Mackinac Island

Into the Woods

This mid-island, Alpen-themed eatery also boasts a bowling alley.

By Patty LaNoue Stearns

MACKINAC ISLAND–How many restaurants can you think of that require a 20-minute horse-drawn carriage ride to get there? Or that can boast a vintage 19th-century duckpin bowling alley?

Those are just two cool claims Mackinac Island’s Woods restaurant can make, the former because no cars are allowed on the island, the latter because the one-lane alley came with the magnificent Tudor manse that houses the restaurant. Yes, the Woods is out in the woods, near the Woods Nine of the Jewel golf course, and it’s steeped in quirky history.

It originally was built as a children’s playhouse on the 1905-era Stonecliffe estate—the Hert family kids used the raised stage as an “amusement lounge.” The ski-motif stained glass windows are newer, added by televangelist Rex Humbard, who owned it in the 1970s, when the Stonecliffe property was a ski resort. And famed interior designer Carleton Varney’s responsible for the hunting-lodge décor, all of which adds up to a unique dining experience. The Woods menu is a mix of Bavarian specialties and modern American …

This article appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of wkndTRIPS. Click the link below to view this entire article in PDF format.

Click to download: 07WkndTRIPS.pdf