The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
(formally the Edison Institute) is a large indoor/outdoor museum complex and a
National Historic Landmark.
It is more than a museum. Like.......Disney World is more than an
amusement park! It is located across
from the Ford Motor Company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. A day in the museum immerses you in American
history and folklore.
The property has an array of famous homes, machinery
exhibits and Americana exhibits to preserve items of historical significance
and portraits of the industrial revolution.
ROSA PARKS' BUS
When Presidents campaigned from train stops! (Those were the days!)
Remember when they were .15!
Included in the collection is the
John F Kennedy presidential limousine, Abraham Lincoln’s chair from the Ford
Theater, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, the Wright Brothers bicycle shop and the
Rosa Parks bus.
This would still be a fun way to camp! 1959 VW Westfalla!
Henry Ford said of his museum:
I
am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made
and used.... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as
lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our
history and tradition..
EDISON INSTITUTE
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford along
with Firestone were good friends. The
Edison Institute was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover on Oct 21, 1929, the
50th anniversary of the first successful incandescent light bulb.
Among the people in attendance to the dedication were Marie Curie, George Eastman,
John D. Rockefeller, Wille Rogers and Orville Wright. The dedication was broadcast on the radio
with listeners encouraged to turn off their electric lights until the switch
was flipped at the Museum.
GREENFIELD VILLAGE
Nearly 100 historical buildings
were moved to this property from their original locations and arranged in a
“village” setting. It shows how
Americans lived and worked since the founding of the country. Buildings range from the 17th
century to the present with many staffed by costumed interpreters.
We were getting tired to walking so took a ride on the 1913
Herschell Spillman Carousel.
The craft buildings include
pottery, glass blowing, tin shops. The
Village has 240 acres of land with only 90 acres used for the attraction and
the rest are forest, river and pastures for sheep and horses.
Definitely the Village can be done on the second day. There is so much to see.
This is the boarding house that was located across from Thomas Edison's laboratory. Many of Edison's technicians lived in this house while they worked at the institute.
Robert Frost home located in Ann Arbor while he was Poet Laureate at University of Michigan
To
say it was an exhausting day is an understatement. This complex is easily be done in two days! In fact it should be done in two days!
Our time in Dearborn is up and now we are off to Indiana .... why?? .... because I've never been there!
Life is good in the slow lane!
