Greenfield Village, Dearborn and Grand Rapids, July, 2019

We were without internet for a few days, so this is a bit of catch-up.

The Dearborn area is Ford country

We visited Greenfield Village - a reconstructed village from the late 1800s that is part of the Henry Ford Museum complex.  It is huge, with a working farm, a main street town, steam railroad, arts and industry areas and a section of famous folks' homes that have been moved from their original locations to here.  We took the train ride around the perimeter, visited the glass factory, old saw mills, and wandered down main street.  The heat and humidity were up, so we did not do as much as we could have, but did enjoy a ride in an authentic Model T.

Entrance Fountain to Greenfield Village

Roundhouse where they turn the steam engines around

They run one engine for the day, with a total of three that they rotate in service

Coal Loading

Glass Factory

Industrial area - fabric looms

This was to loom jacquard fabrics - note the use of the punch cards to control the patterning - this is from 1803!!!!

Had a delicious lunch in this historic tavern

Working farm with winter wheat

Enjoyed a nice lunch with Jack's niece, Becky before driving west, stopping at a small town RV campground with four spots with electricity.  A nice, quiet little park, but they had to increase the price from free to $10 to pay for upkeep.  What a deal!  Police cruised around a few times during the night for security.

On to the west coast of Michigan - on Lake Michigan.  Stopped for lunch at a county park with access to a small beach.

We headed north, and tried to get into Holland State Beach park campground, but they were full up.  Just as well, as it was a nightmare of traffic jams with people heading to the beach on the weekend - way busier than our Charleston area beaches. Decided to get away from the busy coast and head to Grand Rapids.




We visited a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home (Meyer May in Grand Rapids) and it was spectacular as you can see by the photos.

Front of Home, but entrance is hidden away on left side of the house

The home sits on corner property and this is the right side

After walking in through a narrow entryway, it opens up into this gorgeous great room with leaded glass windows everywhere

This wall separates the dining and living areas with a beautiful painting that goes all the way around both sides of the wall

The dining room is unique - no chandelier, but four lamps at each corner attached to the table

The living room fireplace is beautiful with glass in the horizontal mortar joints

These skylights also have lighting above them for both natural and artificial light

The four bedrooms upstairs all have surround windows

We also stopped at Gerald R. Ford Museum.  Even though we clearly remember him as President, we both learned a lot about him.  Although I did not agree with many of his positions, he certainly was a man of character, integrity and honesty.

After Nixon

The oval office as it looked during his Presidency

Ford had multiple foreign affair crises to deal with as soon as he ssumed office-This is a piece of the Berlin Wall 

The stairway used by the folks in the Saigon embassy as they escaped to the roof for evacuation by helicopter

Running out of time here in Michigan...it is already mid-July!

Pierogies, Motown, and Henry Ford: July 10, 2019

Forgot to include this in the last blogpost about our lunch at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth.  This was the stack of leftovers we had - we took home more food than we ate!

Yesterday, we left Frankenmuth and drove south to Detroit for lunch at a Polish restaurant. Down five steps to the basement and into a neat old pub/restaurant with lots of stained glass. We were late for lunch, so only a few tables were occupied. We had pierogies and they were good, but they were pan-fried and served with sour cream instead of butter. Some of the other menu items looked delicious, but we were not hungry enough for a big meal.

Down five steps to this entrance

After lunch, drove through downtown Detroit that appears to be enjoying some resurgence with lots of new buildings in the downtown business area. We stopped at the Motown Museum, the site of the original recording studio and home of Berry Gordy. They give a guided tour and middle of the week, the tours were sold out for the day just after we got there. Lots of history, photos and information, but the actual recording studio with the original piano and drumset that Motown stars actually played and sang in was the highlight.  The Motown sound used a lot of reverb - but electronic reverb equipment had not been invented - they used the attic of the house as an echo chamber - creative geniuses!

The striped panel behind the drums was a dampener that would reduce the sound of the drums so they wouldn't drown out the singers.

Interestingly, we learned that this was a one stop shop for turning talented musicians into stars – they had a choreographer on staff to give the groups their dance moves and a finishing school owner who taught them how to act and dress both on and off stage! We also learned that the studio started out as a neighborhood group – The Temptations, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, 11 year old Marvin Gaye,  and others all lived within a few blocks of Barry Gordy.  When Berry received a lousy $3 check for publishing one of his songs from a big record label, Smokey Robinson convinced him go out on his own, bringing in his neighborhood talent. All the albums that came out of this studio were voted on by all the musicians – but they couldn't vote for their own. Berry often included the cleaning staff and administrative folks in the voting.  Very democratic!! A fascinating look at the musicians and music that we grew up with.

Staying just ½ hour west of Dearborn for a few days so we can explore the important Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village.

The Henry Ford Museum – aka “The Smithsonian of the Midwest” is not just about Ford, although the Model T is certainly a big part of it, but it covers American culture, science and innovation in the 20^th century. We spent about 3 ½ hours exploring the exhibits – pictures tell the story.  

Parts of the Museum were in gorgeous old buildings

One of my favorite displays were these presidential limos:

Reagan's Limo

The car in which Kennedy was assassinated

The limos all had extra steps and handles for the Secret Service

Eisenhower's Limo

FDR's Limo

Early Albany New York steamtrain

Its passenger coaches looked like stagecoaches!

To say this place was large is an understatement - it had this oversized steam engine, semi tractor trailers and other huge exhibits.

One of the largest steam engines ever made for carrying coal

I couldn't find the whistle!

This thing held the land speed record until 1991 - note the driver cockpit at the rear-the rest is engines.

I will take one of these Bugatti's, please.

Charles Kuralt's motorhome

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Custom Mercury - They sealed joints with lead and it was called Lead Sled

George Washington's Camp Gear with a cool cot that comes out of a trunk

Abraham Lincoln's chair

THE Rosa Parks Bus

The Model T did not have many parts!

In the Art Glass section was this unique owl

They had displays from almost every decade, but I liked this one

Buckminster Fuller's(invented the Geodesic dome) idea for a mass manufactured home - not one was ever sold.

Spacious living room in the circular aluminum home

Super efficient, modern kitchen

Storage was in the walls on rotating shelves

We (I) was happy to see that their premium temporary exhibit was Star Trek.  It covered all the various Star Trek TV shows plus the movies..... so this is for you all you fellow Trekkies out there.....

Borg Cube miniature used for filming