19 Things About Michigan You May Not Know

1. The world's largest manufacturer of magic supplies is located in Colon, Michigan.
2. The city of Novi's name comes from its designation as Stagecoach Stop # 6 or No.VI.
3. Michigan is the only place in the world with a floating post office. The J.W. Westcott II is the only boat in the world that delivers mail to ships while they are not at dock, and has been operating for over a 100 years.
4. Michigan has more shoreline than any other state except Alaska.
5. Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, the most of any U.S. state. Many of them are considered haunted!
6. Books are in our blood: Michigan's Consitution was the first to establish public libraries.
7. Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to tax-paid high school education.
8. Four flags have flown over Michigan: French, English, Spanish and United States.
9. Isle Royal Park is home to a predator-prey relationship between wolves and moose that is unlike any other in the world (join us on our 5-day "Wolves of Isle Royale with Never Cry Wolf" trip to learn more).
10. The historic Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie handle more tonnage each year than the Suez and Panama Canals combined.
11. Grand Haven has singing sand: when you walk on the sand particles, they make a whistling sound.
12. The Lake Superior shoreline, if laid out in a straight line, could connect Duluth and the Bahama Islands.
13. Forest covers more than 52 percent of the state with more than 18.5 million acres.
14. The Great Lakes hold over 80 percent of North America’s fresh water—and more than 20 percent of the world’s.
15. Authors from Michigan include Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji, The Polar Express), Jeffrey Eugenides (The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex), Jim Harrison (Legends of the Fall), Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty), Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale), Robert McKee (Story) and many more.
16. When the Mackinac Bridge first opened in 1957, the fare was $3.75 — today's fare for a standard car is $4. That’s like paying $28.71 in 1957! Why so much? A ferry ticket cost $3.75 in 1957, so drivers could either pay $3.75 to ride the boat across the Straits of Mackinac (which took a long time) or pay the same price and drive across in just a few minutes.
17. In August of 1923, three of the most famous American entrepreneurs made their first camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The three men were Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, and the trip would eventually spur much economic activity in the U.P.! (Time to schedule your own genius camping trip in the U.P.?)
18. Isle Royale National Park has fewer visitors per year than Yosemite has in one day, making it the least visited national park in the country (did I mention we have a trip there this summer?).
19. Michigan produces more dog sleds than any other state.

What's your favorite fact about Michigan? Leave it in the comments below.

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