Island of Yesterday

The rhythmic clip-clop of horse hooves echoes over the early morning streets as a bicycle deliveryman pedals by, the basket over his handlebars heaped with packages. Soon, the ferries will begin arriving with their loads of visitors—people looking for a bygone era when time seemed to move at a slower pace.

And that’s exactly what they find on Mackinac Island in Lake Huron, where the clock is turned back more than a century to when the first “horseless carriage” arrived from the mainland in 1898. The contraption so traumatized local horses that island officials banned the newfangled machines—and with the exception of a few emergency vehicles, the island remains vehicle-free today. Its only state highway, M-185, has the distinction of having never been the site of an automobile accident.

On Mackinac, horses and bicycles are still the main modes of transportation. Every bar of soap, carton of milk, postage stamp or pair of boots—everything necessary for life on the island—must be delivered by boat or by plane from the Michigan mainland about five miles away.

“When you go to the grocery store to shop, it’s a daylong trek to the mainland,” says Gregory Hokans, who has lived on the island for four years. “You learn to make a list for what you want so you don’t forget anything.”

“There’s always somebody wanting to change the law so they can get a car over here,” says Armand “Smi” Horn, a lifelong island resident. “But the law has stood all these years, and I don’t see it changing.”

Horn’s hometown is almost like two different places. From the beginning of May until the end of November, the island is a popular tourist destination. About 1 million visitors ferry across the Straits of Mackinac each year, generating most of the island’s economic activity. It takes about 3,500 summer employees to keep the island’s shops, restaurants, hotels, and attractions operating smoothly.

But when cold weather comes, fewer than 500 of the hardiest residents stay to brave the isolation and frigid winters on the tiny island, which measures three miles long, two miles wide, and is nine miles around at the shore.

“I like the quiet here,” says police Lt. Peter Komblevitz. “You don’t hear the rumble and thunder of city traffic . . . The biggest crime we have on the island is bike theft.”

After 26 years with the Michigan State Police, Komblevitz “retired” three years ago, became an officer with the Mackinac Island Police Department, and now lives year-round with his wife on the island. “You do stay in shape,” Komblevitz says, chuckling as he wheels his patrol bike from its parking spot. “You get a lot of exercise on the island.”

Starting to make a fresh batch of fudge at Ryba’s Fudge Shop, Peter Misener says Mackinac Island has been in his blood for four years. “I like riding my bike to work through the woods,” he says. “I think of all those people stuck in their cars on the mainland and of how lucky I am.”

The ferry runs a limited schedule until Jan. 2. After that a small six-seater plane makes runs for about $24 per person roundtrip—if weather permits.

“You wouldn’t believe the snow we get here,” Horn says. As a youngster, Horn remembers his father “tying a rope to my sister and me to take us to school so we didn’t get lost in a snowdrift.” Now, about 90 students, grades kindergarten through 12th, attend the island’s only school.

At the world-famous 1887 Grand Hotel—where the movie Somewhere in Time was filmed, starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve—resident historian Bob Tagatz says the Huron Indians considered Mackinac Island to be a sacred place. And it still is, he adds.

“This is a really rare place in the world today,” Tagatz says. “It’s a living, working museum, and when you are here, you are a part of history.”

Jackie Sheckler Finch is a freelance writer living in Bloomington, Ind.

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