In Fort Mackinac, the cannon blasts, the rifles fire, the soldiers march and history comes alive. The oldest building in Michigan and 13 other historical structures boast exhibits explaining everything from military training and battles to medical treatments to family life within the fort.

More than just a military outpost, Fort Mackinac served as a home for soldiers and their families and eventually the headquarters for Mackinac National Park, where tourists to the island visited the great fortress on the bluff, much like they do today.

The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, a point in the storm and a guiding beacon since 1889, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse helped passing ships navigate through the treacherous waters of the Straits of Mackinac. There’s just as much to see from the top of the tower as inside the original buildings. Authentically restored quarters and exhibits, including the original lens and an audiovisual program, Shipwrecks of the Straits, make this “Castle of the Straits” a true gem of the Great Lakes.

The Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museumis one of the most diverse art museums in the region, the museum’s collection offers no shortage of beauty and history – from hand-beaded Native American garments and 17th and 18th-century maps of the Great Lakes, to one-of-a-kind pieces from the height of Mackinac Island’s Victorian era.

Original photographs from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century present the beauty of Mackinac as captured by the camera’s eye. Featured are the works of William H. Gardiner, including dozens of his famed early-twentieth century hand-tinted views.