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Tag: Mackinac National Park

Chimney Rock Revisited

Our Park Naturalist, Kyle, is ready to set the story straight: Chimney Rock and Sunset Rock are not one and the same. Let’s revisit Chimney Rock:

Ice Fishing at Mackinac

Ice fishing has been an important part of the Straits for thousands of years, but dramatic scenes of net poles so numerous that they appeared almost as a forest are now nearly forgotten.

The Hospital Corps at Fort Mackinac

While the Hospital Corps only came into being toward the very end of Fort Mackinac’s time as an active military post, it demonstrates another way Fort Mackinac experienced the changing times of the army.

Fort Mackinac soldiers clearing a path in front of Fort Mackinac in the 1880s.

Winter for the Soldiers at Fort Mackinac

Wintering on Mackinac Island has always been a desolate and isolated affair. While many were able to leave the island in winter, soldiers of the 23rd United States Infantry, Companies E and K, had to stay and adapt to their winter home.

Christmas Wish for Mackinac, 1873

Merry Christmas!

“What though the woods are bare and cheerless, the water-courses bound by fetters of ice, and the whole earth covered with snow? A cheery greeting, for all that, to those who burn the Yule log and brighten their homes with the holly and yew. They say these days are the embers of the dying year; then kindle the flames of life and love anew. Light up the candles that gleam in the branches of evergreen. Hang Christmas boxes on every bough. Make every one happy, old and young. Rejoice!”
Forest and Stream, December 25, 1873

Fairy Arch by Henry Chapman Ford 1874

Mackinac Island’s Other Arches

Arch Rock is Mackinac Island’s most famous and spectacular limestone formation. A century ago, curious visitors could find two additional arches, also celebrated for their natural beauty and rich traditions.