On Wednesday, Papa and I took them to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. It is about an hour drive from where we are, but it was worth every second to visit this little "town" lost in the Henry Ford/ Thomas Edison era. We only visited the village, but there is also an IMAX theater, the Henry Ford Museum, and the opportunity to visit a Ford Motor Plant. I think this side trip might become mandatory in our yearly visits to Papa... it was such a cool trip!
We learned all about the history of this time period, saw cars, buses and carriages, learned about working farms and historical homes.
Henry Ford had a vision for this little town years ago and began moving historic homes of important historical figures up to Greenfield Village to preserve them. Jackson, Harris, and Papa are standing inside of Thomas Edison's Menlow Park lab that was moved here years ago.
We visited Robert Frost's home, along with the McGuffy homestead and George Washington Carver's slave home.
We made candles, dipping our wicks into hot beeswax,
the crossing a field to dip them into cold water to harden the wax.
We took a train ride around the village on a real steam train made in the 30's at the Ford plant down the road,
learned all about steam engines, saw a roundhouse and a real turn table,
learned how glass was made,
took a ride on a real Model T,
and rode on a carousel built in 1913.The boys were exhausted by the end of the day for all of the walking and the heat. They were able to visit a time they didn't even know existed, and they had a million questions. It really was a fantastic attraction that I would visit again in a heartbeat... I think every year there will be more to learn and capture their attention, and I am looking forward to seeing more next year.
