Mackinac, Michigan

Fort Michilimackinac and the Mackinac Bridge

As we headed north in Michigan, we started to find more trees that were starting to change colors, especially the maple trees. We stopped at Fort Michilimackinac a reconstruction of the structure originally built by the French in the 1750s and then expanded by the British. When the British realized that they couldn’t necessarily defend it if the Americans attacked, they dismantled everything, moved it to Mackinac island and burned what remained. What was unique about this reconstruction is that it is built above the archeological digs that were begun in 1959. Underground they have several exhibits explaining how they do the digs and what kind of things they found. Especially interesting was the powder keg, where you could still see the burnt logs from when the British burnt the building. The interpreters also put on a good demonstration of loading British and American muskets and firing a 6 pound cannon (without the cannonball – as they explained there boss gave them a cannon ball that wouldn’t fit in the cannon – they had tried.)