St. Ignace is located in Mackinac County. People know the city as the “Get-a-way to Upper Peninsula”. The city is known to be one of the oldest cities founded by the Europeans in Michigan. As of the 2000 census the town’s population was 2,678 people. The Native Americans had inhabited the area for centuries and then the French came. The French founder of the city was Jacques Marquette in a mission in 1671. St. Ignace was an important fur trading site in the early years. When the economic development shifted, St. Ignace declined the importance of it. In 1882 the town connected with the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad.
When you are visiting the town, be sure to go to the Kewadin Shores Casino, also known as “The Shores”. The casino is open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. The casino is newly built and has a 25,000 square foot gaming floor. On the gaming floor there is slots and table games. Some of the table games include Roulette, craps, 3 card poker, black jack and many more. There are over 900 slot machines. As well as the casino, there is a 81 room on-site hotel, a restaurant called Horseshoe Bay Restaurant, a deli, a sports bar and much more to check out.
Another place to stay and enjoy the wilderness on your vacation is the Castle Rock Mackinac Trail Campground. This campground is among cedars between I-75 and Lake Huron’s sandy shore. There are sites that you can just pull through; there are sites for tents and for RVs. There are water and sewer on many of the sites. The area is surrounded by trees and the nation forest land, which creates a real nature feeling. The beach faces the east, so the morning sun rise is beautiful to see. There are showers and a recreational room. Also free shuttle rides to the casino and the ferries. Prices on the camp sites vary due to if you are in the campground or near the beach.
Take a walk on the Horseshoe Bay Wilderness Trail. It is an easy one mile hike that leads to the secluded sandy beach on Lake Huron. In this area you can see many shorebird, ducks and great blue herons. Another animal you might be able to watch is the bald eagle. Sometimes they perch in the tall pines and scan for preys. In order to swim at the beach you may have to go out some distance. The water is quite shallow.
A place to stay on your vacation is the Voyager Inn, which is between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The Voyager offers many different things to accommodate all guests. There is a shuttle to the ferry and to the casino. Some other things the Inn offers is a indoor pool and hot tub, breakfast, pets are allowed and many more. There is a lobby with wireless internet, an onsite tanning spot and popcorn every night. The hotel is right by some snowmobile trails for those who are visiting in the winter to go snowmobiling.
Go to the Silver Mountain Hill located on the west side of town to go snowboarding, skiing and tubing down the local hills. There is a return rope to make is much easier for the tubers to get back to the top of the hill. Silver Mountain Hill offers concessions to keep the whole family happy. There are groomed trails for the snowmobilers. The trails are kept up by the local snowmobile club. The trails lead from the town to the forests, fields, frozen waters and the crystalline shores.
Make sure to stop by to visit Bridgeview Park, which was created by the Mackinac Bridge Authority. At this park you will be able to see the dramatic view up at the Mackinac Bridge and across the Straits to the recreated Fort Michillimackinac. There is a telescope at the park so you are able to get close-ups view of the bridge. The Mackinac Bridge was built in 1957.
If you go inside the pavilion, you can watch three different video monitors convey the scale and excitement of the Mackinac Bridge project. The Mackinac Bridge is the third longest bridge in the world. It is 3.64 miles long.
Before the bridge was built, let alone finished, it was a 45-minute car ferry ride, with extra waiting time for loading and unloading the vehicles. The total trip time could be as little as an hour. But unfortunately summer trips were longer. In the summer your total trip could be three to four hours long. If you thought that was bad, wait until fall, hunting season was even worse. The wait time during hunting season could be up to five hours, with five minute back-ups. After the bridge was done, the ferry trip turned into a 10 minute drive instead. There are even escort services for those who are scared of bridges, weights, for those who are walking, running or bicycling, even transportation for those in the winter with their snowmobile.
Local sights and events
St. Ignace contains many locations from where one can get a good look at the Mackinac Bridge.
Castle Rock, a geological limestone stack, is located three miles (5 km) north overlooking Lake Huron. Rabbit’s Back, a prominent promontory that also overlooks Lake Huron, is 4 miles (6.4 km) north.
Also featuring Kewadin Casinos – St. Ignace.
There are numerous civic events in St. Ignace.