It’s going to be a fun summer at the this summer as they celebrate a huge milestone.
But you don’t have to wait! Corey Adkins explains in this week’s Northern Michigan in Focus.
“It’s exciting, it’s crazy that it’s here. It’s humbling to be a part of something that’s 125 years old,” said Dominick Miller.
It’s a place where generations have come to make memories.
It’s Michigan’s oldest state park and the Mackinac State Historic Parks is celebrating a major milestone this summer. But did you know this all almost didn’t happen?
“Its origin really begins 25 years before when it was Mackinac National Park. It was the second national park in the country and when the Army decided to move the soldiers out of the fort. The Department of Interior lost their workforce to take care of the park. So they we’re about to abandon it and sell it,” explained Phil Porter.
But the islanders wouldn’t have it.
“The community members of Mackinac Island banded together to lobby the government of the state of Michigan just save those lands and, through that, Mackinac State Historic Parks was created,” said Dominick. “Then the federal government transferred those lands over to the state of Michigan with the contingency if they ever cease to be used as a state park that they had to be reverted back to the national park. That’s a clause that still stands today.”
125 years ago the Mackinac State Historic Parks Commission was formed to be stewards of these historic sites and they’re getting ready for a summer-long party and it all starts on .
“We’re trying to get the word out organically a bit with our Twitter account, which I’m having a lot of fun doing, and we’re doing a daily fact every day,” explained Dominick. “It’s something about the history of our sites, which is so varied and so large, we’re trying to visit one fact about our sites every single day from now up until May 1st when we open for the season to try to get people excited.”
And this summer…
“We wanted to thank the people for coming to visit us over the last hundred plus years and we thought of a way to do that, and we were like that’s offering event every single day through the summer starting around Memorial Day through Labor Day,” said Dominick.
Every day something different, something unique in the parks, and most of it free.
“This is the greatest collection of historic buildings in the Midwest. It’s a great story and it’s one we’re really excited to share the public this summer in a variety of activities and events an informational postings. We have a great story and we’re going to share it this summer,” explained Phil.
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