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Where Horse Is King

You can't bring your Porsche to Mackinac Island, but your neighbor can't either. Cars have been banned here since the first ones were sighted on the streets of Detroit. This remarkable municipal decision was less a stroke of political brilliance than a desire to protect the carriage drivers whose livelihood depended on taking Mackinac visitors on tours of the Island. When the first car appeared on the Island in 1898, the Village Council quickly passed an ordinance banning the vehicles.

Resistance to the ban surfaced periodically during the following decades, but in 1935 the Mackinac Island State Park Commission which governs over 80% of the Island adopted an ordinance reading "that the operation of any motor vehicle of any kind within the area of Mackinac Island State Park is hereby prohibited ..." A limited number of public utility vehicles are excepted and in the 1960s, under public pressure, the State Park created limited access to snowmobiles during the winter months.

This Grand Hotel carriage driver takes distinguished visitors on a tour of Mackinac's beautiful woods and historic sites