The Henry Ford

Friday, we had quite a day at the Henry Ford complex. But before we got there, we took a short detour to see the worlds largest tire. The tire is 80 ft tall and was originally designed as a ferris wheel for the New York worlds fair but today sits quietly along Interstate 94 near the Detroit airport.



Once at The Ford, we started by going on the shuttle bus to the Rouge Ford Assembly Plant. If you have time to do just one thing at this sprawling complex, this would be it! We were able to walk along a catwalk around the final assembly floor for the Ford F100 pickup truck. It's a fascinating look into how a vehicle is assembled. There are retired volunteers along the way that answer questions and explain some of what is going on as well as videos and interactive kiosks. Everyone from kid to adult was enthralled by this self guided tour. We had particular fun trying to track then various pieces of the truck as they came together from various assembly lines.


This is the lobby of the rouge building with legacy vehicles that were all firsts for Ford in some way and produced at the Rouge plant. Below you can see me standing in front of the steam train in the village.





Here you can see some of the old Model T's going down the street in Greenfield Village. You can ride in them for a small fee.


Greenfield Village is a sprawling 80 acre complex made up of a series of "villages" and buildings acquired by Ford. There are buildings from Thomas Edison's original factory, the Wright brothers original workshop, to a Georgia Sharecroppers farmstead. We spent some time talking to the woman who was cooking in that kitchen, learning about how they cooked in those days. It smelled wonderful.


In this picture, Daniel got to manually turn the railroad turntable, by himself. All 45 tons. It's perfectly balanced which made it more difficult to stop moving than start it.

We also visited William Webster's home and Robert Frosts home, also on display and open to visitors. We then took a ride on the working steam railroad and learned that Thomas Edison, gave Henry Ford one of the steam engines as a birthday present! Ford gave Edison a model T, sounds like a fair swap between friends right? Which one of you is giving me a new car for my next birthday? We also walked through an area dedicated to trades like printing, tin smithing, pottery and much more. Below you can see Daniel trying his hand at printing.



The whole Henry Ford is like the town of Hershey on steroids, without the amusement park! We probably could have spent another two days here and still not see everything.

Back at the campground we took a swim in Lake Erie then went for a very long walk around the many lagoons and marshes they have here. We saw quite a few birds, but no other wildlife this evening.


Tomorrow, we hope to hang out around the campground and spend some time reflecting on a great 2 weeks in Pure Michigan before we head home Sunday. (Sammi took the picture below while on our walk tonight!)


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Location:Dearborn, Michigan