Mackinac Island: Where Cars Were Banned in 1898

About this episode

When you arrive at Mackinac Island, the first thing you notice is the way it sounds. You realize you've never been in civilization for this long. In towns and streets, and restaurants and post offices. Without the sound of internal combustion. Without any horns, or any amped up stereo systems, or traffic jams, or the people beside you lip-syncing obnoxiously behind the rolled-up windows of their cars. TIMELINE 1812: Just days into the War of 1812, the British had reclaimed Fort Mackinac by surrounding it with forces outnumbering its defenders, 10 to 1. 1875: About 50 years later, in 1875, Mackinac Island was named, after Yellowstone National Park, America's second national park. 1898: Horse-drawn carriages remain, much as they were in 1898, the primary mode of public transportation. 1903: Five years before Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, a few hours south in Detroit. WHY THIS MATTERS The story of Mackinac Island is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most