Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Politics and Religion
A day at Greenfield Village

A day at Greenfield Village

Last updated on: September 7, 2016 at 8:18 am by Jane the Actuary

A day at Greenfield Village 2016-09-07T08:18:43-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Wright brothers’ bicycle shop.

The back workshop.

Henry Ford’s boyhood home.

And workshop.

Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory.

And Machine Shop.

Yes, this is Greenfield Village.

Because, while Detroit is not a tourism destination, this complex — the Greenfield Village living history museum and the Henry Ford Museum, a massive collection of historic vehicles (cars, trains, planes) and other objects — is a big deal.

This isn’t just your usual construction or transplantation of historic buildings, demonstrating pioneer or colonial days. Henry Ford created the complex by literally moving to the site a substantial number of buildings related to the history of America and especially industrial America: the Wright brothers’ bicycle shop and home, the Edison farmstead, the Firestone farmstead, the boardinghouse where Edison’s employees lived and which served as a demonstration of electrical lighting. The Edison Menlo Park complex was not original but reconstructed in close detail, and there are other historic buildings, as well as quirky, out-of-place buildings such as an English Cotswold cottage. And George Washington Carver’s reconstructed birthplace was in the form of a tribute to him rather than a faithful reconstruction of a slave cabin, though it was built based on his own memories and Carver himself visited it shortly before his death.

Incidentally, in looking for online information, I came across the blog “Greenfield Village Open Air Museum,” in which “Historical Ken” has provided details on every building on the site.

Now, we didn’t see as much of the complex as I would have liked, especially the area with the craftwork demonstrations, but, let’s face it, in the end I think what I like best about Greenfield Village is the very idea of its existence. Wikipedia gives some history: it was first opened in 1929, and opened to the public as a museum in 1933 — which is considerably older than your typical living history museum. But beyond that, rather than your typical presentation of “this is how things were done in the olden days,” Greenfield Village, and the Henry Ford Museum is a celebration of American history and American innovation. Heck, if you want to continue your celebration, you can plunk down an extra $20 to visit the Rouge assembly plant (which we did a couple years ago — it’s pretty fun, but you only see the final assembly, so nothing like my childhood memory of a loud factory where I had to cover my ears until we got through the factory floor to the nurse’s station where Mom worked at the time).

But here’s an observation for discussion: the visitors were largely white. A smattering of Asian, both Indian/Pakistani and East Asian. But rather small numbers of black/African-American visitors, and that despite the fact that the complex is located in Dearborn, directly adjacent to Detroit and just a short drive from its most integrated middle-class suburb, Southfield. Now perhaps, despite the significant numbers of middle-class blacks in the metro area, that group is still so small that relatively few can afford the ticket price ($104 for the five of us, after a 20% discount coupon printed off a website). Perhaps the jazz festival downtown was a greater draw.

Or perhaps there’s simply a cultural gulf, and the narrative of American ingenuity is much less likely to speak to them.

What do you think?

Uncategorized

Detroit

Greenfield Village

Previous Post

September 5, 2016

Update from Madiganistan

Next Post

September 8, 2016 What about Earpiecegate?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Where did David hide from Saul for many years?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jerusalem Philistine camp Jericho The wilderness