Henry Ford is God?

Statue of Henry Ford
at Rouge Factory

Henry Ford said of his museum:

I am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made and used.... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition. (Wikipedia)

After spending two days at the Henry Ford museum/park complex, one would think Henry Ford was divinely inspired, or someone to be deified. Reminds me a lot of where I live, with pictures of the divine trio plastered all over the country.  There are books of Henry Ford quotes, his statues and pictures are everywhere, his achievements lauded, his works examined.  To be fair, he did a hell of a lot for the advancement of production, and he was one heck of an innovative, shrewd, intelligent businessman.  He was also extremely cantankerous, a real b***d to work for, had some extremely shady friends, and admired Hitler. But his museum complex displays amazing  foresight, and he must be admired for putting it all together.  In Dearborn, near Detroit, there is the Henry Ford museum, and alongside it the Greenfields Village complex. You can also go on the Rouge Factory tour, to see Ford trucks being made, but when we went yesterday the plant was shut for the workers' annual vacation, which was a real pity.

The chair in which Abraham
Lincoln was shot

Yesterday Tony and I  also went to the Henry Ford museum. That's an amazing place, full of American history and interesting displays.  The bus Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on, the seat in which Abraham Lincoln was sitting  when he was shot, JFK's presidential limousine, and lots and lots of cars, trains, tractors and trucks.  Unfortunately we also missed out in the museum; they have shut down the biggest exhibit, 'automobile in American life' until 2012, which is the exhibit most people like.  Anyway, it was a brilliant museum apart from that. I actually liked it better than the Smithsonian museums; it was interactive, dynamic and interesting to walk through. The Smithsonians are impressive, but they seem rather lifeless compared to this place.

Farmers in the Greenfield village

Today we went to the Greenfields Village - an amazing 240-acre complex put together by Henry Ford, full of working farms and workshops, historically famous houses, staff in period costume, authentic 1800's food, a working railroad, vintage cars to ride in....it's an incredible place that you could spend at least a couple of days exploring. Unfortunately we were so tired from yesterday that we didn't arrive at the park until 1pm, so we only had 4 hours to look around it, but we managed to see quite a bit.  My favourite place was the restaurant where we had authentic, and delicious, 19th century food (including dandelion soup!), and the workshop where I used an old lathe to make a small candlestick.  But oh, what a lot of things to see and do.  It was very hot; we hugged the shade wherever possible, but still by the end of the day we were again exhausted.  But what a great day!

Now it's further westward tomorrow - we are taking our final legs on the train for a while now right across to Minneapolis, and then will try and make our way to Fargo by bus, where we can pick up our rental car.  Wish us luck!

For more photos from the Henry Ford museum complex, click here.