Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park, formerly known as Historic Mill Creek State Park is a state park, nature preserve, and historic site in the United States state of Michigan. It is run by Mackinac State Historic Parks, the operating arm of the Mackinac Island State Park.
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This is a historic park on route 23 - about 5-10 minutes drive SE of Mackinaw City. There are a handful of structures restored from the 1800s. The main focal point is a water powered sawmill that existed there - where one can see the engineering skills of the day. This was the first industrial-like setup of the time. There are scheduled demonstrations run by people who help out at the park to first explain the wood cutting, first the manual effort, then the new way. For our tour, the demonstrator asked for a small child to help - making it interactive in a way.
Beyond the tour there are hiking trails - complete through the woods, around, up and down hills and around ponds.
For $9 per person additional, there is an adventure tour - great for older kids. Includes ziplining, treetop walking, rock climbing (closed during COVID), and a view from the tower. Be prepared though, we showed up at 3:30 (the adventure tours are on the hour) and the last tour (5:00) was already sold out.
Very shaded throughout, well maintained... allow 90 minutes without the adventure tour unless you get ambitious and do hiking trails... Allow 2.5 hours otherwise (either hiking or...
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We loved the added option to go on the zip-line and climb the rock wall. You pay the entrance fee and then for another fee (currently the same cost as the entry fee) you can add on The Adventure Tour. The zip-line was great for a first time zip-liner. The rock wall was perfect for many ages. If you don't pay for the Adventure tour you can still climb the stairs of the tower and see the great view that takes in the Mac Bridge, Mackinac Island, and the coast. We saw a Bald Eagle soar right by as we stood on top the tower. There are many trails you can explore, you get a short taste of them as you walk up to the zip-line. The mill and saw exhibits are interesting to watch as well. The price we thought was great for what you get. You could spend the whole day there if you explore the trails. We didn't go on the trails aside from the Adventure tour due to times constraints. We spent 3 hours there. The mill and log cutting start each hour on the hour. If you miss a show, take a walk on the trail to get back for the next. If you want tips, the employees behind the counter in the gift shop have...
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This is the fantastic park! 🤩 It's the second time I've been able to see an actual working mill.⚙️💦 The first time was a grist mill, This time is the sawmill🪚. Let me tell you, it's nothing like you would expect! It's mind-boggling🤯 the engineering and workmanship⛏️⚒️ that went into sawing logs. This brings a whole new meaning to the term sawing logs lol.😄 And that's not the only saying you'll learn about. You will also learn about why people say, this is the pits 🫢.
Besides the working gristmill there is a museum, a movie, hiking trails, an observation tower to climb up that has a climbing wall on the side of it, and for the ultimate thrill there is a zip line!
This is definitely a fun day for the family 🥳 Great history and wonderful hiking trails🥾🚶♀️ so bring a bottle of water.💦 I especially enjoyed the thought and care put into the Listen 👂to the Sounds of the Forest 🌲🐦 informative section...
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