July 23, 2007

Mackinac Island, Mich. - History fans are invited to travel back to Mackinac Island's rich 19th-century fur trade era during a candlelight tour of the island's historic homes, shops and buildings on Tuesday, July 31. Along the way tour-takers will meet some of the colorful characters that put Mackinac on the map.

The tours begin at 8 p.m. at the Mackinac Island State Park Visitors Center, where docents will lead small groups on a lamp-lit stroll through 1820s Mackinac Island that includes stops at the Indian Dormitory, McGulpin House, Marquette Park, American Fur Company Store, Stuart House and Biddle House. Costumed historic interpreters will portray people from the 1820s, like American Fur Company general manager Ramsey Crooks and clerk Gurdon Hubbard, the groundbreaking Dr. William Beaumont, Metis women, socialites and families.

The tour ends with refreshments in the Biddle House herb garden. The City of Mackinac Island will be hosting an open house from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Stuart House City Museum that is open to participants in the Candlelight Tour.

Tours are $30 for families, $10 for adults, $6 for children (6-17) and free for children 5 and under and for Mackinac Associates members Friend level and above.

Mackinac State Historic Parks, a family of living history museums and nature parks in northern Michigan's Straits of Mackinac, is an agency within the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Its sites - which are accredited by the American Association of Museums - include Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island State Park and Historic Downtown on Mackinac Island, and Colonial Michilimackinac, Historic Mill Creek and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in Mackinaw City.  Visitor information is available at (231) 436-4100 or on the Web at www.MackinacParks.com.

Read more press releases from the Department of History, Arts and Libraries.