Mackinac Island, the island with no cars

In the state that put the world on wheels, Mackinac Island asks ordinary visitors to leave the car on the mainland. The shorthand is “no cars,” and that is what a visitor experiences. The exact rule is more careful: the village adopted an automobile ban in 1898, the state park followed in 1901, and Michigan law now requires a permit to operate a motor vehicle in the park.

So how do people get around? Mostly by bicycle, on foot, and by horse. Horse-drawn taxis carry passengers, horse teams haul freight and collect trash, and bicycles fill the streets in the main season. MDOT identifies the shoreline loop, M-185, as the only state highway in the nation where motor vehicles are banned.

There are sensible exceptions. Emergency vehicles and a limited number of permitted service vehicles operate on the island. Once snow settles in, residents use snowmobiles. E-bikes also follow separate city and state-park rules rather than getting a blanket pass as ordinary bicycles. None of that changes the visitor plan: park on the mainland, take the ferry or a flight, and expect to move at walking, pedaling, or horse pace once you arrive.

Most of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park. The land was the country’s second national park from 1875 to 1895, then became Michigan’s first state park. That history helps explain why transportation here feels less like a novelty and more like part of the island’s identity.