Visit Historic Mackinac Island aboard Shepler's Ferry!

Step back in time to a place where transportation is limited to horse and buggy, bicycle or foot. Surrounded on all sides by water, Mackinac Island has managed to escape the changes of time. It's authentic Victorian setting is preserved and enhanced by a small population of 500 permanent residents and scores of summer residents. Families, especially children, love to explore the historic, natural beauty of Mackinac Island State Park, honored by National Geographic as one of the ten finest in America.

Visit Sheplersferry.com to purchase ferry tickets or for more information.

Shepler's Ferry Lighthouse Cruises

Historic lighthouses like you've never seen them before.

Since colonial days, the Straits of Mackinac has bristled with shipping activity. Laced with treacherous shoals and reefs, scores of lighthouses have been erected over the years to protect life, limb and property.

Every Shepler's Lighthouse Cruise is a true learning experience. Guests are treated to awe-inspiring views and learn of shipwrecks, navigation methods, and fascinating historical accounts of these guardians of the Great Lakes.

Visit Sheplersferry.com to purchase tickets or for more information.

An old friend has come to live in Mackinaw City. An iconic fixture on the straits for over 60 years, the USCG Cutter Mackinaw has been decommissioned and will live out its days as a historical museum, permanently moored at the Chief Wawatam Railroad Dock in Mackinaw City.

The Mackinaw was built and commissioned in 1943 to help maintain the flow of iron ore throughout the winter months and proved essential to the World War II military campaign.

Mackinac Island ferry owner Bill Shepler stepped forward to spearhead an effort to purchase the USCGC Mackinaw and convert it to a floating historical museum. Shepler, along with seven other prominent Mackinaw area supporters created the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum committee to oversee its management. Bill Shepler also provided mooring space at his historic Railroad Dock in Mackinaw City.

As the newly minted Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum, she'll stay right here where she can tell her own story in fascinating detail for generations to come.