CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
Mackinac’s Grand Hotel
Main Lodge at Mission Point,
including the elegant Chianti res-
taurant in the left bay
An aerial view of Mission Point
Resort
Sadie’s ice-cream shop is in the
foyer of the Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel’s 660-foot porch is
the longest in the world.
The Grand’s massive Main Dining
Room
crafted-on-property frozen fudge
and check out weekly culinary
events, including the DIY Cocktail
Program in the Cocktail Garden.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE
Mission Point Resort offers every
imaginable activity: Lounge on
the beach, take in a movie at its
historic theater, a dip in the pool or
play a round of golf, croquet, bocce
or tennis. Relax on the expansive
lakefront Great Lawn with a picnic
basket prepared by the property’s
Cafe or catch a film under the
stars. Rent Mission Point’s bikes
for the whole family, play a night-
time game of glow golf, or join
the Sun-Up Sessions for a light
group hike to view the sunrise over
Lake Huron, followed by a picnic
breakfast of whitefish benedict
and house-make croissants with
Michigan peach jam. Rates start at
$229. Missionpoint.com.
ANOTHER OPTION
Lush, luxurious — and very
grand — the Grand Hotel is
steeped in elegant history.
Towering majestically on a
bluff overlooking the Straits of
Mackinac, the hotel’s famous
660-foot porch beckons to visi-
tors approaching the island by
ferry.
Since opening the summer
of 1887, when vacationers from
Chicago, Montreal, Detroit and
across the continent arrived
by lake steamer or rail for a $3
per night stay, the Grand Hotel
has delighted visitors with its
opulence and still-impeccable
service provided by 700 staff
members. In 1919, W. Stewart
Woodfill was hired as a desk
clerk; in 1933, he became the
hotel’s owner. Woodfill appoint-
ed staff member (and nephew)
R.D. (Dan) Musser president of
the Grand Hotel in 1960 — the
Musser family has owned the
hotel since 1979.
The Grand Hotel offers 390
guest rooms and suites, each
uniquely designed by the famed
Carleton Varney, the president of
Dorothy Draper & Co., the oldest
established interior-design firm
in the country. Varney’s credits
include New York’s Plaza Hotel
and the Breakers in Palm Beach.
Who has rested their head in the
hotel’s vibrantly colored, floral-
patterned rooms? Since Mark
Twain lectured in the casino in
1895, the Grand Hotel has hosted
the luminous likes of Thomas
Edison, Jack Benny, Rosemary
Clooney, John F. Kennedy,
Hillary Clinton, Robert De Niro
and Madonna.
A shining highlight of the
Grand guest experience is din-
ing. Among the multiple on-site
restaurants is the 1,000-seat
Main Dining Room overlooking
the picturesque porch, where
guests (men require a jacket
and tie) sup on a five-course
dinner served on the hotel’s
gold-trimmed signature china.
Or venture into the wooded inte-
rior of the island by horse-and-
carriage to Grand-owned Woods,
a Tudor mansion dressed in
opulent Bavarian-lodge fashion.
Save room for a thick shake or
built-to-share sundae served in a
dog bone-shaped bowl at Sadie’s,
named after the Mussers’ Best in
Show Scottie.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE
In addition to lawn games
including bocce ball and cro-
quet, guests can try their hand
at a round of Pickleball on the
only clay court in Michigan,
duck pin bowling, saddle
horses, golf on the 18-hole
Jewel course plus FootGolf on
the Grand nine. Cool off with a
poolside snow cone at the ser-
pentine-shaped Esther Williams
Swimming Pool, named after
the bathing beauty who filmed
This Time for Keeps with Jimmy
Durante at the Grand Hotel
in 1947. Partake in the Grand
Hotel’s 100-year tradition of
Afternoon Tea, with fresh-
baked scones, sherry and cham-
pagne, petite finger sandwiches
and tea served in the Parlor.
And, of course, take in some of
the legend that is Somewhere
in Time, starring Christopher
Reeve, Jane Seymour and
Christopher Plummer and
filmed on location at the Grand
Hotel and around the island.
Rates start at $304 per person;
kids 12 and under stay and eat
for free. Grandhotel.com.
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July 7 • 2016
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