A Peek at History

One of the places our family enjoys visiting is Greenfield Village. If you have never been to Greenfield Village and you like history - even a little bit - you have to plan a trip there. Greenfield Village was created by Henry Ford and it is adjacent to Henry Ford Museum. Both are amazing places with incredible exhibits - the museum houses the chair that Abe Lincoln was shot in , the bus that Rosa Parks would not give up her seat in and so much more!

The village houses buildings from so many different time periods. Many of them are the actual buildings and some are reproductions. One of the places that Peanut must enjoys visiting is Thomas Edison's Menlo Park. His laboratory is there which includes a chair that he actually sat in while at a visit to the Village.

The village is about an hour from us so we packed a lunch and headed down on Monday. The girls enjoyed playing games and toys in the village square. I love that there are many different "actors" wandering the village. they are dressed in period clothing all the way to their toes and the ladies dresses are so beautiful.



I thought the puzzle the girls were trying to do was amazing, so I took a close up.



Here is a photo of all of us girls...



As always each of us chooses a treat while we are there. The kids are always anxious for the time to stop for ice cream or cotton candy.

One of my favorite places to stop is the Cotsworth Cottage. This cottage is from England in the 1600's. It just exudes charm. The gardens surrounding it are amazing as well.

Daddy and I most enjoy visiting the Harvey Firestone working farm. It is truly a working farm and at any time of day you can wander in to wonderful smells of the ladies working in the kitchen. We enjoy wandering through the barn which this visit housed a 3 week old calf and we like looking at the turkeys and different varieties of chickens that are wandering the site.

Monday was wash day so the girls were able to try their hand at a washboard - they all kept commenting on how much fun it was. We must have stayed there more than 10 minutes while they went through the motions.

To end the day we had a surprise tour. As we were walking up the lane to the Firestone house one of the girls said, "I wonder if we'll ever see the upstairs in that house." So, I asked the ladies in the kitchen if they ever open the upstairs for touring. They said that some days in the fall when it is not busy they will, but it is not something that is scheduled. As we were leaving the house, one of the ladies stopped us and quietly ushered us up the back stairs so we could take a peek. One room held photos of when they dismantled the house and then brought it brick by brick to Greenfield Village. It was alot of fun to have that sneak peek of a house we have enjoyed many times.