Mackinac Island, MI

Ghosts and Gore

Once there, start out with a historic tour of the four-block downtown district, where costumed interpreters at a handful of historic sites bring island history to life. At the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop on Market Street, watch horseshoes and candlesticks get hammered over an authentic 19th-Century forge.

The William Beaumont Memorial Museum, at Fort and Market Streets, is the oddest attraction you'll find on the island. Beaumont was the fort surgeon, and in 1822 he removed a bullet from the abdomen of a French trapper. The wound never closed, and Beaumont used the opening, so to speak, to revolutionize knowledge of the digestive system. Young would-be medics can check out a hands-on model of the hapless Frenchman's mid-section.

Butterfly House, copyright
Terry W. Phipps/Mackinac
Island

More ghastly thrills lie in wait at the Haunted Theatre on Huron Street. This is the most "touristy" attraction in town, but perfect for restless tykes who need a dose of ghouls and goblins.

For a less grisly diversion, wander over to the Butterfly House, a greenhouse on McGulpin Street, where you can sniff the flowers surrounded by as many as 700 butterflies.