House of the Day: Getaway in the Horse and Buggy Era

Mackinac Island, where this $3.25 million resort home is located, is similar to other island tourist towns except for one remarkable attribute: motorized transportation is forbidden.

Celebrating its quaint, ho-hum spirit, the historic town, set on a 10-mile-round island in the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, has proudly pegged itself to the past. Zoning laws explicitly prohibit motorized transportation.

So when you laze on the home's sprawling porch and stare out at the street, says Realtor Peter Lambeth, you'll never see even so much as an electric scooter -- only horse-drawn carriages and bicycles roll by.

"At night it's just quiet and all you hear is the clippety-clop of the hooves, so it's really an amazing place," adds Lambeth, whose sister-in-law lives next door to the house.