I first visited Mackinac Island as a teenager. My family was vacationing on the Michigan mainland and a day trip was on the agenda. We hopped on the 25-minute ferry from Mackinaw City (Mackinac and Mackinaw are pronounced the same, MACK-IN-AWE, but spelled differently) to spend the day on the island. We rode tandem bicycles, ate fudge from one of the famous shops and traipsed up the hill to the famous Grand Hotel to have a look around. We sat on the porch and enjoyed a drink, and I thought to myself, I would really like to stay here one day. Last month, I was lucky enough to do just that.
My college bestie and I decided to take a trip to the island, so we met up in the Detroit airport and boarded a plane to Pellston, Michigan. Because there are no cars allowed on Mackinac Island, many of the hotels offer a luggage transfer service from the airport. So we said goodbye to our bags as handlers ensured they were transported from the ferry to the hotel and finally to our room. This whole process can take about three hours, so we packed tote bags with evening clothes and other essentials that we carried with us during the journey. As someone who doesn’t even like to check a bag, this process was a little daunting — I really don’t love it when my bag leaves my sight. But these guys are pros who do this literally every day, multiple times a day, for the entire May-to-October season.
Another quirk of there being no cars on the island? We stepped off the ferry and onto a horse-drawn carriage that brought us up to the hotel. It’s only about a 10-minute walk from the dock to Grand Hotel, but the carriage was charming regardless — we sat back and watched as the hotel’s iconic porch and yellow awnings came into view, one that has remained pretty much unchanged since 1887.
A Brief History of “America’s Summer Place”
People started flocking to Mackinac Island in 1886, but there weren’t a lot of places to stay in those days. The land for Grand Hotel was purchased that year and the retreat opened to guests in 1887. So yeah, they got that done fast.
“Charles Caskey, our builder, had to hire 600 workers,” Grand Hotel General Manager David Jurcak told us when we sat down for a chat on Saturday morning. “They worked 24 hours a day, and he paid double time. But he found in the first 30 to 40 days that many of them couldn’t read a ruler, couldn’t swing a hammer. So he said, ‘If you want it in 90 days, you’re gonna have to accept it as is. It might be a little off, but it’ll stand the test of time. And it’s been standing for 137 years.”
Sure enough, when you look at the ceiling in Grand Hotel’s Parlor, the molding isn’t all at 90-degree angles. Some things are a little bit slanted, like the second-floor hallway where our room was located. But as with anything, those imperfections add character, especially because so many other aspects of the hotel are, indeed, perfect.
A Maximalist’s Dream
The coolest thing about Grand Hotel’s guest rooms is every single one features a different design. And none of them are minimalist. Every room is awash in bold colors and patterns — think striped wallpaper, floral drapes, jewel-tone velvet armchairs, ornate antique lamps and chandeliers, and carpet in every color of the rainbow. Our room was spacious enough for two people to spread out and featured a newly renovated bathroom and views of the lake and porch down below. Every night there was some event happening at cocktail hour, which meant live music was being played right beneath our windows.
The rest of the property is no shrinking violet. The Parlor is awash in reds and greens and carpeting printed with the hotel’s signature flower, the geranium. The Jockey Club calls to mind an English hunting lodge with its wood-paneled walls and ceiling, plaid carpet and quirky lamps made out equestrian helmets. And the main dining room — perhaps my favorite of all — is like an optical illusion, with its columns of mirrors, green and white striped chairs, and orange and yellow floral-patterned textiles that add a punch of warmth.
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Hotel Food, But Make it Grand
Most guests of Grand Hotel book their stay with a Modified American Meal plan, which means breakfast and dinner are included in the rate. Breakfast is taken in the main dining room (with an excellent buffet on the weekends), and there are three options for dinner: the main dining room, the Jockey Club and the Gate House, which has a more casual, sports bar-type atmosphere.
Dinner in the main dining room is spectacular. The five-course meal is perfectly executed — I loved the chicken consomme with mini matzah balls and quinoa-crusted lake trout with orange butter — and live music comes courtesy of a jazz trio. The Jockey Club serves food from a wood-fired grill; the lamb meatballs and steak frites were excellent. Although we didn’t dine at the Gate House, we did stop by for a nightcap and enjoyed the live music there.
Although not part of the meal plan, Woods Restaurant was perhaps one of our favorite parts of the weekend, so I very much recommend dinner there. The restaurant is inspired by a Bavarian hunting lodge with its taxidermy-festooned walls, antler chandeliers and red and white plaid linens. The food is wonderful; the bone marrow and hand-cut Wagyu beef tartare with quail egg and lime ash are perfect starters, and the herb-crusted elk rack and wild mushroom ravioli are both divine mains. The adjacent Bobby’s Bar even has a duckpin bowling alley.
Once a Party, Always a Party
Grand Hotel never stopped serving alcohol, even during Prohibition, which they are, rightfully so, very proud of. “We had nine major raids,” Jurcak said. “But each of the nine raids that we had, we called in. If business was getting slow, we called a raid because the press in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland would say, ‘There’s gambling and booze at Grand Hotel, and they got busted.’ So everybody would be like, ‘We’ve got to get to Grand Hotel!’”
It’s certainly a spirit the hotel has carried with it through the decades. The atmosphere is nothing if not convivial, with guests sipping spritzes and Martinis at all hours on the porch — which, at 660 feet long, is the longest in the world. On weekend mornings, guests line up in the Parlor to get a Bloody Mary or Mimosa from the cocktail cart parked there. Audubon Bar is a great place to sip whiskey, and at 9:30 p.m. every night, the house band starts up the party in the Terrace Room where we never saw an empty dance floor. But my personal favorite was the fourth-floor Cupola Bar, which offers sweeping views of the lake during the day and a pianist in the evening.
Things to Do, Both On and Off the Grounds
My bestie and I love a pool day, so one of the first things we did while planning this trip was book a cabana. We weren’t sure if the weather was going to cooperate, but it ended up being perfect — hot in the sun and cool in the shade. Our cabana was situated in front of the adults-only pool (this is key), but that didn’t stop us from using the water slide multiple times. We also hit the mini-golf course, which is tucked into a wooded area and is way harder than par will have you believe. The property also features all kinds of lawn games and bike rentals if you want to take a spin around the island. Don’t leave without finding the secret garden, which is just a lovely place to hang.
Of course, Mackinac Island is more than just the Grand Hotel. Fudge is perhaps the island’s most famous export, and you can’t go wrong with the selection at Ryba’s. We enjoyed wings and a little football Sunday action at Mary’s Bistro Draught House, and before hopping back on the ferry to the mainland, we had a delicious lunch at Kingston Kitchen at the Village Inn, a Jamaican restaurant with a lively front porch. Although we didn’t make it to the Pink Pony, it’s an iconic institution that’s definitely worth a pop-in. There is no shortage of charming souvenir shops and beautiful architecture to ogle as you’re exploring the main part of town.
Grand Hotel closes for the season on October 30, but — just as it has done for 138 seasons — it will reopen next May. Some rooms may get a facelift, and the winter staff will no doubt perform all types of maintenance to ensure it’s ready to welcome guests in 2025. But whenever you decide to visit, know that not too much will change. After all, history is at stake here, something that is paramount to Grand Hotel.
“There’s an important thing with viewing [how to maintain] a historic hotel — to keep a foot in history,” Jurcak said. “If we were to overhaul this entire room and change it completely, we would change someone’s history. There are people who have stayed here for generations, and they have pictures of their kids and pictures of themselves when they were kids sitting in this parlor that looked just like this 47 years ago. So when you strip that away, you’ve eliminated the history of that photo. Then there’s no other way to recreate it.”
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