national trends, such as when the automobile transformed the tourist experience and when independently published travel literature painted a less-than-rosy picture of the region.
Release Date: December 1, 2025
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Series: n/a
Genre: Non-Fiction, Travel
Format(s): paperback (329 pages), e-book
Book Source:NetGalley