A Trip Back In Time
Michigan's Mackinac Island Treasures Traditions — And Unpolluted Air
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Play CBS Video Video A Great Lakes Gem Dave Price takes a look at Mackinac Island, whose colorful history sets the stage for one of America's most treasured communities.
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Video Price's Mackinac Adventure While tasting mouth-watering fudge, exploring a grand Victorian hotel, and traveling by horse-drawn carriage, Dave Price takes in the sites and charm of historic Mackinac Island, Mich.
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Video Secretary's Selfless Work Only On The Web: Dave Price speaks with Barbara Fisher and friend Karen Allen, both of Mackinac Island, Mich., about why Fisher deserves a tropical getaway.
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Main Street on Mackinac Island, Mich. (CBS/The Early Show)
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Dave at the Grand Hotel on the island (CBS/The Early Show)
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Waters off the island (CBS/The Early Show)
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Dawn, with the Mackinac Bridge in the distance (CBS/The Early Show)
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Peaceful bay in Lake Huron on a late summer afternoon at Mackinac Island, Mich. (iStockphoto)
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It's not that there isn't enough parking, or enough gas stations, or there's terrible traffic on Main Street. Cars are not allowed. Period.
If you visit Mackinac Island, you leave your car on the mainland and take a ferry over. And once you're there, you rent a bike — or take a hike. If you're feeling lazy, you hop on a horse-drawn wagon. Skateboards: yes. Motorbikes: no.
Chris Shepler and his family have been on the job for three generations. They run the ferry boats. Dave Price asked Chris why his family has stayed there for so many years.
"I think just the beauty of it all," he said. "The people in northern Michigan make it, Mackinac Island makes it, Mackinac Island's a great place to hang out, to vacation and, you know, to live in as well."
There are 600 horses and 800 bikes on Mackinac; cars were banned in 1898. When Dave came to visit, he rented a tandem bike. Though it took a while for him to find someone brave enough to ride with him, one woman was happy to hop on board and she took Dave on a tour of the "downtown," such as it was.
They shopped till they dropped, took some photos and ate some of the justifiably famous Mackinac Island fudge. In fact, tourists here are called "fudgies" because the first thing you do on Mackinac is try the fudge.
And once their sweet tooth is satisfied, tourists can go hiking, boating, horseback riding — or just lounge around and look at the water and the sublime sunsets.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
If you really want to go back in time, stay at the Grand Hotel. It has the longest front porch in the U.S. and dinner is served to men and women who dress for it. And I do mean dress!
Please don''t call the downtown "such as it was"; because during the summer there is not enough room on the sidewalks for all the tourists. Many college students come to the Island to work in the summer and the population zooms because of it.
During the winter the locals are surrounded by silence and beauty. If Lake Huron and Lake Michigan freeze well enough, the locals can use snowmobiles to get to the mainland for supplies. What a wonderful way to live!
Hollywood has used it as a background for many movies, sometime making it look as if cars were allowed. "Somewhere in Time" was filmed on the Island and Jimmy Durante and crew filmed one there too.
There is one car -- the police chief and I think the fire department has a fire truck.