Super cute maritime museum! Great volunteer showed us around. Loved the room upstairs with all the…read moreold boat motors!

This is a great little museum full of local artifacts, with a friendly staff…read more They're seasonally open, so be sure to stop in during the summer months.

I love just how much of an exploration and discovery aspect that is in this place. And with the dog…read morefind, interactive props, and text plaques, this is good for literally all ages. The only problem is that there are a lot of parts of the ship that are only accessible on the ladders, and sadly my MIL and aunt in law couldn't go in some areas because of it. But at least my hubby and I got plenty of pictures in those areas to show them.

If you were at all interested naval history are you just love seeing ships? This is a must see…read more Completely worth the money.

A must see for those who are a fan of the supernatural. They have a cool experience that takes you…read morethrough multiple layers of history. Great place to learn.

A fun gift shop featuring some of our local cryptids, along with a silly but fun haunted house with…read moreexhibits featuring local myths and legends. If you like roadside attractions, you'll probably enjoy this!

The butterfly house is a unique experience in Michigan. It was very calming to just sit and watch…read morethe variety of butterflies fly around and land on you. They have quite a bit of educational material about butterflies as well as other insects. If you have children, especially, it's good for the money.

Why not have a butterfly greenhouse on an island that's only accessible to visitors for half of the…read moreyear? You might as well. I'm kind of jealous of these butterflies and insects that live at The Original Butterfly House. They get to flit and walk about, undisturbed, from November through April. But come May, they have to dust themselves off and fluff their hair, because visitors are coming. Mackinac Island's busy times are late spring through fall (late October), and I imagine that's when the butterfly house is also busy. We visited in fall, the week before the island started closing up. We got to see lots of butterflies in the greenhouse (apparently, there are hundreds!), plus the resident insects and even a hedgehog. At certain times of the day, some of the animals and insects will be taken out of their containers, and a docent will display them and talk about them. The hedgehog was super cute, but we didn't get to touch him -- just look at him. You experience lots of live butterflies flying and landing on you in the greenhouse. Some people (me) think that it's cool to have a butterfly land on you. Other people (my youngest child) do not think it's cool, and they are grossed out and it makes them scream. Your mileage may vary! Fortunately, if you ain't about those winged insects, you can keep it moving and just visit the other exhibits, which feature insects that live safely behind glass. But if you ask me, the greenhouse is a nice, peaceful place to sit and enjoy looking at butterflies and tropical plants. This is a small attraction, but your admission price grants you access all day. So, come and go as you please!

A Must "Bookmark" in Mackinaw City, before or after Pizza!…read more After many annual October Fall visits to Mackinaw City, I was pleased to have visited this Michigan Historical Museum on October 19, 2019. It is located upstairs above the pizza business MaMa Mia's therefore my idea was to walk off my delicious pizza lunch, read and learn about the history in the building of the Mighty Mackinaw Bridge. This museum is phenomenal about the history in the building of the Mackinaw Bridge 1954-1958. When walking upstairs there are walls and walls of photos naming the many dedicated, skilled, talented iron workers. Their used equipment of helmets, work gear, tools and details is emotional too at the same time to see and read. They faced their dangerous jobs daily before, during and after the completion plus a few deaths did occurr throughout the construction. Free Admission Free Movie is played for your history lesson while relaxing in comfortable chairs as well. I wrote down facts and information last year to help my review.. :-) There was 11,000 International Iron Workers, other tradesmen, and engineers that were dedicated, hard working and skilled employees to start the construction ground breaking on May 7, 1954. They all risked their lives daily, weekly and monthly for three years on the job before opening the bridge to traffic on November 1, 1957. (During the construction in the 1950's five men died) The Mackinaw Bridge construction went on into 1958 with 3,500 workers, 895,000 structural and blueprint drawings. They used: 71,300 tons of steel 42,000 miles of cable wire 931,000 tons of concrete 4,851,700 steel rivets 1,016,600 steel bolts and over 90,000,00 dollars The metal structure is one of eight land based survey towers, which were used along with six water based towers. My review plus photos, describes only half of this business. A guest needs to make a trip to Michigan and put on your list of places to visit this "Mackinaw Bridge Museum" for yourself. Then afterwards take a drive over the Mackinaw Bridge to see, feel and understand the history of how the bridge was built. I enjoy it yearly in the Summer or Fall! :-) I will always look forward to visiting this museum when in Mackinaw City, in case I missed a part of the history story. Then to remember, reflect, honor those past brave and talented Iron Workers that dedicated their lives to build The Mighty Mackinaw Bridge!

This museum is inside of a pizza place and is completely free! We just got cheese bread because we…read moredidn't know it was a pizza place and ate beforehand. The cheese bread was good and we will eat dinner here next time. They probably had the friendliest staff we encountered while in town.

What a fun little haunt! After the maze of mirrors this place was much bigger than I thought! The…read moreprops and animatronics were great and got a few screams out of my partner. If you like haunts and kitsch you will love this place!

What in the world? Of all the things I thought I would see and experience on Mackinac Island, a…read morekitschy, vintage haunted house was not on that list. But I saw the Orpheum Theatre right there in the middle of Main Street, with signs and arrows pointing to a haunted house awaiting inside. I'm a horror fiend, so how could I pass up an old-timey haunted house? There's no way I couldn't not stop in! I happened to visit during the month of October, which is peak haunted house / Halloween season, but apparently, the haunted house at the Orpheum Theatre is open year-round during the tourist season. This haunted house has been around for more than 50 years, and to be honest, you can kind of tell. But that's part of the fun! The monster wax figures throughout this walk-through haunted house look like they've been grinding for several decades (and they have!), so you will probably be laughing and screaming in equal proportions. My kids and I were groaning at the cheesiness one minute, and then screaming because one of those cheesy wax figures moved and scared us the next minute. As you make your way through the haunted house, you'll peer into rooms and see mythological wax figures, make your way through a mirror maze, and go through a laser light area. Mostly, though, the haunted house is really dark, and you can't see much, which makes it even more scary when someone whispers in your ear. (Yes, that happens!) For some reason, the creepy, whispering disembodied voice chose to zero-in on me, and every so often, I would sense something near me, and then hear a whisper in my ear. I screamed every time! We had a wonderfully, gleefully scary 10 minutes or so, which is about the time it takes to make your way through the haunted house. As of this writing, admission to the haunted house is $9 for ages 7 and older, and free for ages younger than 6 years old. It's completely worth the admission to experience this vintage haunted house.

What a fascinating museum! If you're into the offbeat and less traveled, this is the real deal…read more In a space that consists of 4 rooms and a hallway, L'Abre Croche engagingly paints the story of life in the area that is now known as Cross Village. Open by appointment, as well as from 1-3pm on Saturdays from May through October, this volunteer-run museum has surprisingly well done displays and a small, but well organized collection of archival materials. The docent (who I believe is also the curator) was extremely knowledgeable and shared just the right bits of information and just the right times. Native American, itinerant fur trader, and settler life are all examined in this small museum, as is the history of the area's Catholic church, which was instrumental in the lives of all three groups.

Yes, there's an arcade on Mackinac Island! Because sometimes, you just need a place to send the…read morekids. Carousel Arcade is one of those modern arcades where you accumulate "tickets" on a card. You don't get the satisfaction of holding a grip of tickets, unfortunately. But it's fun, nevertheless. There are games like claw machines, virtual reality cars, skee ball, basketball shooting games and lots more. My kids spent half an hour or so here twice while we were on the island, and they had a great time. When it came time to redeem their tickets, there was a good variety of prizes at different ticket points. There were candies, toys and trinkets. We left with a lot of candy and an axolotl blanket. We didn't get anything to eat or drink, but apparently, Carousel Arcade has food and beverages, including beer ($3 beer was advertised on the window!).