Straits of Mackinac
Straits of Mackinac
Mackinaw City, MI
The five-mile crossroads of the Great Lakes, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron beneath the Mighty Mac, ringed by reconstructed forts and old lighthouses.
The Straits of Mackinac are one of the great natural crossroads of North America, a five-mile channel where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron pour together at the pinch between Michigan's two peninsulas. For centuries this was the strategic key to the whole Great Lakes, the choke point every canoe brigade, fur trader, soldier, and freighter had to pass, and standing on the shore near Mackinaw City you can watch that same traffic of water and ships still moving through today.
It is a place where the natural and the historic sit right on top of each other. The open blue water and the passing lake freighters are the draw, but so are the reconstructed frontier fort, the pair of old lighthouses, and the mighty suspension bridge overhead, all clustered along a shoreline that tells the layered story of the Straits far better than any single museum could.
What Guests Love
- Standing at the exact meeting point of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
- Colonial Michilimackinac, a faithfully reconstructed 1700s fort and fur-trading post
- Two historic lighthouses you can tour and climb for sweeping Straits views
- Watching freighters slide beneath the five-mile Mackinac Bridge, the Mighty Mac
Worth Knowing
- The waterfront historic parks are seasonal, so check what is open before an off-season trip
- This is the ferry launch point for Mackinac Island, so it pairs naturally with an island day
- The water is cold and the current through the Straits is strong, so this is a place to look and photograph rather than swim
- The lakeshore breeze can be brisk even in summer, so bring a layer for the open water
Details
Mackinaw City, MI
Learn about Straits of Mackinac
The crossroads of the fur trade
In the 1600s and 1700s the Straits became the epicenter of the Great Lakes fur trade. French traders established Fort Michilimackinac on the south shore, at present-day Mackinaw City, as a military post and trading hub, and it passed to the British after their victory in the Seven Years War. During the American Revolution the British judged the mainland fort too exposed and moved their stronghold across the water to Mackinac Island, burning the old fort behind them.
Today Colonial Michilimackinac stands reconstructed on its original ground as a living-history state park, a palisaded 1700s fort and fur-trading community where costumed interpreters, ongoing archaeology, and cannon firings recreate frontier life at the Straits. It is one of the most vivid windows into eighteenth-century Great Lakes history anywhere, built right where the real events happened.
Lighthouses on the channel
The Straits were as treacherous as they were important, and the shore holds two historic lighthouses that once guided ships through. The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, with its distinctive twin-towered look, went into service in 1889 and steered vessels through the channel until the Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 and made it obsolete. It is preserved today as a state historic park you can tour and climb.
A few miles west, the older McGulpin Point Lighthouse first lit in 1869 to guide ships entering the Straits from the west, and after it was retired it was eventually restored and reopened. Climbing either tower puts the whole sweep of the Straits below you, the open water, the passing freighters, and the great bridge, and drives home just how central this narrow channel has always been to Great Lakes shipping.
The Mighty Mac
Arching over the whole scene is the Mackinac Bridge, the Mighty Mac, a five-mile suspension span that has linked Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas since 1957. With towers rising more than five hundred feet, it was for years among the longest suspension bridges in the world, and it remains one of the most spectacular drives in the Midwest, a slender ribbon of steel over deep blue water.
You do not have to drive it to enjoy it. Shore parks on both the Mackinaw City and St. Ignace sides give sweeping views of the span and the freighters passing beneath, and it is a fine place to simply pull off, watch the big water and the big bridge for a while, and feel the pull of a place that has been a gateway for as long as people have traveled the Great Lakes.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Mackinaw City
Mackinac Island
Across the Straits by ferry
The famous car-free island, once America's second national park, with Fort Mackinac, Arch Rock, and Victorian streets.
Colonial Michilimackinac
In Mackinaw City
A reconstructed 1700s fort and fur-trading post on its original site, with living-history interpreters and active archaeology.
Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park
About 4 miles
A wooded state historic park with a working water-powered sawmill, forest trails, and views over the Straits.
Wilderness State Park
About 12 miles
A large, quiet state park on Lake Michigan west of the Straits, with sandy beaches, dark night skies, and shoreline trails.