Mackinac Island Carriage Tours History

Carriage men officially began providing tours of the Island in 1869 when the first city carriage license was issued. In 1948, the carriage men officially established Mackinac Island Carriage Tours, Inc.
The founders of Mackinac Island Carriage Tours have had a very prominent role in making Mackinac Island Michigan's most popular tourist attraction. It was the carriage men, led by their president, Thomas Chambers, that petitioned the Village of Mackinac Island to ban the automobile as the "horseless carriage" startled the horses.
Descendants of the founding carriage men still actively manage the company that was formed over 100 years ago.
Today, Mackinac Island Carriage Tours, Inc. is the world's largest, oldest and continually operated horse and buggy livery, with approximately 100 freight and passenger carriages put in motion by over 400 horses.

Click here to read
A article by Elizabeth Edwards
from TRAVERSE--NORTHERN MICHIGAN'S MAGAZINE
August 1995