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TODAY’S HOURS: Closed for the 2024 season. We’ll see you May 9, 2025!
TODAY’S EVENTS:
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Step into the home of Agatha and Edward Biddle, merchants who moved in around 1830. This was a time of change, and the 1830s were critical to the Biddles for another reason: as an Anishnaabek woman, Agatha and other indigenous people witnessed their culture subjected to immense changes. The decade transformed the Anishnaabek, linking old ways with Michigan’s modern indigenous culture.
The continuing story of the Anishnaabek of northern Michigan is not always a happy one. It is a story of battles won and lost, promises made and broken, and cultures repressed and resurgent. Most importantly, the story in which the Biddle family played a role is one that continues today. This exhibit, created in conjunction with tribal partners, explores that story and how it still resonates on Mackinac Island and throughout northern Michigan.
This is Mackinac.
May 9 – June 6, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Last admission 4:00 p.m.
June 7 – August 31, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Last admission 5:30 p.m.
September 1 – October 5, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Last admission 4:00 p.m.
Adult $10.50
Child (Age 5-12) $6.75
A Historic Downtown Mackinac ticket includes admission to The Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum and Benjamin Blacksmith Shop (May 9 – October 5), as well as the American Fur Co. Store & Dr. Beaumont Museum and McGulpin House (June 7 – August 23). Admission to the Biddle House is also included with a Fort Mackinac ticket.
Click here for more information, to purchase tickets, or to learn about weekly passes.
Group rates available! If you have 12 or more people visiting with you, please contact our Marketing and Group Travel and Coordinator.
The Biddle House is located on Mackinac Island within the boundaries of Mackinac Island State Park, on Market Street near the intersection of Astor Street.
7406 Market Street
Mackinac Island, MI 49757
Costumed interpreters will interpret the house as the 1830s home of Agatha and Edward Biddle. Engaging and informative cooking demonstrations will take place throughout the day in the kitchen, as well as interpretation of the Anishnaabek gallery located in the rest of the house. The following programs take place throughout the season:
11:30 a.m. Hosting at the Biddle House: Networking Through Food and Family
Learn how the Biddle House became a point of cultural exchange between European food culture and traditional Anishinaabe business and familial ties on Mackinac Island in the 1830s.
1:30 p.m. The Anishinabek and the Treaty of Washington Program
This program offers visitors a brief overview of how the 1836 Treaty of Washington affected the Anishnaabek of northern Michigan, including Agatha Biddle. It is intended to complement the exhibit, offering more detail and context about the choices facing the Anishnaabek leading up to and during treaty negotiations, as well as the aftermath of its ratification.
3:30 p.m. Agatha, Magdelaine, and Elizabeth: In Business at Mackinac
This program offers visitors a brief overview of the lives of three Mackinac women: Agatha Biddle, Magdelaine Laframboise, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Although the focus of the exhibits at the Biddle House, Agatha was by no means the only indigenous woman in business on Mackinac Island in the early 19th century. Instead, Agatha was part of a community of women who utilized their contacts in the Anishnaabek and Euro-American worlds to find success as merchants.
Two exhibit galleries inside the house, as well as a parlor restored to its historical appearance, tell the story of Agatha and Edward Biddle, the Anishnaabek of northern Michigan, and the critical decade of the 1830s. The story continues outside, with a short interpretive trail focusing on Anishnaabek culture and their relationship to Mackinac Island.
Be sure to visit the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop, The Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum, American Fur Co. Store & Dr. Beaumont Museum, and McGulpin House, all included with a Fort Mackinac or Historic Downtown Mackinac ticket! Dates and hours of operation vary by site.
Engaging and informative programs take place throughout the day.
Two exhibit galleries inside the house, as well as a parlor restored to its historical appearance, tell the story of Agatha and Edward Biddle, the Anishnaabek of northern Michigan, and the critical decade of the 1830s. The story continues outside, with a short interpretive trail focusing on Anishnaabek culture and their relationship to Mackinac Island.
