Private Tour

French History Tour of Detroit A Self-Guided Audio Tour App

Overview

Available languages

English

6 hours

Mobile ticket

Tour the vestiges of French Detroit, an American City, that began as a French colonial outpost. It was founded as Fort Pontchartrain and as a trading post in 1701. It remained an outpost of the French Empire through 1760, when it became a part of the British Empire. It remained British until 1795, when it became American. Throughout those changes, Detroit retained its French identity and remained a French speaking city into the 1840's. Most of that French history is lost, forgotten, and seldom taught in history books. On this tour you will learn of the preservation efforts of what remains of the cultural heritage of French Detroit. This tour brings that history to life.

After you download this tour, you can listen to the narration in the comfort of your home or hotel room. You can then decide if you want to visit all of the places in one day, or to focus on a few. Once you are close to each of the points of interest, the SmartGuide app will alert you and begin to play the narrative.

Additional Info

Public transportation options are available nearby

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

What To Expect

Ste. Anne de Detroit Church

Take a private auto tour through the forgotten history of French Detroit. Discover what remains of Detroit when it was a distant outpost on the fringe of Louis XIV’s French Empire. Learn what makes the history of Detroit unlike that of any other. See where more than a thousand Fox Indians were slaughtered (and why) in an epic battle for control of the straits. See the river whose water turned red with the blood of more than a hundred British Redcoats, ambushed crossing the bridge over it! See the second oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the US, founded by Antoine Cadillac and Father Constantin De L’Halle. See the resting place of Father Gabriel Richard. Find out why the history of French Detroit is a history of the French and of Native American Indians. A fun and informative tour!

15 minutes • Admission Not Included

Hart Plaza

After leaving Ste Anne's, we stop at nearby Riverside Park, before driving on to Hart Plaza. Learn about the Wendat, who lived at this location, and other Native American Indians who lived in relative peace and harmony with the French. At Hart Plaza, see about Fort Pontchartrain and why it was built there. After leaving Hart Plaza, we stop briefly at two of the oldest houses built in Detroit, dating to 1826 and 1840. Learn about ribbon farms and some of the streets named for the farms they ran alongside.

15 minutes • Admission Not Applicable

What‘s Included

You will receive the SmartGuide App and the French History of Detroit Audio Tour.

Options

French History Tour of Detroit

SmartGuide AI Interpretation

AI Translation: The internationally acclaimed SmartGuide app can translate the tour into most major languages.

Reviews

4.00

3 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

Deserves a lot more than 2 stars!!
N4093NPanns,,Oct 18, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
I wanted to offer a different perspective than the sole review on this tour- especially if you like history. We recently took the audio tour of Detroit and found it very interesting. The narrator is a Detroit historian who has written books on the settling of Detroit and its' early and more recent growth. You learn a lot about the French and Catholic roots of the city. We plugged the downloaded audiotour into our car and had no trouble with the audio. The stops were interesting and the only one we were parking stressed was the Hart Plaza. But you can see the river from your car. You learn a lot about the founding families as well as the role of the water to the growth of the city. Interesting French and Indian War and Revolutionary War history. It ends with cultural settings- and we thought the Detroit History Museum was excellent. Parking downtown was not an issue. We paid $10 and had access to all the downtown venues. The audiotour fee was $20 - a deal for our carful of people. I would give it between 4-5 stars. The final stops are museums- so you can draw out the tour to last all day. Or you can compact it to 2-3 hours. A good foundation to the history of the city!
A fun educational & cultural day in Detroit
753gracem,,Oct 12, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
My sister and I spent a day in Detroit learning about the little known 200 years of Detroit as a French city. The influences of the French and various Native American tribes were a story unto themselves. Add the conflicts with the British and there is a riveting mosaic of history that we fully enjoyed learning about. The audio tour takes you across multiple parts of the city, with the river being a central feature. We loved Belle Isle and strolling around the Elmwood Cemetary. The guide challenged us to reimagine Detroit during the 1700-1800s when the grand marais was a swamp, when furs constituted a major US asset, and when the French, British and native Americans fought savagely for land and dominance. He was a wealth of information and communicated well. We hooked our phone up to the car audio system and had no trouble hearing. A delightful day in Detroit!
Disappointed
loretta08,,Sep 24, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
2.00
The narrator was very knowledgeable about French history in the Detroit area. The app was difficult to use and did not coordinate well with GPS. I would advise thoroughly studying the route before starting this tour. Also, parking was near impossible at several sites. Chose the day of the week too. Many sites are not open on Monday and Tuesday.