 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2019) |
Mackinac Island Ferry Company (formerly Star Line) is a ferry boat company serving Mackinac Island in Michigan. The company has a dock at Mackinaw City and two at St. Ignace. [1]
Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry Company was started by Tom Pfeiffelmann, Sam McIntire, and others in the late 1970s. The company started off previously as Argosy Boat Line. The company was named Star Line after the 5 original stockholders making up a 5 pointed star. In 1979 Star Line brought their first fast ferry, M/V Marquette, to the Island. When Arnold Transit Company introduced their catamaran M/V Island Express in 1987, Star Line responded with M/V Radisson, an 85-foot fast ferry which was modeled after a luxury yacht. She boasted two propellers as the other ferries had, but also had twin hydro-jets for added speed. One hydro pointed out of the water making a large plume of water behind the boat. In time M/V La Salle added hydro-jets. In 1990 Star Line added Cadillac and in 1993 added Joliet. These boats were built in the style of M/V Radisson. In 2005 the Star Line added M/V Marquette II.
In November 2016 Star Line purchased the majority of competitor Arnold Transit Company's assets, assuming the almost 140 years of its history and combining it with that of Star Line's existing fleet. This acquisition made Star Line, Mackinac Island's oldest and largest ferry fleet.
Star Line also operates a pleasure cruise on Friday and Saturday evenings from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace respectively during the summer months.
In 2019 Star Line added M/V Good Fortune pirate ship and offers trips to Mackinac Island as well as daily cruises aboard it during the summer months.
Beginning with the 2022 season, Star Line began the process of changing its name to "Mackinac Island Ferry Company," including both the new name and the existing Star Line logo together. For 2023, the company chose to emphasize their new name, only including "Formerly Star Line" in smaller text alongside its logo. [2]
Mackinac Island Ferry Company has the largest fast ferry fleet in Michigan with six hydro-jet ferries: M/V La Salle, M/V Radisson, M/V Cadillac, M/V Joliet, and M/V Marquette II. They also own classic ferries M/V Anna May, some of the former Arnold Transit Company classic ferries M/V Huron, M/V Ottawa, Chippewa, M/V Straits of Mackinac II, M/V Mackinac Express a high-speed water-jet–powered catamaran ferry service passenger service and the only pirate ship on the currently on the Great Lakes M/V Good Fortune.
The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the 26,372-foot-long bridge is the world's 27th-longest main span and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 (I-75) and the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south.
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km2) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory.
Mackinac County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 10,834. The county seat is St. Ignace. Formerly known as Michilimackinac County, in 1818 it was one of the first counties of the Michigan Territory, as it had long been a center of French and British colonial fur trading, a Catholic church and Protestant mission, and associated settlement.
St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered autonomously.
Mackinaw City is a village at the northernmost point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Divided between Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Mackinaw City is the located at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge, which carries Interstate 75 over the Straits of Mackinac to the Upper Peninsula. Mackinaw City, along with St. Ignace, serves as an access point to Mackinac Island. For these reasons, Mackinaw City is considered one of Michigan's most popular tourist attractions.
The Straits of Mackinac are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is 3+1⁄2 miles wide with a maximum depth of 295 feet, and connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Hydrologically, the two connected lakes are one body of water, known as Lake Michigan–Huron. Historically, the native Odawa people called the region around the Straits Michilimackinac.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854.
Chief Wawatam was a coal-fired steel ship that was based, for most of its 1911–1984 working life, in St. Ignace, Michigan. The vessel was named after a distinguished Ojibwa chief of the 1760s. In initial revenue service, the Chief Wawatam served as a train ferry, passenger ferry and icebreaker that operated year-round at the Straits of Mackinac between St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan. During the winter months, it sometimes took many hours to cross the five-mile-wide Straits, and Chief Wawatam was fitted with complete passenger hospitality spaces.
Arnold Transit Company was a ferry boat company serving Mackinac Island in Michigan for 140 years. In late 2016 Arnold Line's Assets including the boats, docks along with its name were purchased by Star Line Ferry, who continues to operate it today.
The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was a land grant railroad that was built and operated briefly (1881–1886) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Incorporated in 1879, the 151.9-mile (244.5 km)-long railroad began operations in 1881. It was intended to help the economic development of a region of frontier timberland along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Its successor line was the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway.
The Mackinac Transportation Company was a train ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac from 1881 until 1984. It was best known as the owner and operator, from 1911 until 1984, of the SS Chief Wawatam, an icebreaking train ferry.
Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry is one of two ferry companies serving Mackinac Island, Michigan. The company has docks in Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Shepler's provides ferry and freight service to Mackinac Island.
Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10 (US 10). The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
Jet Express is a high-speed ferry service departing from mainland ports in Port Clinton and Sandusky, Ohio. It offers service between Port Clinton, Sandusky, Put-In-Bay, Kelleys Island, and Cedar Point. It is one of the fastest ferries on Lake Erie, taking as little as 25 minutes to travel the 12 miles between Port Clinton and Put-in-Bay.{1}
Wawatam Lighthouse is an automated, modern lighthouse that guards the harbor of St. Ignace, Michigan, in the Straits of Mackinac. Originally completely nonfunctional, it was erected in 1998 by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) near Monroe, Michigan as an iconic roadside attraction at a welcome center that greeted northbound drivers on Interstate 75 (I-75). After serving in this capacity for six years, the structure was threatened in 2004 when MDOT decided to rebuild the welcome center and demolish the tower.
East Moran Bay is a small, historic harbor in the Straits of Mackinac adjacent to the city of St. Ignace in the U.S. state of Michigan. The harbor is used as a commercial port for Star Line Ferry and Shepler's Ferry ferry boats from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island, a tourist center of the Straits of Mackinac. The bay and its harbor are guarded by the Wawatam Lighthouse.