Mackinac Attack!

I know, I know, it’s pronounced Macki-NAW, but Martin and I got in the habit of saying the sight rhyme out loud to describe the trip we just took all the way around Lake Michigan, including Mackinac Island, and now I can’t remember to say it correctly. We saw and learned about many things on our travels, but one of the best, and probably the one that would be of the most interest to writerly types was the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI:

Per their website: “Hamilton began producing type in 1880 and within 20 years became the largest provider in the United States. During that time, as waves of immigrants helped build the republic, news and public information was printed in many styles of wood type.” If you’re ever remotely close to Two Rivers (like even if you’re just in Chicago) and have even a vague interest in printing and typography and broadsheets and books, I’d highly recommend a side trip here. The museum is great in and of itself, but the place is also set up as a fully functional workshop where designers and artists can make projects using the vintage type and machines. Major thanks to Jim Moran for the fantastic tour, and for carving a little letter K onto a block of wood that I got to take home with me to show how one of  the  machines worked.

Sidenote: Two Rivers is also the town where the ice cream sundae was invented, so if you do go to Hamilton, be sure to walk across Jefferson Street to the History Museum and re-enact some Wisconsin ice cream history: