Michigan’s oldest community, Sault Ste. Marie (pop. 16,542; SOO-SAYNT-ma-REE) was home to an Ojibwa Indian community for hundreds of years before the first fur-trappers and French-Catholic colonists arrived in the late 17th century. Known historically for the tussles over the area between the French and British, and as the closest land link between the United States and Canada for hundreds of miles, “The Soo” is a great place to break a journey and catch up on the region’s complicated past, present, and future.
Beneath the steel-span International Bridge that links this Michigan town with Ontario’s twin “Soo,” the raging torrents that impelled French Fr. Jacques Marquette to dub the newly established mission Le Sault de Sainte Marie, literally “falling waters of Saint Mary,” are no longer readily apparent. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers long ago corralled and tamed the rapids between 20-foot-higher Lake Superior and Lake Huron with four enormous locks, the largest and busiest in the world. During their 1920s mining heydays, the locks conveyed many times the tonnage of the Panama and Suez Canals combined—with no tolls paid. The locks area is worthy of at least an hour’s siesta; lush parks and a walkway line the locks, with observation points letting you get within a few feet of the massive lake freighters that pass through around the clock. If you want to “lock through” yourself, join a Soo Lock boat tour ($19; 800/432-6301).
A handful of nice cafés and restaurants line Water Street and Portage Avenue within a few blocks of the locks; this is also where you’ll find the art deco Ramada Ojibway Hotel ($80–150; 906/632-4100), at 240 Portage Avenue. For more information, the local visitors center (906/632-3301 or 800/647-2858) is at 2581 Ashmun Street (Business I-75).
