This took place three years after Yellowstone National Park was named as the first national park. Much of the federal land on Mackinac Island was designated as the country's second national park, named Mackinac National Park, in 1875. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park, which is Michigan's oldest state park. It is well known for numerous cultural events a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian Grand Hotel, and its ban on almost all motor vehicles. Because of its historic significance, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Many of the structures on the island have undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the U.S. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes.
The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century.
Politically it is a part of the Upper Peninsula, and falls under the jurisdiction of Mackinac County. Mackinac Island (or Île Mackinac in French) is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles in land area, in the northwest of Lake Huron at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac.