High on Mackinac Island’s western bluff, The Inn at Stonecliffe overlooks the Straits with a kind of effortless grace. Evening light spills across the pollinator gardens—alive with bees, hummingbirds, and the occasional wandering chicken—before dissolving into the shimmer of the Mackinac Bridge. What you notice most is the quiet: waves brushing the shore, the clip-clop of horses in the distance. Just as striking is what you don’t hear: no roar of traffic. Built in 1904 as the private estate of cattle baron Michael Cudahy, the Tudor Revival mansion has been reimagined for a new era following an extensive restoration. It is the perfect perch to watch the island slip into fall, as crimson and gold leaves blaze along the cliffs above the lake.

Tucked away from the bustle of downtown, the in

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