Grand Hotel

286 Grand Avenue

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Since 1887, Grand Hotel beckons guests to their porch where old-world meets new charm. 

Let's start at the top .. the Cupola Bar is located at the very top of the hotel on the fourth floor with two levels of seating, a comprehensive cocktail list, nightly entertainment and panoramic views of the Straits of Mackinac, the Mackinac Bridge and spectacular sunsets.

Murano glass chandelier in the Cupola Bar at Sunset

The stunning Murano glass chandelier hangs as a dramatic centerpiece above the dance floor and between the two levels of the lounge. Designed by Carleton Varney of Dorothy Draper & Co. when the Cupola Bar space was originally redesigned in 1987.  Suspended at the highest point of the Grand Hotel, offering panoramic views of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and the Mackinac Bridge.  

The view of the Straits of Mackinac from the Cupola Bar.

Design elements in this space feature patterns of greens and blues inspired by its surrounding views, along with sconces on the walls to match the iconic chandelier.

The Grand Hotel kitchen serves around 70,000 signature Grand Pecan Ball desserts every single season served since 1947.  Other prominent menu items include their Michigan Cherry Bread Pudding, German Chocolate Cake and Grand Marnier Creme Brulee. The Grand Pecan Ball Pudding is made with quality vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted pecans and topped with the hotel's signature hot fudge sauce. The Michigan Cherry Bread is a croissant custard featuring local tart and sweet cherries with a bourbon glaze. The German Chocolate Cake is made with Valrhona sponge cake layered with dark chocolate ganache and coconut-pecan cremeux. The Grand Marnier Creme Brulee is made with vanilla custard infused with Grand Marnier capped with glazed berries and turbinado sugar or natural brown sugar.

And before you leave the island you must sample Mackinac Island Fudge, it's the best!

Overlooking the World's Longest Porch and the Straits of Mackinac, the Grand Hotel's Main Dining Room offers one of the most picturesque dining experiences in an elegant setting for unforgettable breakfasts, lunches and formal dinners. The landmark dining destination centers on old-world hospitality, where dressing up for dinner is a tradition and gathering for a meal is an event.  The dining room transforms as the day progresses and it all begins with coming together for breakfast, the hotel's primary place to begin the day with both classic and unique dishes. In  the evening, there is a dress code as the dining room transforms with nightly live entertainment from the Grand Hotel Orchestra anda five-course rotating dinner menus that is locally focused and globally artistic.  The Grand Pecan Ball with fudge sauce, which made its debut in 1947, is the signature dessert.  Each season, Grand Hotel guests happily consume more than 60,000 Grand Pecan Balls.  

Recently honored with the Wine Spectator Award for "Best of Excellence", the dining room has over 350 selections of wine (dinner and dessert wines) curated by the hotel's Master Sommelier, Elizabeth Schweitzer.  The beloved staff, the heart of the Main Dining Room, graciously welcomes guests each season.

Somewhere in Time

This 1980 romantic fantasy drama starred Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.  A Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back to 1912 and finds the actress he loves through time-travel.

Grand Hotel guests who stay at the hotel in some way do experience time travel as it is like going back-in-time upon entering its front doors.

Somewhere in Time was heavily filmed on location at the historic Grand Hotel. The production crew received special permission from Mackinac Island authorities to bring a few motor vehicles onto the island.  The film crew brought both 1910-era and 1970-era cars across to match the time-travel plot.  Cast members and crew were strictly prohibited from driving the vehicles outside of active camera rolling.  Even stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour had to get around by bicycle, horse-drawn carriage or on foot when not shooting scenes. The hotel has a Somewhere in Time weekend each year. 

"Jane Seymour once said she thought there was "Pixie dust" sprinkled over the film and she has come to several of these themed weekends.  "She loves our hotel.  She has a true love for Mackinac Island." 

Robert Tagatz, Grand Hotel Resident Historian

The Somewhere in time weekend here at The Grand Hotel was pure magic.  It iwas so woderful to spend time with all of the amazing people who love this special film.  Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly to make it happen, to whose who came to celebrate and to all of you for joining us for the journey.  My heart is full!"

Seymour posted this message on social media after the event.

Seymour was 28 years of age when Somewhere in Time was filmed in 1979 and released in October 1980. Her character was Elise McKenna. Christopher Reeve, also 28 years of age at the time played the main character Richard Collier. Located near the "Is it You?" tree at the end of the boardwalk along the water's edge is the exact site where Richard and Elise first look at each other and she delivers her famous line "Is it you?"  A small commemorative marker rests near the base of the trees along the shoreline of Lake Shore Drive, directly south of the Grand Hotel. 

Somewhere in Time has remained a romantic favorite since it first hit theatres, but it turns out the real love story went beyond the one on screen. So when you saw this film, you saw the real thing.

Both actors were single when filming began on Mackinac Island. They developed an intense, real-life connection and "fell madly in love" which translated directly into their on-screen chemistry as Richard and Elise.  They kept their relationship subtle with only a few crew members knowing about the affair during production.  Before filming wrapped, Reeve's former girlfriend, Gae Exton, a modeling executive, informed him she was pregnant with their child, a son they named Matthew.  Still holding deep feelings for Exton and wanting to do the right thing for his family, Reeve made the difficult choice to end his relationship with Seymour and return to Exton. Reeve and Exton would go on to have a second child together, a daughter named Alexandra. Seymour later joked about hiding her heartache while filming a happy romantic scene right after hearing the news, saying she had to "put my big-girl pants on" with tears in her eyes. 

Despite the sudden end to their romance, there was a consensus among the actors and accounts that they maintain a profound, platonic bond.  They remained close friends for the rest of Reeve's life.  Seymour even named one of her twin sons, Kristopher, after her beloved former co-star. 

"The good part of the story is that Chris went on to have these two beautiful children and we met one another on many occasions. We remained really, really close friends, literally until the day he died.  I have to believe that I will one day see him somewhere in time."

Jane Seymour 

The combination of the majesty and elegance of Mackinac's Grand Hotel and the romance and charm of Somewhere in Time creates a potent cocktail of history, drama and emotion.  It's impossible to stroll on the white timber of the hotel's porch without being transported back in time to the heady days of the 1890s when the Grand Hotel was the talk of the mid-west.  The rocking chairs that line the veranda have silently witnessed the comings and goings of hundreds of visitors over the last century; actors and musicians, business owners, socialites, doctors and lawyers.  Add a sprinkling of time travel into this heady mix and a delicious effervesence is guaranteed.

On July 6, 1898, the village council officially prohibited automobiles. The ban was extended to Mackinac Island State Park in 1901 and it remains a strictly enforced state law today.  

The Grand Hotel, a massive wooden structure on Mackinac Island, opened on July 10, 1887 with 397 rooms (every single one is different) charging initial nightly rates between $3 and $5.  It was built in just 93 days by a group of railway and steamship companies consisting of 600 laborers as a luxurious summer escape for wealthy Victorians.  Famous for its 660-foot porch which is lined with dozens of white rocking chairs and decorated with thousands of geraniums. The teal-painted underside of the grand porch uses a specific color shade called "Dewkiss" that historically stops birds from nesting.  

The landmark has hosted numerous presidents and cultural icons.  The Grand Hotel was designed by Detroit architect partners, George D. Mason and Zachariah Rice.  The prominent resort builder was Charles W. Caskey. The first manager was experienced hotel operator, John Oliver Plank who managed the property at its opening and it was initially named Plank's Grand Hotel.

Five United Presidents have stayed at the Grand Hotel including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Other notable guests were Thomas Edison and Mark Twain. 

The original rectangle Grand Hotel Pool 

The 200-foot-long, hourglass-shaped pool was originally built in the mid-1920s and frequently nicknamed "Paul Bunyan's footprint".   It was later named after actress and competitive swimmer, Esther Williams after she filmed the 1947 movie This Time for Keeps.

Circa October 17, 1947

The movie was filmed partly on location at the Grand Hotel co-starring,

Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Johnston with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra.

Esther Williams as guest of honor was joined by interior designer, Carleton Varney of Dorothy Draper & Co.  He designed the Esther Williams Suite for the occasion alongside hotel staff, press and resort guests participating in the centennial festivities. Williams had returned to the island for the hotel's 100th celebration to rechristen the newly named Esther Williams Swimming Pool. 

1887-1987

Circa July 8, 1987

In 2021, the newly renovated Esther Williams Swimming Pool at the Grand Hotel was officially reopened and dedicated on Thursday, June 24, 2021, following a $10 million, 32-week multi-featured renovation by adding cabanas and an adult infinity pool, keep Williams' legacy alive.  At the 2021 ceremony, hotel executives, local officials including Mayor Margaret Doud and resident historian, Bob Tagatz gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the updated facility during the hotel's 100th-anniversary milestone. The modern update added a zero-depth beach entry family area, a waterslide, reservable private cabanas and an adults-only infinity edge section. 

Video of the Grand Hotel with 'Grand' Resident Historian, Bob Tagatz.

If you go to the Grand Hotel, make sure you take a tour with Bob, the Resident Historian.

"This hotel, this institution has lasted 135 years and 136 seasons and we have never closed our doors through wars through depressions.  We've always opened our doors to the traveling public and we have fourth generations coming here because of it." 

Bob Tagatz

By the way, Bob's favorite room is the Vanderbilt Suite of the 70 named rooms/luxury suites at the hotel. There are 95 deluxe guest rooms with a balcony.  Named rooms include the Lodge of Teddy Roosevelt, the Napolean and Josephine Suites, Lord and Lady Astor Suites, as well as seven rooms in honor of former First Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Jacqueline Kennedy and Laura Bush.

After a long wait (approximately 20 years in the making) a book was released entitled Rooms to Remember by Carleton Bates Varney (1937-2022). The book is a tribute to Varney's more than 40 years of work at the historic Grand Hotel.  He was an American decorator, designer, lecturer and author.  Known as "Mr. Color", his work was based on the use of bright, vivid, multicolors and patterns.  His design philsophy "stresses the use of bright colors and the rejection of all that is impractical, uncomfortable and drab. 

As a sidenote, in 1982, Varney served as curator for the restoration and decoration of the USS Sequoia, the presidential yacht.  

Hospitality design was Varney's ultimate signature where he "gift-wrapped" massive properties with unique, unforgettable visual memories at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  Arguaby hs defining masterpiece, Varney sept 60 years expanding and maintaining the property's vibrant floral aethetics originally established by Dorothy Draper.  Varney was renowned for designing the historic Grand Hotel's iconic look starting in the late 1970s.  He individually curated every single one of its 388 guest rooms with bod themes including the famous Geranium Bar and the Hollywood Grand Suite.  Varney also successfully decorated Palm Beach's most prestigious luxury stays including The Breakers, The Colony and The Brazilian Court.  In New York City he put his colorful mark on such landmarks as The Plaza Hotel and The Waldorf Towers.  In Ireland, he brought his joyful styling to estates and castles.  He also completed restorations for hotels in London and Brussels as well as a section of the Royal Palace in Lithuania.  

Varney's "bipartisan" approach to design earned him high-profile political consulting roles across multiple administrations. His residental clientele read like a "who's who" of Golden Age Hollywood and gobacl royality.  He decorated several apartments for his cinematic legend and close friend, Joan Crawford.  Varney curated three distinct homes for Broadway star, Ethel Merman using heavily saturated colors and custom textile collections.  He designed private homes for other notable icons such as Judy Garland (preferring sunshine yellow walls), Fay Wray, Van Johnson and even sports icon, Joe Namath. Varney also designed a private residence on Maui, Hawaii.

From 1933 through 2019, the Musser family preserved the history and tradition of the Grand Hotel, thoughtfully improving the grand experience of every guest for over 85 years.  The hotel overlooks the Straits of Mackinac and the Mackinac Bridge between Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.  Located high on a bluff, the hotel's famous  front porch is visible when approaching the island by ferry, boat or airplane.

The Grand Hotel, the world's largest summer hotel is open April through This year, 2026, was the 140th year.

The Grand Hotel view as you depart on the ferry back to Michigan's lower peninsula 

.. with a suitcase full of memories "somewhere in time".