Greenfield Village

The Henry Ford is a number of different attractions. It includes the museum, Greenfield Village, and IMAX theater and a tour of one of Ford's auto plants. This Monday, I decided to drive to Dearborn, Michigan so I could see Greenfield Village for the first time. The village is an outdoor museum of sorts. It contains historic buildings from the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's. The buildings include Thomas Alva Edison's laboratory complex from Menlo Park, New Jersey, the Wright Brothers home and bicycle shop and the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. The inside of the buildings look just as they would've when their occupants lived in them. In the Wright Brothers bicycle shop, you see bicycles and accessories for sale in the front of the shop. Further back, you bicycle parts and tool or machines for making those parts. In the farthest back shop, you see an airplane wing being built presumably for a glider or one of their airplanes. A guide in the shop explains how things were in the shop and answers any questions.

The village also offers different rides though not of the kind we normally associate with tourist attraction rides. How many tourist attractions do you know that give you the chance to ride in a vintage Model T car or in a horse pulled Omnibus? There is also a steam locomotive with cars to ride in that goes around the perimeter of the village and supposedly a vintage bus that runs through the village. I didn't see or ride on the bus. The last ride is a vintage carousel with painted animals including a giant frog and giant rooster. Personally, I enjoyed all the rides. I thought it was something to get to ride in a Model T car for the first time. The one I rode in was built in 1925. A village guide told me they use one that was built in 1913, just 6 years after Henry Ford came out with the car.

Lastly, the village has craft shops covering glass blowing, printing, pottery making, weaving and milling. The glass blowing shop was particularly interesting as you got to see the master glass blower got through all the stages of making an item while a narrator explains the various steps. Later, at the gift shop, you can buy items that actually made in the various craft shops. The glass blowers at the village make some very beautiful glass ware but, I will warn would be shoppers that the items aren't cheap. A very nice light blue glass pitcher sold for $56. Do keep in mind these items are hand made by master craftsmen.

Price wise for Greenfield Village was $22 for an adult and $21 for a Senior. I don't remember what the admission price for a child was. On the rides, you can buy individual tickets for the rides (average cost $4) or you can buy an unlimited ride pass for $10. If you want to ride either the open or inclosed horse drawn omnibuses, you must buy an unlimited ride pass. They don't sell tickets for those rides as the carriage drivers can't check or collect tickets. They do sell multi-attraction tickets example buying a ticket for the village and the museum. You will save money buying these but, I don't believe you can do justice to either attraction if you don't spend less than a day seeing each. From date of purchase, your ticket is good for 1 year though it can only be used 1 time. There are memberships you can buy starting at $54 a year that will allow free multiple visits throughout the year to the museum and village. Active duty military members may visit the museum and village for free any time. There is a $5 charge for parking which is automatically included in your ticket purchase. You don't have to put anything in your vehicle to show you've paid the parking fee. The complex website http://www.thehenryford.org/index.aspx offers directions to the complex.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the village. It was neat to ride a 1925 Model T and the train. The people who work at the village were very knowledgeable and helpful. The village was very clean and safe. I was at the village for over 5 hours and, I could've easily spent more time there. There is LOTS to see and do there. If you are in the Dearborn area, this is one attraction worth seeing. Good travels all.