Somewhere In Time Part 2

THE GRAND HOTEL, became one of the nation's favored summer resorts during the Victorian era. Vacationers arrived in large lake excursion boats from Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit seeking the cooler weather on Mackinac Island.  They...
danced to Strauss' waltzes, listened to Sousa's stirring marches, dined on whitefish and strolled along the broad decks.

To accommodate overnight guests, boat and railroad companies financed the building of Grand Hotel. Perhaps the most noticeable first impression of Mackinac Island is the absence of automobiles. Mackinac Island is accessible only by boat or plane.

Visitors and residents travel by foot, bicycle or horse-drawn carriage.

There are only 600 year-round Mackinac Island residents.

During the summer, there are more than 500 horses.

The Somewhere In Time filming location was spectacular (the magnificent Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan). Amazingly, only a few scenes were shot in Chicago; the rest of the filming took place on the island. The soundtrack by John Barry was the most moving we’d ever heard and, coupled with an incredible piece of music by Rachmaninoff, sets the mood of the movie. The costuming was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Tess that year. Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour have great chemistry on-screen and they are very believable as the characters they portray.

Automobiles are not allowed on Mackinac Island, Michigan, location of the Grand Hotel and site of much of the movie. The use of cars for the movie required special permission from the town. Although cars were allowed for filming, the cast and crew weren't allowed to drive them outside of actual filming for the movie.

 One of the most captivating things fans cherish about Somewhere In Time, is that the location in which it was filmed, is a real place, not just sets built and then destroyed. Therefore, fans can visit Mackinac Island and stand on the same spots as the characters, effectively "living the movie" for a few days in their own lives. It is enchanting, and very romantic with its aura of the past, truly like traveling back in time. The Somewhere In Time Weekends, when fans dress in period attire to honor and celebrate the film, are the closest thing to actual time travel as one can get.


Interesting Facts About Grand Hotel Built in 1887

*385 guest rooms with no two decorated the same.
 *Breakfast and dinner are included daily.
*Guests 11 years and younger stay and eat free.
 *At 660 feet, Grand Hotel's Front Porch is the world's longest.
 *It takes 500,000 gallons of water to fill Grand Hotel's swimming pool, named for actress Esther Williams, who starred in the 1949 movie This Time for Keeps, filmed at Grand Hotel.
 *Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer, was filmed at Grand Hotel in 1979. 
*The Somewhere in Time fan club hosts a weekend each October at Grand Hotel.
 *The Mackinac Bridge, visible from the hotel, was opened in 1957 and joins Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. At 8,614 feet, it is the longest suspension bridge in North America.
 *Five U.S. Presidents have visited Grand Hotel: Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
 *More than 50,000 Grand Pecan Balls, the hotel's most popular dessert, are served each season.
 *The Grand Hotel's Front Porch flowers include 2,500 geraniums in 260 planting boxes.
 *One ton of bulbs are planted in the fall, including 25,000 tulips and 15,000 daffodils.
 *More than 125,000 bedding plants (annuals) are used to create the gardens throughout the hotel grounds

Today, I'll leave you with the

Theme Song from Somewhere In Time

Please return tomorrow as we continue with Somewhere in Time Part III.