A friend heading to Roush’s big Mustang party and the Woodward Dream Cruise in August recently asked the question, “What else is there to do in the Detroit area?” For this Ford enthusiast and a person very passionate about the American Story, the answer is not a one liner. The Ford legacy has been so well preserved and even developed that there are days worth of attractions, tours, and activities to throw yourself into when in the Detroit area. The collection of historical opportunities and current day events at the Ford campus is something everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. Below are just a few of them.
Rouge Factory Tour
When Henry Ford built the Rouge Plant just before 1920, it was the largest factory of its kind. It made raw materials, parts, engines, and cars including Model T’s to Thunderbirds. It produced the Mustang for forty years from 1964 through 2004. The factory has been a monument to the American industrial age for almost 100 years. In changing times, Ford has reinvented the Rouge to be a new age green factory with environmental high performance sustainability in mind.
Today the Rouge produces the Ford F-150 trucks in a new high tech, clean and efficient plant. Best of all, Ford offers a Disney-land like walking tour of the plant that includes hands-on walks through the assembly line, guided tours of the plant’s features, a 360 degree theater and a ton of historical content to wade through. It is an attraction that children and adults will enjoy greatly, and one that should be at the top of your list.
http://www.thehenryford.org/rouge/index.aspx
Henry Ford Museum
It began as a simple yet bold idea to document the genius of ordinary people by recognizing and preserving the objects they used in the course of their everyday lives. It grew into the ultimate place to explore what Americans past and present have imagined and invented. The sheer scope and design of Henry Ford Museum is as grand as the vision that inspired it. It’s impossible not to feel a sense of awe as your mind adjusts to a different sense of scale. The sweeping, single-floor space with its soaring 40-foot ceilings covers nine acres dedicated to showcasing the finest collection of its kind ever assembled.
You will find not only a wide array of historical Ford vehicles, but others including the limousine of John F Kennedy, the bus of Rosa Parks fame, and several others. There are historical aircraft, busses and Americana on display like the Dymaxion House of visionary architect Buckminster Fuller. Too much to list here. You can spend literally all day in this one spot, and you should.
http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/index.aspx
Henry Ford Estate
Nothing give you a more vivid picture into the life and personality of Henry Ford than his home. Named Fair Lane, it is neither the largest nor the most opulent house of its era. Henry Ford was proud of his simple tastes and felt no need to flaunt his substantial wealth. An in building the estate, he cautioned the architects against building lavishly. The estate’s total cost was not to exceed $250,000. Despite this directive, at the time of completion the building cost $1,875,000. Interior decorating cost an additional $175,000 with property development and landscaping adding another $370,000 to the final bill. While that amount today would build an amazing estate, in 1916 the money was off the charts. That would be equal to $48.8 million today.
The 31,000 square foot residence has its own hydro-electric dam and powerhouse. On the grounds are a summer house, man-made lake, staff cottages, gatehouse, pony barn, skating house, greenhouse, root cellar, vegetable garden, thousand-plant peony garden, ten-thousand plant rose garden, a “Santa’s Workshop” for Christmas celebrations, maple sugar shack, working farm for the Ford grandchildren built to their scale, agricultural research facilities, and five hundred birdhouses to satisfy Mr. Ford’s interest in ornithology.
You really need to see it, smell it, and touch it to get the full depth of this treasure. Well worth the time for the entire family.
http://www.henryfordestate.org/
Greenfield Village
Entering Greenfield Village is like stepping into an 80-acre time machine. It takes you back to the sights, sounds and sensations of America’s past. There are 83 authentic, historic structures, from Noah Webster’s home, where he wrote the first American dictionary, to Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory, to the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. The buildings and the things to see are only the beginning. There’s the fun stuff, too. In Greenfield Village, you can ride in a genuine Model T or “pull” glass with world-class artisans; you can watch 1867 baseball or ride a train with a 19th-century steam engine. It’s a place where you can choose your lunch from an 1850s menu or spend a quiet moment pondering the home and workshop where the Wright brothers invented the airplane. Greenfield Village is a celebration of people — people whose unbridled optimism came to define modern-day America.
http://www.thehenryford.org/village/index.aspx
Edsel Ford Estate
The home of Henry Ford’s son Edsel is preserved and open to the public through the generosity of Eleanor Clay Ford. It remains as a witness to the past, as part of the history of the area and as an enrichment in the lives of future generations.
The Fords built their home as a place where they could integrate their family’s activities and interests with global business responsibilities and concern for the local community. The home, its contents and grounds, along with the legacy left by the Fords, all reflect the important role that design excellence played in the family’s lives.
Since opening to the public in 1978, hundreds of thousands of visitors have visited Edsel & Eleanor Ford House to marvel at the extraordinary home and collection of original antiques and art; to stroll the 87-acres of beautiful lakefront grounds; and to attend special events, classes and lectures.
The Dearborn Inn
Originally built by Henry Ford, the Dearborn Inn served as lodging for the Ford Airport that was across the street, now the Ford proving grounds. The 1920’s era hotel is now a historic place, filled with richness and opulence from a bygone era. Now a Marriott hotel, the Dearborn Inn is a beautiful place to stay when in town and is highly recommended. They have a sumptuous Sunday Brunch in a beautifully restored ballroom, overlooking the Ford campus. It’s a romantic and enchanting trip back in time and a place to relish in the present.
The rooms are period decorated and the sprawling grounds are fun to walk and see. Lush landscaping and trees give you an in-forest experience complete with fireflies in the evening. And if you get bored you can walk the property perimeter and look at Ford’s future car engineering mules parked all around in the surrounding parking lots. It does cost more than a Best Western, but you might be surprised to find the hotel less than you might think.
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dtwdi-the-dearborn-inn-a-marriott-hotel/
Ford’s Dearborn Campus
There are so many more places to see, opportunities to learn, and fun activities to engage in. If you love Ford, just spending a few hours or walking around the Ford campus can be a lot of fun. Roughly centered at the intersection of Oakwood Blvd and Village Road, the Ford empire includes the engineering laboratories, design studios, proving grounds, and several other facilities including the attractions listed above. If you stand around for at least 5-10 minutes on any week day you will see many camouflaged engineering mules of future Fords to come. Lots of fun.
Oh, one more thing…..
If you are hungry while in Dearborn you MUST take a lunch or dinner at BD’s Mongolian BBQ at the corner of Michigan Ave and Mason St in downtown. The best Mongolian BBQ in the country.
