Sites on Mackinac Island, just a& nbsp;20 minute ferry ride from Mackinaw  City or St. Ignace:

• Fort Mackinac - Help fire a cannon from an island fort 150 feet above Lake Huron.
• Historic Downtown - Watch a blacksmith ply his trade and enjoy hearth-cooked foods.
• Mackinac Island State Park - Hike or bike up, down and around Michigan's first state park.

Michigan Historical Museum System

This summer, discover the fun and fascination of Michigan's past at a Michigan Historical Museum site near you. The 11 museums and historic sites affiliated with the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing - located throughout the state from Cambridge Junction to Copper Harbor - offer unique and enjoyable experiences for visitors of all ages to explore Michigan's rich heritage.

These museums and historic sites tell the stories of the people who shaped this state - iron miners, loggers, French missionaries, lighthouse keepers, Victorian-era children and others. These stories, along with a variety of family events, craft demonstrations and hands-on activities, help visitors make a personal connection to the past.

Michigan Historical Museum sites in the  ;Lower Peninsula include:

• Michigan Historical Museum, Lansing -Tells the story of Michigan's rich past, from the time of the state's earliest peoples to the late 20th century. 

• Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Roscommon - See how "Roosevelt's tree army" improved young men and the environment in the Great Depression

• Hartwick Pines Logging Museum, Grayling - Return to the state's 19th-century logging era, when Michigan led the nation in sawed lumber production.

• Mann House, Concord - Step inside the life of a Victorian-era family and see how Michiganians worked and played in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  

• Sanilac Petroglyphs, Bad Axe - Prehistoric rock carvings give us a glimpse into the lives of early Native American artists.

• Tawas Point Lighthouse, East Tawas - Go back in time to the days of sailing ships when lightkeepers kept their watch with a visit to this 1876 lighthouse.

• Walker Tavern, Brooklyn - Discover Michigan's agricultural and automotive heritage at this early-19th-century stagecoach stop at a historic crossroads.

Michigan Historical Museum sites in the Upper Peninsula include:

• Father Marquette National Memorial, St. Ignace - Learn about the 17th-century missionary-explorer and the meeting of French and Native American cultures.

• Fayette Historic Townsite, Garden - The voices and laughter of long-ago residents almost echo through the streets of this deserted 1880s iron-smelting company town.

• Fort Wilkins and the Copper Harbor Lighthouse, Copper Harbor - Experience what life was like for residents of this mid-19th-century fort and for the lightkeepers at nearby Copper Harbor Lighthouse.

• Michigan Iron Industry Museum, Negaunee - Tells the story of Michigan's three iron ranges and the hard-working immigrants who helped build modern America.

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve

The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve protects one of the nation's most historically significant collections of shipwrecks. Preserved by the cold, fresh water of Lake Huron, these submerged cultural resources are time capsules linking us to our collective maritime past. The 448-square-mile site, the only freshwater national marine sanctuary in the U.S., contains a collection of over 100 shipwrecks, spanning over a century of Great Lakes shipping history.

The sanctuary's Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena offers visitors the opportunity explore shipwrecks in real time via live video feeds, discover the Great Lakes' rich maritime past through innovative exhibits, and learn how underwater archaeologists work to preserve historic shipwrecks.