Mt. Humbard

In 1971 televangelist Rex Humbard of Akron bought conference and college holdings on Mackinac Island, planning a Christian family resort and the reopening of Mackinac College as a Bible college. Students at the earlier college had already cleared a slope at Stonecliffe, and Humbard turned the 165-acre estate into a winter sports center called Mt. Humbard. Work began in September 1971 and was done by late December. It had two ski runs of 150 and 650 feet, two jumps, a chairlift, a toboggan run, a skating pond and cross-country trails, with runs given biblical names. Guests stayed at the conference center downtown and rode to the slopes by sleigh. MWLSAP lists 128 feet of vertical.^1,2,3

Thin snow, slopes that faced the wrong way and the trouble of reaching an island hampered it, and the snowmaking its manager said would come if needed never did. Tree clearing caused erosion that was repaired the next summer. Mt. Humbard ran for two winters; the college drew about 140 students in its first year and closed in 1973 as the ministry faced wider money troubles. The double chairlift later went to Berkshire East in Massachusetts.^1,2,3,4

TodayThe old Stonecliffe guest cottage that served as the ski lodge is now the Grand Hotel's Woods Restaurant. (2015)¹