660+ Foot Long Porch
From the posted coordinates, you can view the longest porch in the world, according to many sources including worldrecordacademy.org. The front porch of the Grand Hotel is the longest in the world at over 660 feet (200 m) in length.
You can visit the porch if you are a guest of the Grand Hotel or by paying a $10 fee for non-guests to enter the building and porch. You do not need to visit the porch to log this virtual cache. In fact, your required picture must be near the posted coordinates. While the sidewalk is wheelchair accessible, the road and sidewalk have a fairly steep incline, so the terrain is listed at 1.5.
Some History
Mackinac Island National Park became the second National Park in the United States in 1875 (before becoming a Michigan State park in 1895). This led to a large increase in visitors to the island. In 1886, the Michigan Central Railroad, Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and Detroit and Cleveland Steamship Navigation Company formed the Mackinac Island Hotel Company. The group purchased the land on which the hotel was built and construction began, based upon the design by Detroit architects Mason and Rice. When it opened the following year, the hotel was advertised to Chicago, Erie, Montreal and Detroit residents as a summer retreat for vacationers who arrived by lake steamer and by rail from across the continent. The hotel opened on July 10, 1887, and took a mere 93 days to complete. At its opening, nightly rates at the hotel ranged from $3 to $5 a night (equivalent to $90.48–150.8 in 2021).
In 1957, the Grand Hotel was designated a State Historic Building. In 1972, the hotel was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and on June 29, 1989, the hotel was made a National Historic Landmark.
Wikipedia contributors. (2022, September 6). Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:52, March 1, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grand_Hotel_(Mackinac_Island)&oldid=1108772237
Claiming this Virtual
To claim this virtual, please post a picture of the porch with either yourself or a sign with your geocaching name with your log. No prior visits / photos will be accepted. Logs missing a photo or containing a photo that obviously was not taken at the time of a visit after this virtual was published will be deleted.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.