mackinac is a tourist island, and therefore not realistic. the horse thing is because ameroid tourists romanticize being carted around by horses and imagining the "living history". it could be golf carts, though the number would need to be heavily restricted and everybody who can should walk and bike. it is a very small island, the coastal road around it is 8 miles with a trail that cuts through the middle. most of the infrastructure and "stuff" are in the same part of the island, and much of the island is a state park.

i'm sure a big part of the revenue of the island is the tourism shit, but i am also sure that the biggest piece of that pie goes to just a few people. i can't imagine what it's like to live there, not be employed by tourist shit or be part of some connected family. probably expensive and noisy/annoying AF during the warm season. like trying to go check the mail or return a book to the library or some shit, just as the latest barge full of burgerlanders arrives at the pier and the roads are choked with bozos loaded up on fudge and taking selfies on the wrong side of the road.