These 8 Upper Peninsula Locations Are Actually South of the Mackinac Bridge
When you think of travelling to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, you travel north across the Mackinac Bridge (assuming you're not coming from Wisconsin). So you probably think that all of the UP is north The Bridge. That's not the case. Here are several cities and villages that are actually south of the iconic suspension bridge.
The Mackinac Bridge meets the Upper Peninsula at St. Ignace at 45.846 degrees of latitude. Check out these spots that are south from that line:
The Garden, Fairport and the historic settlement of Fayette lie on the strip of land between Lake Michigan and Big Bay de Noc and at 45.779 in the village of Garden, south of the Bridge.
The Delta County seat of Escanaba is at 45.752. Rolling south of Escanaba on M-35 you'll find lots of Upper Peninsula south of the bridge until you get to....
The southernmost city in the UP contains the southernmost point in the Upper Peninsula, 45.095, a line of latitude that's south of many Lower Peninsula locations like Alpena, Gaylord, Charlevoix and Petoskey.
The twin cities of Iron Mountain and Kingsford are both south of the bridge, but not by much. The south city limit of Iron Mountain, is 45.809, just a few thousands of a degree south of the foot of the Mackinac Bridge while Kingsford lies to the south of Iron Mountain.
You might be thinking that these islands in Lake Huron that lie south of the Mackinac Bridge is not part of the Upper Peninsula, but they are, at least politically. Bois Blanc Island is also Bois Blanc Township, part of Mackinac County, so administratively, Bois Blanc Island is a part of the Upper Peninsula that is entirely south of the bridge.
For what it's worth, you could say the same for Mackinac Island. While most of the Island, which, like Bois Blanc is part of Mackinac County, lies to the north of the bridge, the downtown of Mackinac Island is south of the foot of the bridge by fractions of a degree. The southernmost point on the island is near Biddle Point and the Mackinac Island Public Library at 45.846. The entirety of Round Island, again politically part of the City of Mackinac Island, is also south of the foot of the bridge.
This brings up an interesting question. Yoopers like to poke fun at Lower Peninsula residents as trolls because they live below the bridge. Um, what about Upper Peninsual residents south of the Mackinac Bridge? Huh.
So maybe the UP "up north" lifestyle is something of a state of mind when you consider many Yooper locations being south of The Bridge.
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