Work continues within Mackinac Island State Park, and volunteer opportunities are available. Learn more here
In the late 18th century, a small number of sailing vessels crisscrossed the upper Great Lakes. Each vessel only required a few sailors to operate, with diverse crews that involved enslaved individuals.
In the early 1970s, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission decided to reconstruct “Welcome,” a trading vessel originally built in the mid-1770s. A small boat to accompany the sloop was also built, and it’s now back home. Read on:
Robert Campbell constructed a water-powered sawmill at Mill Creek about 1790, being the first of its kind in northern Michigan. Prior to the mill, trees were turned into lumber entirely with hand tools for more than 100 years at the Straits of Mackinac.
