The Hidden Culture of
Upper Peninsula Michigan – Part 2 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Along
the way to Mackinac Island, my mother would stop at a restaurant where we could
sample some of the history of the Upper Peninsula.
As
we spread paper napkins on our laps for lunch, she remarked, “Paper napkins are
a paper product from the lumber industry.”
“The
Swedes, the Finns, and Cornish from England worked in the iron and copper
mines, farming, lumber, and freight ship industries here,” she said.
“Didn’t
our ancestors come from Cornwall?” I asked.
“They
did, but they did not work in the tin mines of Cornwall or in the iron and
copper mines here. There were ship
captains, who sometimes sold gin to miners,” she said with a shake to her head.
At
almost every diner along the way to Mackinac Island, you can order the
following three items in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan:
-Cornish
(English) pasties filled with beef, potato, turnips, and onions. The folded over crust has a braided edge and
looks like an empanada.
-Finnish
keralian pastry made with rye flour crust and filled with potatoes, rice, or
carrots
-Swedish
cinnamon rolls with confectioner’s sugar frosting
All
this can be eaten with mild Vienna roast coffee with cream.
After
lunch, we set out for Mackinac (pronounced “Macinaw”) Island. Mackinac Island is located in the Mackinac
Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
You have to take a ferry out to Mackinac Island and leave your car
behind; Mackinac is a pedestrian-only vacation spot.
Fort
Mackinac has its place in history as an easy victory for the British in the War
of 1812 when the 50 soldiers at the Fort faced an army contingent. They surrendered without battle.
Since
that time, Mackinac Island has had a decidedly English flair. You can buy tea everywhere, but not coffee,
the American beverage.
The
19th century Biddle House has re-enactments of curing meat for
winter, which you had to do to survive Michigan winters. I learned that bacon comes from a pig here.
The
freighters that glide from one lake to another form the constant picture show
for the Grand Hotel where we went for afternoon tea after visiting the hotel’s
carriage museum.
We
sat in the lobby and sipped Darjeeling tea that we ate with scones and
marmalade jam and clotted cream for the scones.
I
knew I was getting deluxe treatment as a kid in this lovely hotel that is still
owned by the same family today.
On
the way back to the ferry, we bought caramel candy and saltwater taffy. My mom drove across the Mackinac Bridge to
the Lower Peninsula and Detroit.
The
drive in the UP was a vacation all by itself I felt even as a young girl.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
