'Pence has fouled our paradise': Furious Michiganders slam the vice president after his motorcade descended on car-free Mackinac Island

MLive/YouTube, Rachel Premack/Business Insider

Cars have been banned on Mackinac Island since 1898.

• Vice President Mike Pence traveled by an eight-car motorcade on Mackinac Island.
• The island is a natural gem in the state of Michigan, attracting nearly a million visitors annually.
• After videos of Pence's motorcade on the car-free island circulated on social media, furious Michiganders slammed Pence's choice of travel.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Motorized vehicles have been banned on one of Michigan's prized natural possessions since 1898 - save for emergency and construction vehicles. 

But on September 21, eight cars descended upon Mackinac Island as part of Vice President Mike Pence's motorcade. Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press was first to capture and share the historic moment:

Mackinac Island draws nearly a million visitors each year, and is regarded as one of the most precious natural resources in the state of Michigan. Just 450 people live on the small destination, and they get around by bike.

"Bikes are just our way of life," Mary McGuire Slevin, executive director of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, told sustainable business news site Triple Pundit. "They are like a part of our bodies, we don't even think about it. When I see a tourist go out for a bike ride around the circumference of the island, you can just tell the difference when they come pedaling back into town - they are more relaxed and have a big smile on their face."

Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island

Even former President Gerald Ford, the only president from the state of Michigan, traveled by horse-drawn carriage when he visited Mackinac in 1975.

So when Pence broke with tradition over the weekend, controversy ensued.

Many bemoaned that Pence's choice to get around by motorcade bersmirsches the charm of the island. Along with the lack of cars, Mackinac's architecture is characterized by wood or log-built buildings, mostly from the late 1700s and 1800s. 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has dedicated much of her governorship on environmental causes, didn't immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment and hasn't spoken out about Pence's choice of transport. 

But Democratic US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is from Detroit, wrote on Twitter:

Several Michiganders reacted to the video of Pence's motorcade by recalling that their state actually elected President Donald Trump to the White House in 2016 - albeit, by a narrow margin of 11,800 people.

It was the first time the left-leaning state threw its support behind a Republican candidate since 1988, when George H. W. Bush won the presidency. 

Several sympathetic Michiganders indicated they were fine with Pence's motorcade, arguing that it's a security issue. Republican State Rep. Beau LaFave said on Twitter, "We will not let our VP be in danger because snowflakes think he shouldn't ride in a car." 

That take was quickly "ratioed" - receiving 2,100 replies over 159 retweets, suggesting that far more Twitter users disagreed with LaFave. Several folks pointed out that former Pres. Ford indeed took to Mackinac on a horse-drawn carriage 12 years after the Kennedy assassination.

As Business Insider's Emma Court wrote on Sept. 22, Pence was on Mackinac Island for the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference, long held there, and told the crowd he had visited Mackinac often while growing up and into adulthood, according to The Detroit News.

Are you from Michigan? Share your thoughts on Mike Pence's motorcade in Mackinac with rpremack@businessinsider.com.