Michilimackinac State Park is 100 years old this year. The 20-acre strip of land at the tip of the Lower Peninsula includes reconstructed Colonial Michilimackinac, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, and the open area and beach between them. Visitors taking a walking tour at Colonial Michilimackinac Thursday, July 16, stopped at the French fireplace to learn about the fur trade. The building just beyond them is the Southwest Row House, and to the right is the archeology dig at House E of the Southeast Row House. One-hundred years ago, a narrow, 20-acre strip of land at the northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula was designated Michili - mackinac State Park. It was the second state park in Michigan to be so designated and followed Mackinac Island State Park, which was established in 1895. Both parks are now operated by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission under the collective name Mackinac State Historic Parks, and, today, the land at Michilimackinac State Park has been developed into two historic attractions, Colonial Michili mac - kinac and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.

This 1956 aerial view of the tip of the Lower Peninsula Michilimackinac State Park shows campers in the heavily tree covered area. The walls of Colonial Michilimackinac have been erected and the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse can be seen at the water's edge. The Mackinac Bridge is under construction and I-75 and the entrance to the bridge that now divides the park had not been built. (Mackinac State Historic Parks photograph) To celebrate the park's 100-year milestone this year, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission is inviting the public to the dedication of a new historical marker at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 23, at the park just east of the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City.

The marker tells the history of Fort Michilimackinac and the story of Michilimackinac State Park. It will be presented by Ed Surovell, chair of the Michigan Historical Commission, and re - ceived by Mackinac Island State Park Commission Chairman Frank Kelley.

Those attending will experience the inauguration of the new Colonial Michilimackinac Kids' Rendezvous Interpretive Play - ground, which will open for the first time that evening.

Treasures are unearthed daily at Colonial Michilimackinac. Working at the new Colonial Michilimackinac Kids' Rendezvous Interpretive Playground, Gerald Vieau (left) of Mackinac State Historic Parks shows Dr. Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology, a cast iron tool and handle he just discovered while digging a hole for a post Thursday afternoon, July 16. The playground is scheduled to open for the first time Thursday, July 23, as part of the 100-year anniversary celebration of Michilimackinac State Park. Area Concert Band will provide music and vintage 1910 and 1920- era cars will escort Mackinac Island State Park commissioners to the event.

The first 200 attendees will receive a free copy of Mackinac State Historic Parks' new vignette, "Picnics and Palisades: A Centennial History of Michili - mackinac State Park," containing historical photographs and details of the park. It was written by Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology.

Over the years, the land has served as a military outpost, fur trading site, navigational landmark, a promenade, a zoo, picnic site, and campground.

"One of the really interesting things is how fluid this park has been," said Dr. Evans. "A campground, an historic park, a maritime park, there's all these different things and that's enabled it to stay a very popular destination for 100 years."

In 1781, when the British moved the fort to Mackinac Island, Michilimackinac was abandoned until 1857, when land speculators plotted Mackinaw City. Knowing that a fort once sat along the shoreline, the speculators set aside the 20 acres for a city park and named it Old Fort Park. In 1890, a portion of the land was sectioned off and given to the federal government for Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. When the lighthouse was decommissioned, the land reverted back to the state park.

Twenty years later as Mackinaw City was settled, the park remained, and for a short time it was renamed Wawatam Park. The young, growing village lacked funding to maintain the park, said Dr. Evans, and in 1907, community leaders turned the land over to the state. Without a parks and recreation department at that time, the state turned the land over to the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, and it became Michilimackinac State Park June 20, 1909.

In the early 1920s, Dr. Evans said, the park became a destination for picnics, and, later, a zoo showcased black bears.

"When it really became a popular park was when auto tourism started," said Dr. Evans, "and when the state ferries started in the 1920s, visitations here skyrocketed."

In the late 1920s, the park became a campground and by the 1930s, the first reconstruction of the fort's stockade was built. The campground remained until 1971. Construction of the Mackinac Bridge split the park in half, although it sparked a rise in tourism when it opened in 1957, said Dr. Evans, and the park commission decided to develop the western section as a historic area. The ongoing archeological dig began at the fort 50 years ago.