Lost For Over 200 Years: The Musical Well of Mackinac Island

(To avoid any confusion, the cover photo is NOT of the missing well...it is of the 'Devil's Kitchen'...no photo of the missing well seems to exist.)

Any Michigander who has been to Mackinac Island numerous times has no doubt seen most of the cool stuff there: Arch Rock, the Drowning Pool, Skull Cave, the “Somewhere In Time” memorial, Lover's Leap, Devil's Kitchen, the old cemeteries, Fort Mackinac, Sugar Loaf, Crack-in-the-Island, Cave of the Woods, Eagle Point Cave, the Grand Hotel, and a seemingly endless supply of historic sites.

But there is one natural wonder on the island that has remained hidden for approximately two hundred years – the Musical Well.

It was first discovered in 1812 when two guys were out with their guns and came across a rock with a deep, deep hole. To amuse themselves, they began dropping rocks and stones down the hole; as they fell, musical sounds emanated from inside. Curious as to what was making these sounds, one of the men tied a rod to a sixty-foot piece of string and dropped it into the hole. Striking the sides, the rod created even more music that one of the men described as “such sweet and delightful sounds – such beautiful music as came up he never heard in his life”.

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Years later, one of the two men went back to the area, in an attempt to locate this “musical well”. He had prepared by bringing rope and rods to create music again...but it was not to be. Too much time had passed, and the area was thick with overgrowth. The hole was now clogged with dirt and leaves and unable to produce music.

It is believed that the well is still there, hidden, with a depth of up to 170 feet that reaches lake water level. Nobody ever took the time to try and save it, restore it, or further explore it...now it's lost. Will someone ever take the time to find it and bring it back to life?

Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no photos, known drawings, or directions to the Mackinac Island Musical Well. So instead, the gallery below shows many photos – some old, some recent – of other Mackinac Island caves and rock formations.

Maybe someday.....