Visiting Mackinac: 150 Years of Tourism at Michigan's Fabled Straits

by Frank Boles

Overview

The Straits of Mackinac have been a tourist destination for more than 150 years. The story of how tourism developed on Mackinac Island and in the adjacent communities of St. Ignace and Mackinaw City is brought to life in this fascinating book, with stories from the people who helped shape it. This complex work explores the factors that shaped this region into the tourist destination that it is today. It includes historical context of how conflicting ideas developed a seasonal tourist industry and examines how tourism at the Straits of Mackinac developed within regional and national contexts as the tourist industry boomed in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This volume also shows how the people at the Straits responded to various national trends, such as when the automobile transformed the tourist experience and when independently published travel literature painted a less-than-rosy picture of the region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611865516
Publisher:	Michigan State University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2025
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Frank Boles has been involved in preserving and documenting Michigan history for more than forty years. From 1991 until 2021, he served as the director of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University. Prior to coming to the Clarke Historical Library, Frank worked at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. In 2017, he published Sailing into History: Great Lakes Bulk Carriers of the Twentieth Century and the Crews Who Sailed Them, which was named a Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan in 2018.

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on a wide range of archival and secondary sources, Frank Boles offers a compelling history of the Straits of Mackinac through the lens of tourism. His well-documented review takes us from the early travel writers of the 1830s, who were the first to note the potential of Mackinac Island as a place of resort, to the promoters, preservationists, and politicians of the postwar era. Boles highlights the various conflicts throughout the decades that were driven by the struggle to balance development and preservation. Through lively anecdotes, the book charts the sometimes contentious interplay between travelers, local, and state officials, business leaders, and residents at Michigan’s most famous tourist destination.”—Steven Brisson, director of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and author of Picturesque Mackinac: The Photographs of William H. Gardiner, 1896-1915

“In Visiting Mackinac, Frank Boles tracks the creation of an iconic Midwestern vacationland. In this deeply researched work, Boles reminds readers that tourist destinations are ever-changing and act like mirrors, reflecting the priorities of the societies that seek to create them.”—Camden Burd, assistant professor of history at Clemson University

“In Visiting Mackinac Frank Boles has authored an outstanding volume that delves into some of Michigan’s crown jewels at the top of the mitten. His book explores the heart of what we now call cultural and heritage tourism in an area that has welcomed visitors for more than 150 years. It is well worth your time delving into this uniquely Michigan story.”—Larry J. Wagenaar, executive director and CEO of the Historical Society of Michigan

From the Publisher