Three miles doesn’t seem like much. For some, that can be a round-trip to the grocery store and back, or maybe the length of a morning jog.
However, three miles in Mackinaw City can lead to an entirely different place and time. A place where water is harnessed for power. A place where miles of groomed hiking trails are waiting to be explored. A place where history and the outdoors come together, naturally.
Welcome to Historic Mill Creek, one of the oldest industrial sites on the Upper Great Lakes. It’s here where the creek is harnessed to cut timber into lumber, and it’s here where trained naturalists explore the plants and animals that inhabit the North Woods.
Historical demonstrations by costumed interpreters feature daily demonstrations of a reconstructed 18th-century sawmill. With a smell of fresh sawdust in the air, the awesome power of the water never fails to impress as the mill springs to life, fed by the pond and ever-flowing currents of Mill Creek. Near the sawmill, sawpit demonstrations and historic farming programs highlight was life was like beyond the sawmill more than 200 years ago.
On the wild side, guests make daily discoveries as wildflowers bloom and wildlife flourishes along the 3.5 miles of nature trails. These are explored in depth with Nature of the North Woods programs and Guided Nature Walks led by talented naturalists.
Kids and adults alike will enjoy the Forest Friends Play Area with the Chickadee Zip Line and make birds sing on the Evergreen Loop’s Sounds of the Forest station. And finally, the view from the top of the Treetop Discovery Tower is not to be missed.
Historic Mill Creek is located on US23 East heading toward Cheboygan, only three miles from downtown Mackinaw City. It’s open daily 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. through September 1. For more information visit mackinacparks.com.
