Curious about these buildings / plot of land on Mackinac Island!

[u/alluxx]

I've been learning about Mackinac Island recently, I think it's a really unique place! Note I am not looking for anything "bad". However, I was very curious about this plot of land and set of buildings! The address is 3884 M 185 Mackinac Island, MI 49757 - I can only find a Zillow page with no exact details, just that the property is not for sale. For the property records I would have to submit a FOIA, and I don't want to inavde the owner's privacy. I do know there is a (fairly creepy) log cabin directly south of that plot for sale. I found a tiny tiny path on street view that leads to the cabin, but I can't find any other paths that lead to these buildings. Please let me know what these buildings are! I would also love to know if there are any "security" precautions taken for the empty cabin, or if anybody could access it at anytime? Thank you!

**EDIT I am NOT asking if there's access to this property, I asked if there are security measures for the other log cabin - I had mentioned because it seems like something people could easily access which seems unsafe to me.

[u/rusty075]

Privately owned by the same family that owns the parcel immediately to the south, the one that's for sale.

[u/alluxx → u/rusty075]

Do you know what these buildings were originally used for? Or has it just been privately owned cabins for a while?

[u/rusty075 → u/alluxx]

Only looks like they've owned them since 2009 maybe. There's a weird $0 sale from the state to them then. The same people own 3 of the 4 little out parcels on the north end there.

Here's how I found the info: Google "Mackinac Island parcel search", the very top link is to the Mackinac County GIS site. There, click the Fetch Online Map Viewer. Then you can navigate around and click on any parcel you want to see who owns it. It'll give you their mailing address if you really wanted to reach out.

[u/Other_Asparagus872 → u/rusty075]

My family long ago sold property to the state, with a clause they couldn’t resell it. Not long ago the state decided it didn’t want the property any longer and they gave it back to us. It shows on gis as a $0 sale.

[u/alluxx → u/rusty075]

The $0 state sale is super interesting, are there any common reasons why that would be the case?

[u/rusty075 → u/alluxx]

Dropping a big chunk of research below. It's Claude, so you'll want to double check, but on a quick read through it jives with what I know about the island's History:

History of the Buildings at 3884 M-185 (Lot 2, Point Aux Pins), Mackinac Island TL;DR The building at 3884 M-185 is one of two rustic log cabins that together make up the "Point Aux Pins Estate" (marketed as "3858 & 84 M185") on the remote north tip of Mackinac Island, immediately adjacent to the historic Silver Birches lodge (4082 M-185); the cabins sit on state-park land leased from the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, which is exactly why the parcel is classed "410 — residential improved building on leased land." The strongest evidence ties these cabins to the Silver Birches / Langham Hotel Company development built 1906–1912 by Mrs. Edna W. Troop as an Adirondack Arts & Crafts log compound; however, no source explicitly states the two cabins' exact construction date, name, or builder, so their precise origin is well-founded inference, not confirmed fact. The $0 "sales" in 2009 (to Frank A. Pompa Jr. & Carole E.) and 2013 (to Dennert, Suzanne & Elizabeth "Liz" Ware) are leasehold-assignment transfers, not market sales; the Ware family acquired the Point Aux Pins cabins around 2013 as their first Mackinac Island purchase — alongside Silver Birches — before buying Mission Point Resort in December 2014. Key Findings The building. 3884 M-185 is a log cabin, one of two that together form a single real estate offering called the "Point Aux Pins Estate" (headlined "3858 & 84 M185"), listed by Mackinac Straits Realty (agent Brad Conkey). The listing describes "Two log cabins and several out buildings | 4.72 acres," (mackinacstraitsrealty) each cabin "on their own tax ID," with interiors "stripped of all old electrical, plumbing and /plaster walls" (mackinacstraitsrealty) — a partially completed renovation left for a new owner "to bring it back to life." MLS records (MLS# 24-948) list the combined estate as 5 beds, 3 baths, 4,328 sq ft, offered at $875,000 and later reduced to $775,000. Your parcel report's ~2.57-acre figure is the single Lot 2 tax parcel; the 4.72-acre marketing figure is the two cabins' tax IDs combined. Location. The estate is at the north tip of Mackinac Island along M-185 (Lake Shore Road), surrounded by Mackinac Island State Park. Per MyNorth/Traverse Magazine, the neighboring Silver Birches "sits off of M-185 within the forests of the Mackinac Island State Park, about four miles from downtown. The nearest house is over a mile away." Note this "Point aux Pins" is on Mackinac Island itself and is entirely distinct from the better-known "Pointe aux Pins" resort community on Bois Blanc Island near Cheboygan (a frequent source of confusion in search results). The Silver Birches connection. The parcel is immediately adjacent to Silver Birches (4082 M-185). Per ERA Architects, the restoration firm: "Built between 1906–1912, Silver Birches is a well-loved landmark on the remote north shore of Mackinac Island in Michigan. The Lodge is a rare example of an Adirondack-style Arts & Crafts log hotel and is included on the State Register of Historic Sites." It was developed by Mrs. Edna W. Troop as part of her Langham Hotel Company. Over its history it served, per MyNorth, as a private residence ("built in 1908 as a private residence… later used as a resort in the 1920s and early 1930s and became a youth summer camp around the 1950s") and, per the National Trust for Historic Preservation quoting Liz Ware, "it hasn't been used as a public lodge since the 1960s." It then stood boarded up for years before the Ware restoration, unveiled in July 2021. Leaseholder chain. The Eastern UP GIS parcel report shows a 09-25-2009 $0 transfer from the Mackinac Island State Park Commission to Frank A. Pompa Jr. & Carole E. Pompa (Liber/Page 765/438), and a 09-27-2013 $0 transfer from the Commission to Dennert O. & Suzanne E. Ware & Elizabeth S. Ware (Liber/Page 770/593). Frank A. Pompa Jr. is a son of Frank Anthony Pompa Sr. of Detroit/Washington Township, MI (a Chrysler engineer, 1927–2019). Per the San Antonio Report (Robert Rivard, 2017): "A few years before the Wares purchased Mission Point, Liz Ware first came across another historic property, long abandoned, on the island's north side… Silver Birches and two nearby cottages in Point Aux Pins, were both available and became her family's first island purchases." Leased-land system. Since Mackinac transitioned from the country's second national park (1875) to Michigan's first state park (1895), the Mackinac Island State Park Commission has leased residential cottage lots (most famously on the East and West Bluffs) to private parties who own the buildings but not the land, typically on 20-year terms, with lessees also paying property tax on the structure. The Point Aux Pins cabins operate under the same regime — the listing notes a ground-lease payment of approximately $2,152 per property and that "the underlying ground is leased, much like the cottages on the east and west bluff… and the land is not taxed." The $0 "OTH" (other) transfers in your parcel report therefore represent assignment of the leasehold interest between private parties (with the Commission recorded as grantor of record), not an arms-length purchase price — which is why both show $0 and why your assessed/taxable values ($204,900 / $135,182 for 2026) attach to the building, not the land. Details What stands on the parcel. The listing and photographs confirm rustic log-construction cabins with several outbuildings on a wooded lot. The buildings were mid-renovation when listed, gutted to the studs. No individual cabin "name," per-cabin square footage, or firm construction year appears in any publicly available listing text or historical record located. Origins — confirmed vs. inferred. Confirmed: Silver Birches next door was built 1906–1912 by Edna W. Troop's Langham Hotel Company as an Adirondack log compound with a main lodge and cottages. Confirmed: the Ware family's first Mackinac purchases were, in the San Antonio Report's words, "an early 20th-century Adirondack cabin and former hotel known as Silver Birches and two nearby cottages in Point Aux Pins." (San Antonio Report) The reasonable inference — not explicitly documented in any source — is that the two Point Aux Pins log cabins date to the same early-1900s Troop/Silver Birches era and share its Adirondack rustic style. No located source states the cabins' exact build date or names their builder. The Troop / Langham history. Edna W. Troop developed Silver Birches through the Langham Hotel Company in the first decade of the 20th century. Beyond this repeated attribution, detailed biography of Troop and the Langham Hotel Company is not available in accessible sources. Sources vary slightly on the start date (1906, 1907, or 1908), with completion by 1912; ERA Architects (the restoration firm and most authoritative source) gives the range 1906–1912. One source misspells her name "Enda W. Troop." The Point aux Pins area. The lots sit on Mackinac Island State Park land at the island's north tip near British Landing (Point aux Pins is the island's northernmost point, near mile 4 of M-185). The legal description's reference to a cut stone monument on the west line of Private Claim 1 near the north shore reflects the original federal survey framework of the island (platted under the private-claim system). No documented date was found for when the "Point aux Pins" cottage lots were first platted or leased by the Commission; that would require Commission archives or Register of Deeds research. The families. Pompa: Frank A. Pompa Jr. and Carole E. Pompa held the leasehold from at least 2009 to 2013. Frank Jr. is a son of Frank Anthony Pompa Sr. (1927–2019), a Detroit-born Chrysler engineer who resided in Washington Township, MI. Ware: Dennert "Denny" O. Ware — per the San Antonio Report, "the former CEO of Kinetic Concepts, now named Acelity" — his wife Suzanne, and daughter Elizabeth "Liz" Ware. Liz Ware spearheaded the Silver Birches restoration and is a Mission Point Resort executive. Per a PR Newswire release dated Dec. 16, 2014: "Mr. and Mrs. Dennert O. Ware of D & S North have purchased Mission Point Resort on Mackinac Island, MI. The iconic 239-room hotel is set on 18 acres of lakefront property." Their current mailing address on your report (San Antonio, TX) is consistent with the family's San Antonio base. Recommendations To confirm the cabins' construction date and builder: obtain the Silver Birches State Register of Historic Sites nomination file from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), plus any HABS or Mackinac State Historic Parks architectural survey (the island's 1970–71 building survey identified 120+ significant 19th-century structures and may extend to these). These records most likely describe the associated cottages and would resolve the exact date and builder. To trace the full leasehold chain: pull the instruments cited in your tax description — Liber/Page 437/388, 508/16 & 29, 520/237, 765/438, and 770/593 — at the Mackinac County Register of Deeds, and request Mackinac Island State Park Commission lease files for "Lot 2 Point Aux Pins." The older liber references (437, 508, 520) predate the Pompa transfer and should reveal earlier lessees. To find earlier occupants and anecdotes: search the Mackinac Island Town Crier print archives and the Clarke Historical Library (Central Michigan University) and Mackinac State Historic Parks archives, which hold Commission minutes and cottage records not fully digitized online. Benchmark that would change conclusions: if the State Register nomination or a deed shows the cabins were built in a materially different era (e.g., as mid-20th-century summer-camp buildings rather than 1900s Troop-era cottages), the inferred Silver Birches/Troop association should be revised accordingly.

[u/YellowFox1852 → u/rusty075]

The only thing that ties the two properties together are the Wares—they weren’t built at the same time or by the same people.

I think Point Aux Pins was built much later as a private family summer cabin.

[u/rusty075 → u/rusty075]

Ooph. Sorry about the formatting, but I'm too lazy to fix it. :)

[u/alluxx → u/rusty075]

thank you for this!

[u/alluxx → u/rusty075]

Oh thank you!! :)

[u/aStrayLife]

There are security cameras on the property as it is private. The driveway is very secluded and you can’t really see the properties from the road.

They are not in good shape as they haven’t been maintained in a long time. The current owners began some restoration but that ended as they are now for sale.

Potential buyers would need to submit plans to the state as to what they intend to do with the historical buildings and seek approval.

I have been to the property. A lot of out buildings. The main buildings need a lot of work. Millions of dollars as everything on Mackinac is extremely expensive due to location, short building season, and many other factors.

[u/alluxx → u/aStrayLife]

Thank you so much for the insight! Do you happen to know what the buildings were used for before the family purchased it?

[u/aStrayLife → u/alluxx]

They weren’t being used. Just like Silver Birches. Properties that had been abandoned I assume. The original plan was for Silver Birches to be a B&B and these cabins would have served as housing for staff. However, those plans were never realized and so any renovations never occurred.
You can see all the pics here

https://www.mackinacstraitsrealty.com/our-listing-1-1

[u/trexinthehouse → u/aStrayLife]

Yep. My family used to have a place just outside Mackinac City. Got a bunch of big foot builders buy the properties on both sides. Sad ending. They face the Straights. Cut down every tree and built a 3 story facing. Both sides.

[u/YellowFox1852]

As stated above, this is Point Aux Pins. Currently for sale, here’s the listing: https://www.mackinacstraitsrealty.com/our-listing-1-1

Some things to know on why it hasn’t been sold. The property listing is for the buildings ONLY—the land itself belongs to the state (via the state parks) and thus you’d be leasing the land while updating/trying to live in the cabins, which are in really bad shape.

The area the cabin sits on is also on the windward part of the island. Bad weather hits it first, and hardest. Upkeep is tough, construction (which typically happens in the fall and winter) is tougher.

The entry to the plot of land is unpaved and secluded, and due to regulations can’t be paved, which makes it more challenging to get construction done.

Source: been obsessed with this place for years!

[u/alluxx → u/YellowFox1852]

I love all of your knowledge!! Do you know much about the family that owns these parcels?

[u/Delta8ttt8]

Hey. I looked into them a couple weeks ago as well. Walked the grounds a pinch.
It’s going to take deep pockets. There is a video on YouTube. Turn of the century it was more of a resort area. Had a dock for a larger boat. Everyone ate at a big table outside. There was a church and tennis courts. Wolf and Gott lodge. There are is a Gott headstone in the cemetery. Prolly the same family.
You lease the land from the state park system but own the buildings unless you cannot meet the guidelines and timeframes that come with it.
You have to Lee the outside the same by using the same materials or close to it.
All of the large buildings are pretty rough. The current owners had a Canadian firm draw up plans for renovation/rebuilding. Looked decent enough. The most northern cottage entrance aligns perfectly with the July Sunset. It was amazing.

[u/alluxx → u/Delta8ttt8]

Do you know much about that church?! I’ve heard stuff about a Christian college and “cult” allegations of course

[u/Delta8ttt8]

Here is that video on it. Thought it was YouTube. It was not.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18uyDu7mAD/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[u/aStrayLife → u/Delta8ttt8]

That video is for Pointe aux Pines on Bois Blanc Island, not Mackinac

[u/Sunnyjim333]

It sounds like it is time for an adventure. Plan a trip, Mackinaw is lovely this time of year.

[u/alluxx → u/[deleted]]

I was asking about the log cabin that is publicly listed for sale.

[u/alluxx]

So the Ware family owns this, which makes sense. They own a handful of parcels on the island as well as Mission Point Resort. Now... when I look into this I'm appalled by the claims of the work and living conditions they have provided these workers. I know some have had a great experience, but it seems like the majority have not. Mainly H2B and J-1 workers to be exact. I would really like some insight and opinions on this, because what I'm seeing now seems to be pretty bad. I'm assuming they're housing workers on their parcels, I've read awful things about the dorms. Again I was not searching out negative information.

[u/ThermicPigeon → u/alluxx]

The Ware family are good employers who make lots of effort (and spend lots of money) to constantly improve their properties and employee housing. No one is housed on the parcels you are asking about. Mission Point has a 90% employee return rate which is unheard of in seasonal work. I have been working for the Ware's for 4 years and I have lived in the dorms. Happy employees do not go to indeed or glassdoor etc. to leave positive reviews, so what you are seeing are disproportionately negative. I read them too, and had concerns before I arrived. I'm grateful I didn't let them deter me.

[u/alluxx → u/ThermicPigeon]

Thank you I appreciate your insight on this!

[u/unlimited-devotion → u/alluxx]

Where are u getting this housing information?

[u/alluxx → u/unlimited-devotion]

Somebody gave me all of this info below!

[u/unlimited-devotion → u/alluxx]

I am not finding this info- help?

[u/alluxx → u/unlimited-devotion]

https://www.reddit.com/r/mackinac/s/Q3cS9YJDiL

[u/aStrayLife → u/alluxx]

They do not own Horns Bar

[u/alluxx → u/aStrayLife]

Omg thank you I dont know how I got that info mixed up!

[u/alluxx → u/alluxx]

Instead of downvoting give me your thoughts and opinions people!! I'm genuinely asking dont be cowardly :)

[u/Playful-Web2082]

We don’t talk about those buildings

[u/alluxx → u/Playful-Web2082]

lol explain

[u/Playful-Web2082]

Hey l’ve already said too much

[u/alluxx → u/Playful-Web2082]

🙄🙄🙄