Greenfield Village, July 8

Greenfield Village is a huge complex laid out in sections with something for everyone from craft works to inventions all relating to the "American Experience".  The nearly 80 acre complex includes old homes, lakes, and daily programs.  There is no way a person could see and attend everything in one day... much like Disney World or Disney Land one has to pick and choose priorities. I would be really nice if a two day pass was offered.  Ford started the village in 1929 and collections of buildings and exhibits continue to be added.

We arrived at the village with our friends Nancy and Maynard shortly after opening about 9:30 sporting our best walking shoes, plenty of water, and a bag lunch, and didn't leave until closing time at 5;;30 so it was a very full day.

One of the highlights was the Edison at Work exhibit. Edison's workshop featured how he made light bulbs and a demonstration of how the first recording was made.  Ford and Edison were good friends and colleagues.  Ford build a lab for Edison at Edison's vacation home in Florida and later built him a better one at Greenfield Village.

 Edison spent quit a bit of time in the lab mixing different chemicals to come up with the right filament for the light bulbs.

 Wiring of the first light bulbs.

 A whole section was devoted to Farming and Ford's Soybean Lab.  For was a little ahead of his time developing products from soybeans.  At one point he was working on a soybean type latex but the project was put on hold.

 He had a whole lab devoted to soybean research.

 Below, is the garage where Ford built his first car.  There was no steering wheel.  Note the second door on the brick garage. .  The car would not go through the regular size door so Ford had to remove some bricks and make a new door so he could get his new invention outside.

 The Main Street portion of the park also housed the Wright Brothers bicycle shop.  They built bicycles before they starting developing the airplanes.

 I particularly enjoyed the Susquehanna Plantation. There was a garden and also a tobacco field.  The program of the day featured stories of slave narratives of "How I Got Over".  Below is a re enactment of the the Bear and Rabbit stories.

 I noted the kitchens of the homes were much larger than those I saw in Louisiana or Mississippi and they were not detached from the houses.

 The blacksmith shop had lots of tools for making and fixing things.

 There was also a demonstration on how to cook pudding in a dutch oven over hot cools.  That a real fire in the fireplace.... too hot a day for doing something like that!

 There were lots of old homes and this one was very interesting.  I don't remember the details but the stone fence work reminded of the fences I saw in Louisville, Kentucky and the house itself reminds me of a cottage in Carmel.

 The views of the garden  from the window is enticing.  Out back there was a tea garden concession under umbrellas that looked inviting but $$$.

 This was Noah Webster's home (Webster Dictionary)  There were several very old copies of his work exhibited in the house.  The house was air conditioned,  much to our relief!!

There was a whole section on crafts from weaving to tin making.  There was a great demonstration on glass blowing but it was so hot I didn't watch too much of it.  Weaving is performed at the village and pieces of material are sold at the gift shop.  The docent gave a great demonstration on how the loom works.

 This was one of the old weaving machines.

 This one was in full operation

 Railroad Junction has a turn table and frequent demonstrations are given.  There is a train that circles the perimeter of the park with hop off/on privileges, but we opted not to purchase it because the stations were pretty far apart.

 Old steam engines are restored on site and the working engine for the train ride is maintained by a full time crew.  There is always a back up engine ready.

 These are some of the huge tools needed for working on the engines.

 This engine was being worked on while we were there.

 And this engineer had stuffed himself inside to get the job done.

 There are several places to eat at the park including A Taste of History.  The murals at the restaurant were made from different types and colors  of corn.

Through out the park there are horse drawn carriages pulled by these beautiful horses.  They stopped by us to get a drink.

 These employees are paid to dress up and stroll around and answer questions.  The cyclist on the big wheel explained it was a lot easier to ride than the regular bicycle. I saw him riding all over the park.

 There were lots of old cars being driven by costumed drivers.  Tours were offered too.

 This Model T was Fords 15,000,000 car.  Did you know the models started out as Model A then Model  B etc. but when Ford got to T he never moved on with the alphabet even though he made changes to the Model T.

There is a whole lot more to Greenfield Village and it is a great place for families.  If you are in the area make lots of time.

Our time in the Detroit area is ending and we will be leaving early in the morning (Saturday) for Jefferson, Ohio and hopefully some rest. It's hard work being a full time tourist!!