The Fords, Dearborn Michigan

On Monday and Tuesday we visited the Henry Ford Museum, the adjacent Greenfield Village and the Edsel Ford home which is located in Grosse Pointe Shores about 10 miles further. 

One might anticipate that the Ford Museum would contain only Ford memorabilia but they would be mistaken.  While there is plenty of Ford information there, it contained many more historical artifacts.  We have learned that Henry Ford was not only brilliant but a caring individual.  He had an appreciation for people who were intellectual and excelled in their field and that is evident in the Greenfield Village.  The Greenfield Village was begun in 1930's and contains many original buildings and artifacts which we'll talk about later on.  The museum shows Mr. Ford's keen interest in the history of this country.  In the museum are trains, planes and automobiles.  There are too many to talk totally about but Van has a few favorites we'll mention.

One of the items in the museum was the Fifteen Millionth Model T Ford.



Some of the other items are the field trunks used by George Washington which actually contained the cot that he slept on and cooking and eating utensils. 



There was also the actual rocker that Lincoln was seated in when he was assassinated.



This is the actual car that Kennedy was sitting in when he was assassinated.

This is the actual Rosa Parks' bus
 
This is the "Bullet" which held the world land speed record for some 25 years.

We must add a little bit of humor.  Also there was the Oscar Mayer Weiner vehicle and also a sofa which looks like a hot dog bun with the hot dog and condiments, ketchup, mayonnaise and relish.  I only did this for my grand babies but it was fun being a "hot dog."














When we finished the museum we went to Greenfield Village which has more exhibits than can be imagined.  Henry Ford's love of history is evident in this village.  He selected buildings associated with pioneers of American history and their contributions to the American way of life.  He had many original buildings taken apart and moved to this location for the purpose of education of people.  This is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for family and children.  Plan to spend the day if you come.

Below is Henry Ford's childhood home which he shared with his parents and 5 brothers and sisters.  Henry did not like farm work and his interests were more creative in nature so he left home at the age of 16 for the city.

A few of the buildings that found most interesting are listed below.




One of the buildings was an actual courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law prior to becoming President











Another is the Heinz house which
obviously is of the Heinz family.
It was interesting to find out that their first product was not ketchup but was in fact horseradish sauce.




 
This is believed to be the oldest windmill in the United States



This is Orville and Wilbur Wright's home.  They also have on sight the bicycle shop from which they devised some of their designs in making the plane.

 

This is my favorite "little" house in the Village.  It is called the Cotswold Cottage, which is an exact reproduction of an old English cottage.  This style is also the style that Edsel and Eleanor Ford designed their house in Grosse Point Shores after.  If you can't tell, I am standing in the doorway of "my" new home!



This is the Noah Webster Home.  It was initially designed as his retirement home.  However, as it turned out he did many years of work in this home on adding to the "Webster" dictionary.

 

 

This was a restaurant featuring southern cooking and was named Mrs. Fisher's because she was one of the very first black persons to publish a cookbook.  We elected not to eat there and instead chose the Eagle Tavern which featured primarily period recipes.  The waiters were dressed in period clothing also.  Among other things, they featured the corn chowder and mint julep drinks (which were incredible).  We asked for and they gave us the recipe for the corn chowder and Van got a personal lesson from the bartender on how to make real mint juleps.
 
 

 

The next day we toured the 60 room mansion of Edsel and Eleanor Ford.  It was located on a lake with breathtaking views.   The home was built in the style of the Cotswold Cottage and it was 30,000 square feet.  Edsel was the only child of Henry and Clara Ford.  Edsel and Eleanor had 3 boys and 1 girl.  There is only surviving one of the boys.  Edsel died in his late 40's about 3 years before his father Henry died.  Eleanor stayed in the house until 1976 upon her death.  We were not allowed to take pictures of anything inside the home which was a shame because there is no way for us to describe this house in enough detail.  Most of the wood paneling, stairway and furniture was from between the 1500's to the 1700's and was brought for use in the home from all over the world, mostly England..


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


When their daughter, Josephine, turned 12, her grandmother had her a "playhouse" built.   This is a picture of the playhouse.   The architect designed the house on a 2/3 scale.  Can you imagine how much fun she had playing there with her friends.





We head out in the morning for Canada and will be turning our phones off but we will have access to email and facebook if you need us.  We are really excited about going to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  It just so happens that Chris has a family reunion in Buffalo, New York this weekend, so he and Kristin are flying up to Buffalo on Friday for 3 days and even though we probably won't have time for us to really see each other, we are hoping at least to get a hug and kiss.

Keep us in your prayers for safe driving.  We miss everyone.