Thursday, May 16, 2024 Ford Museum, Greenfield Village

 Thursday, May 16

Warmer today 62 degrees at 8:15.  After breakfast, we head to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and adjacent Greenfield Village in Dearborn. We are there shortly after the 9:30 opening.

We purchase tickets for the Museum and Greenfield Village, and pass on the factory tour.  Since the weather is nice, we opt to do the outdoor Greenfield Village first.

 When Henry Ford saw something he was impressed with, he often purchased it and brought it to Dearborn.  An admirer of innovation and creativity, he he dismantled original buildings and brought them with their furnishings here to Dearborn.  The Village is his collection.

We first stopped at his original home,

Then the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop 

Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Complex

  A Post Office, A Millinery Shop,  General Store, Boarding House, Farms,  Robert Frost's home,  Noah Webster's home and many of his books, a courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law,  a sawmill, a log cabin where  George Washington Carver stayed, and many other shops, homes and craftsmen demonstrations.

A full roundhouse with many steam engines, all in working condition, was interesting.  A man with a large illuminated illustration explained how steam engines worked.

 Each building had at least one person who told you about the people who occupied it and pointed out interesting articles which were from the original building.  I asked someone how many people were employed here and he said it was 800 before COVID, probably a bit less now.

Noah Webster's Home

George Washington Carver's Cabin

Robert Frost's Home

Boarding House for Edison's Workers

An early Ford Factory

Quite impressive!   After we walked around and saw much of the village, we went for a ride in a 1927 model T with driver Mike as our guide.  

The car was a 4-cylinder, with top speed of 40mph.  They have a whole fleet of original vehicles and Mike says their maintenance is quite a job.  Didn't realize that 15 MILLION model T's were built over 19 years!

From here, we headed to the Indoor Museum which was equally impressive.  From neon, to Rosa Park's bus, some Presidential vehicles including the one in which JFK was assassinated.   Many race cars, a few airplanes, furniture - including the chair in which Lincoln sat at Ford Theatre.  Since Ford died in 1947, some of the more recent displays have been acquired by the museum curators.

Lincoln's Ford Theatre seat

Rosa Park's Bus

Original Howard Johnson's sign

Kennedy's Dallas ride

We spent hours here and could easily have spent another day if we had the time and stamina! In a way it was almost obscene how wealthy Ford was, but is also good that he preserved so much history which otherwise may have disappeared.

From here we drop down to Ohio and take the Ohio turnpike ($24) across the state to Pennsylvania.  The PA Turnpike is one of the most expensive roads in the country - would have been over $100 - so we stay north and take route 80, stopping at Wally World in Grove City, PA.  80 is a nice road which really highlights the SYLVAN in Pennsylvania!