Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinac Island is celebrating its 125th anniversary July 10 with a birthday cake measuring 125 ft (38 m) and Champagne served to guests on the property’s 660-ft (201-m) Front Porch, the longest porch in the world.
Grand Hotel’s formal 125th anniversary celebration will take place July 13-15 and will include receptions, concerts, fireworks and a Governors’ Gala, where three former Michigan governors (William Milliken, James Blanchard and John Engler) will join hotel guests.
The 385-room, wood-frame-constructed national historic landmark first opened July 10, 1887, and it has been operated by the Musser family for 79 years. There are no motorized vehicles on Mackinac Island, and guests arrive by ferry or airplane to be transported to the hotel by horse-drawn opera wagons built by Amish farmers in Indiana. Carlton Varney of Dorothy Draper & Co. in New York designed Grand Hotel’s interior; other amenities include the Esther Williams Swimming Pool and the main dining room, where a coat and tie are still required for the five-course dinner.
