6/26 - Mackinaw City, Day 2

The weather forecast was right......rain all day, sometimes heavy but more often drizzly so we didn't get drenched getting in and out of places.  We found a good deal on new rain jackets after deciding our 13-year-old jackets were rapidly failing (Jim's was leaking).

Our first stop was the McGulpin Point Lighthouse which was the predecessor of the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse we saw yesterday.  McGulpin Point is to the west of the bridge so it's overlooking the Lake Michigan side of the Straits.  

McGulpin Point Lighthouse looking rather dreary in the drizzle.

It's a very nice little lighthouse with cozy quarters for the lighthouse keeper's family. I didn't count the bedrooms while we were there but I think there were three...possibly four.  The keeper's family consisted of nine children so the number of bedrooms was important.  After 21 years of marriage, his wife died from childbirth complications with their tenth child (who also died) so the poor man was left on his own with nine kids. Fortunately, he had a couple of older daughters who were able to help out. The children needed to be able to get to school in the winter so he would move the family into Mackinaw City during the winter months and he'd walk three miles to the lighthouse to tend to it. With the lakes iced over in winter there probably wasn't much need to see to the light on a daily basis.  We were told this area is in a weather shadow so it ONLY gets about 90 inches of snow a year, unlike the 140 or more inches at Gaylord 50 miles away.  

Mackinac Bridge Museum and Mama Mia's Pizza on the right (yesterday when the weather was better).

After the lighthouse we went back into Mackinaw City to see the Mackinac Bridge Museum which is located on the second floor of Mama Mia's Pizza.  (Of course we had to have their pizza for lunch and it was excellent.)  Our reason for going to the museum, besides seeing it, was to donate several items I'd found among the pictures and clippings left by Jim's grandmother.  We met Fay Stilwell, daughter-in-law of the late founder of the museum and Mama Mia's, and gave her Grandma Smith's card showing that she'd crossed the bridge on its opening day along with three late 1950's-era postcards of the bridge and an old newspaper clipping about the last of the handmade wooden Mackinaw boats.  Fay was delighted to have the items and immediately put them on display in one of the glass cabinets.  

On display in museum - Mayme Smith's opening day card.

We've never known why Jim's grandparents were there that day, but after reading the schedule of events for the bridge opening we came to the conclusion that they must have driven down from the Soo just to witness history being made.  Grandma Smith was born in the Soo so she had traveled back and forth via the ferry her whole life (59 years at that point).  Waiting for the ferry and getting across took at least two hours so finally having a bridge to join upper and lower Michigan was a huge deal.

J.C. Stilwell, an ironworker on the bridge, started the museum over his pizza place in 1979 with memorabilia donated by lots of people. In 2005 the place caught fire and burned to the ground. With an outpouring of support, the restaurant and museum were rebuilt and lots more donations came in. Without the donated items there would be no museum. The story of how the bridge was built is fascinating.

Fortunately, tomorrow's weather is supposed to be good as it's our last chance to see Mackinac Island. We have tickets to take the ferry over and do the tours so we're going regardless of what the weather does.