travel dates July, 2022
I talked about our time in Detroit on the RV Atlas podcast awhile back. Give it a listen here.
There’s something about islands. I just like them. (But not boats, as I’ve mentioned before. An unfortunate pairing). So when I learned about Detroit’s Belle Isle, a 982 acre public park with an aquarium, conservatory, trails, and all sorts of other things to see, it immediately earned a place on our itinerary (I blogged about our other pick for Detroit, the Detroit Institute of Arts, here).
Belle Isle’s history as a public park dates to the 19th century; Frederick Law Olmstead of Central Park was once hired to design it, though only some of his plan was ever implemented. Like Detroit itself, the park has seen a lot of ups and downs, but today it’s run as a state park by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which seems to be doing a great job preserving the island and maintaining and restoring a lot of the enchanting Albert Kahn designed buildings from its early 20th century glory days.
Our designated Belle Isle day was misty with on and off rain, but it turned out to be perfect for that kind of weather, as there’s a great mix of indoor and outdoor spaces. We found more than enough to do to fill a day there. Access to the island is free for pedestrians and bike riders, but you need a pass to drive there (and you can drive there; there’s a bridge!). There are different fees for annual vs. day passes and for Michigan residents vs. not. What we found online is that a day pass for non-residents is supposed to be $9. Which we would have been more than happy to pay, but we couldn’t find anyone to give it to. The booths we drove past were unstaffed and, when we asked an employee outside the aquarium, she told us we didn’t need to pay. So if anyone from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is reading and wants to tell us where to send $9, we’d be glad to do it! Anyway, there ARE booths you drive past that look like they often have people in there that you can pay. Oh, I just read that one can purchase a pass at the visitor contact station or at the White House. So I guess try to find those!
We started our day at the Belle Isle Aquarium and the adjacent Anna Scipps Whitcomb Conservatory. The aquarium is said to be the oldest still operating aquarium in the country. It reopened in 2012 after several years of staying closed as a cost cutting measure by the city, and it seems to have been missed, as it was very busy when we were there. The aquarium itself is pretty small, with mostly unexciting river fish, but fun for kids. I was more charmed by the architecture, though. Such a cool building!
Then we went next door to the also very cool conservatory (admission to both is free). I was worried everything would be crowded after seeing the aquarium, but it turned out to be the only place where we encountered an uncomfortable number of people.
Note that there are no restaurants on the island, though there are plenty nearby. There are food trucks in season and plenty of picnic areas. We ended up eating sandwiches in the car while waiting out some rain.
There’s a small nature center on Belle Isle, but when we went (and still today, according to the website), the inside spaces were closed for renovation. They do have outdoor programming, though, including guided walks that are open to the public on certain days, and we registered in advance for one of these. Our guide took us through a noisy construction zone and then on a lovely walk out to a lighthouse and past it for some views of the river and Canada. You could also do this walk on your own, although make sure you know where you’re going to get to the lighthouse; it would have been a little tricky to find on our own.
The lighthouse, like many of the island’s structures, was designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn. You may think you’ve seen plenty of lighthouses in your day, but you’ve never seen one like this: in an Art Deco style and constructed of Georgia marble….because this is the only one.
Sadly, you can’t go inside the lighthouse these days; the city built that fence around it awhile back because to prevent further vandalism.
Past the lighthouse the trail continues and takes you out along the river a little ways. We saw more lovely wildflowers out that way, nice river views, and a snake!
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum was our final stop.
This smallish (but bigger than I expected) museum focuses on Detroit’s maritime history. Admission is $5 per person or $20 for a family of up to 6. The first exhibit you see is the Gothic Room–a reconstructed lounge from the City of Detroit III , which used to travel the lake between Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland. It’s stunning:
We spent a good bit of time in the hands-on Built by the River exhibit, learning about the history of Detroit and the Detroit River:
Then we checked out the William Clay Ford Pilot House; the freighter is best known for searching for survivors from the Edmund Fitzgerald (the museum also has the bow anchor from the Edmund Fitzgerald in its outside exhibit area).
So, as you can see, plenty to do…and that was with icky weather that kept us from exploring outside as much as we might have liked. We were all totally charmed by Belle Isle; it made it onto several of our top travel memory lists at the end of the year!
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