The last of the Great Forts and the Great Lakes...

July 16, 2013 Tuesday

The last of the Great Forts and the Great Lakes...

Today we see the last of the forts involved in the War of 1812.  Fort Makinac (pronounced Makinaw) is on Makinac Island just a 15 minute hydrojet-ferry ride from the mainland at St. Ignace, Michigan.

Hyrdojet Ferry

Fort Makinac was the fort that the British along with a group of Canadians and Indians captured in 1812.  The Americans surrendered the fort because they were out numbered and wanted to preserve the civilian lives-they realized it was a fight they couldn’t win - it was about 60 Americans to 600 British including the Canadians and Indians.

This fort is built up on a hill with beautiful views of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and up in the watch tower you could see forever.  Quite a beautiful spot for a fort, and important to the Americans to support their fur trade with the local indians and for export as well.

Fort Makinac up on the hill - yes, we had to climb to it!

When the war of 1812 was over in 1814, America was given back this fort under the Treaty of Ghent.  I guess there will always be the question as to who won the war of 1812 - the Americans, the British, the Canadians or the Indians.  This question was asked by the fort  tour guides and I think they answered it really well at this fort.  Basically with the treaty agreement, land was returned to the original owners, so the British didn’t gain any new ground and neither did the Americans.  The indians lost Tecumseh who was killed during this war, and they didn’t gain any land or independence either - and with the British  in heavy debt from the Napoleanic wars they quit supplying the indians with arms to fight off American expansion.  It seems the Canadians were really the winners because this marked the beginning of out independence as  a nation and increased our confidence in our ability to defend ourselves.  The Americans haven’t tried to invade Canada since.

View of the marina from the fort

Makinac island is a real popular place, and has been since the late 1800‘s to this day.  They have outlawed motorized vehicles, so the only way to get around on the island is by bicycle, foot or by horse and carriage. The island is also famous for its fudge and so you can purchase the usual tourist souvenirs here - t shirts, clothing, house decor, fudge and ride a horse drawn carriage. In fact, to me the whole island smelled of horse manure mixed with fudge - wasn’t the best of smell combinations in my opinion.  

Church and homes on Makinac Island 

It was an extremely hot day today on the island which was about 33 or 34 degrees, so it felt so good to get back on the hydrojet-ferry on the deck and feel the breeze in our hair, we had a good chance to cool off!

Cooling off on the ferry ride back

A couple hours down the road we find a spot to dip our toes into the last of the Great Lakes on our list - Lake Superior.  Tonight at supper we have a toast to finishing the Great Forts of 1812 and the 5 Great Lakes.  

After visiting the fort  and dipping our 30 toes, we hit the road again with our goal today to  get as close to Duluth, Minnisota as we can for the night.  The highest temperature we have today is 37 degrees celsius on the car thermometer.  We pull into the hotel for the evening and it’s still 29 degrees, humid and still.  We are so thankful for air conditioning - noisy pipes when you flush the toilets...not so much...we are so tired it almost doesn't matter...and so until tomorrow.....