Exhibits

The new exhibit in the 1829 Post Hospital--Military Medicine at Mackinac--takes you far beyond the familiar story of Dr. William Beaumont to focus on the state of early 19th-century medicine on Mackinac Island and the methods of diagnosis and treatment practiced during that time. In addition to a children’s area with a giant, hands-on stethoscope and microscope, you can see a “virtual” physician from the 1830s named Erastus Wolcott making his rounds and commenting on actual cases he managed at the fort. The projected image of a modern doctor then offers her contemporary diagnoses and courses of treatment for comparison. The careers of five of the fort’s physicians—including Beaumont, Wolcott, and William Hammond, who later became a U.S. Surgeon General—are discussed at length on the exhibit’s panels. Displays of antique medical instruments and period settings that include a realistic vaccination scene round out this exciting interpretive experience.

Kids' Quarters

Kids' Quarters is an interactive exhibit designed especially for our youngest visitors, and is located inside the Officers' Stone Quarters. More than 15 interactive areas are contained in this exhibit, including:

A giant fife four times its actual size that kids can play.
A half-scale model of an 1880s cannon you can pretend to fire.
A pullout cannon in a blockhouse, with sound effects.
An interactive video that enables kids to drill like a soldier with the help of a "virtual" sergeant at arms.
Victorian shadow boxes filled with 1880s vignettes painted by children's book illustrator Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen.
An historic checkerboard that can be played two different ways.
A cut-out mural to provide a new family photo opportunity
And Morse Code keys to try--a 19th-century communication medium that was the e-mail of its day.

Mackinac: An Island Famous in These Regions

Sponsored by the Ford Motor Company Fund, this is our largest museum exhibit with 3,500 square feet on the second floor of the Soldiers' Barracks. Explore the history of Mackinac Island and the many people who inhabited it over the centuries, including Native Americans, missionaries, fur traders, fishermen, soldiers, and tourists. Rare artifacts and historical photographs help tell the tale. Highlights include a touch-screen video featuring 20th-century Mackinac home movie footage, clips from the 1940s movie "This Time For Keeps," behind-the-scenes photos from "Somewhere in Time," fur trade-era touchables, and 1860s stereoview postcards. You can even step onto a reproduction Mackinac Victorian cottage porch and enjoy a unique view of the island's scenic East and West Bluffs.

Officers' Hill Quarters

This restored duplex home contains period settings and professionally prepared exhibits that reflect the family and social lives of officers, wives, and children who lived at Fort Mackinac during the 1880s.

Click here to see Exhibits at other sites in Mackinac State Historic Parks.

Plan Your Visit