Elegant East Bluff: A Mackinac Island Walking Tour

Mackinac Island’s East Bluff is home to some of the island’s most elegant summer cottages, where prominent families have retreated for over a century. On this walking tour, you’ll hear how the area earned its reputation as “the quiet bluff” as you stroll past a collection of private Victorian and Edwardian homes.

Starting outside the Michigan Governor’s summer residence, this leisurely walk covers just over a mile through scenic roads, where horses, bikes and carriages provide transportation. You’ll pass charming cottages with names like Restmore, Baby Grand, and Belle Vue. Each home tells a different story about island life. Among them is the summer retreat for the groundbreaking Hamilton sisters – one taught America about Greek mythology, and the other became Harvard’s first female faculty member.

As you make your way to Cedar Hill cottage, where the tour ends, you’ll enjoy views of Fort Mackinac, the British-built fortress that controlled Great Lakes’ fur trading and witnessed dramatic battles during the War of 1812. You’ll learn why the fort’s commanding position had one critical vulnerability and how British forces exploited it during their nighttime invasion in 1812.

On this hour-long tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• Take in the Scouts Barracks where future President Gerald Ford once served as a Boy Scout
• Learn about the Michigan Governor’s Honor Guard, a Boy and Girl’s Scout program that began with Gerald Ford in 1929
• Stroll by Restmore Cottage at Inspiration Point, where brides pose for wedding photos against Lake Huron’s endless horizon
• Pass Baby Grand, two 1890s cottages joined by an impressive columned portico under which carriages once passed
• See the Phoebe Gehr Cottage, the first home built on state-leased land and the oldest on either bluff
• Walk past Belle Vue, a completely restored 1891 cottage that’s weathered 130 years of Great Lakes storms

By the end of this tour, you’ll have experienced the elegance and history of Mackinac Island’s most prestigious neighborhood, where Victorian charm meets Great Lakes grandeur.