MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – During the off-season, Mackinac Island has been busy with a new project on the island and at a historic site across the straits.
The main project underway on the island is a new Nature Center with amenities at the Arch Rock area of the island. Just over the bridge, Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City is adding a new unit to the historic fort.
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Dominick Miller, Chief of Marketing for Mackinac State Historic Parks shared with Michigan News Source a bit about the developments in northern Michigan, highlighting Colonial Michilimackinac.
“It was built as a fort by the french in 1715, later became a British outpost in the 1760s and that fort was actually dismantled and and moved over to Mackinac Island to construct Fort Mackinac in the late 1770s and what wasn’t brought over to the island was burned by the british because it was during the American Revolution,” he said in the interview.
While renovations to Colonial Michilimackinac have been in progress since the mid 1900s, construction is underway to add a unit to the southwest rowhouse in the fort.
“It’s the first reconstruction inside Colonial Michilimackinac since 2013,” Miller said, “We had a bread oven on that location for a number of years, but finally we were able to pull the trigger and add this unit on to further tell the story of the historic residents of Michilimackinac.”
New funding allows renovations to move forward.
The funding is coming from several sources, including a former state appropriation, but also a friends group called “Mackinac Associates,” a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports projects, programs and park improvements at Mackinac State Historic Parks.
“There will be a new exhibit called ‘Slavery in the Straits’ that will further explore the lives of the lives of Native Americans and black people that were enslaved at Michilimackinac,” he added.
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Near one of Mackinac Island’s most distinctive spots on the eastern shore, Arch Rock, the island staff is taking strides to update the bathrooms with the new nature center.
“Since the 1940s or 50s we’ve had a restroom installed out there it was very outdated, very poor so we made the decision a handful of years ago that we wanted to construct new restroom structure out there,” he said.
During the planning process, according to Miller, it was discussed and decided that it would make sense to build a nature center to “further explore the natural history of Mackinac Island.”
“With governor Whitmer’s support the building has been named in honor of Gov. William Milliken, who was obviously Governor of Michigan, but he also owned a home on Mackinac Island – he loved the island dearly.”
The nature center would complement Arch Rock according to Miller, it’s not meant to dominate the landscape, and will feature a number of exhibits.
“This exhibit is designed to be enjoyed by all ages, it’ll be a mix of exhibit panels you’d see in a museum talking about the nuts and bolts of the science behind these things, and a lot of beautiful images,” he added.
There will also be an interactive element that shows when certain things came to be and how they came to be on the island.
“There will also be a large 3-D map of the island so you can push a couple different buttons and a different image will appear on the 3-D contoured map showing some of the areas in history,” he said.
Miller shared that the projects are expected to be completed by early May, if everything continues to go as planned.
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