dandaman Photo TR: The Henry Ford, Dearborn, MI

[dandaman]

Hey again, folks! It’s time for another installment (with deepest regrets in advance) of a random photo TR. This time, I visited “The Henry Ford”, a.k.a. “The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village”. (The new one sounds too weird.)

Linky:

http://www.hfmgv.org/

Visiting here has always been one of my favourite childhood memories.

If you’ve already forgotten where I’m going… my condolences.

First on the list:

Yeah… um… chandelier?

The main atrium of the museum. However, during the holidays, the main attraction for me has always been…

…This awesome model train setup!

Engine view

I ran some of these once, C/O one of the engineers.

More on that water tower later.

 

[dandaman]

Polar Express!

All right, enough of that. This car, “Goldenrod”, apparently broke the land speed record in 1965, at just over 409 mph.

I don’t think this requires any explanation.

It was about 11 in the morning, so you know what that means: LUNCH! Right behind the famed Wienermobile was its own café. (Foot-long cheese dogs RULE.)

Here, we see the tractor and its offspring in its natural habitat.

Shiny and colourful, so I snapped a quick pic.

 

[dandaman]

More on this weird thing (which is actually rather cool) here:

http://www.hfmgv.org/dymaxion/

“Now is the time, now is the best time…”

This turned out well.

Well, since this IS a Disney site…

“If I have to hear “Rock Around the Clock” ONE more time…!”

Yessir, covering your head and neck will save you from nuclear fallout GUARANTEED!

Where’s the 108-minute countdown clock?

You people actually BOUGHT these?

Now THAT’S retro.

Uh… minus the computer, that looks exactly like my desk at home.

 

[dandaman]

My mom was mortified at the fact that she used to own about half of the clothes in here!

Aah, good times…

Sorry to jump around, but this next exhibit was something new for me.

I forget what this particular Model T is for, but there’s a LOT of ‘em here.

*sigh*… People were just passing this by, even though it used to be out in the open of the museum, and one of the main attractions. All the label said was, “*something-something* Chair, c. 1860-1880”. Only a little label marked what it really was: This is the chair from Ford’s Theatre, that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in.

Well, enough of my rant… Hidden Mickey!

George Washington’s foldaway bed, from his general days.

One of the 200 original copies of the Declaration of Independence.

And, finally for this exhibit… if you can guess the significance of this, you get a gold star… and maybe a brownie. Yeah.

Between exhibits: This was the original cornerstone of the museum, signed by… oh, some guy.

 

[maggiegrace1]

Great pics so far Dan.....

Whats a Bosco stick?

 

[dandaman]

If you couldn’t tell yet, there’s a lot of things to do at the Museum alone. Yet another exhibit:

“We’ve got to find someone who can fly this plane… who didn’t have fish for dinner!”

“I can’t get up!” “You’re nailed to the framework.” “Oh, yeah…”

“This baby gets 200 feet to the gallon!”

You’d think the skis would snap off pretty easily.

Ooh, aah…

“Where are we?”

“Uh… dude, this is a map of Denver.”

“You idiots!”

The Museum is famous for its huge collection of cars.

*drool*

I say they should have played Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner” here.

This is what Herbie would look like as an emo.

 

[dandaman]

*more drool*

They also have a few presidential cars. This belonged to “the guy who was [not] a crook”…

…And, this one belonged to John F. Kennedy. (Yes, this is the one he was shot in.)

Why couldn’t I have lived back then?!

It’s no Steak ‘n Shake, but it’ll do.

Alas, my attempt at getting a 15-cent burger failed.

The most entertaining part of a drive-in is probably the dancing refreshments.

I’m probably one of the only kids to have yelled “FORE!” on a mini-golf course. (True story. I hit too hard, and I somehow got a hole-in-one… on the next hole.)

Well, this one’s all right…

…But I like that one over there.

 

[dandaman]

The “Rocket”, i.e. the first and original locomotive.

I think this was Lincoln’s at one point.

What the…?

Represent!

Big… red… shiny… this must be a fire truck.

Ah, I see Connor has made a generous donation to the museum.

One final random chandelier shot. (Next up is the Village, but I decided to break this into parts. [The update, not the chandelier.] I might have to wait ‘till tomorrow to get that section up.)

So long, Museum, and thanks for all the fish!

 

[dandaman]

Great pics so far Dan.....

Whats a Bosco stick?

Cheesy bread sticks. :lol:

There was too much nacho cheese on the hot dog, so I bought them for dipping. :lookaroun

 

[maggiegrace1]

Cheesy bread sticks. :lol:

There was too much nacho cheese on the hot dog, so I bought them for dipping. :lookaroun

Okay..cool...
I would have done the exact same thing....

 

[Monty]

And, finally for this exhibit… if you can guess the significance of this, you get a gold star… and maybe a brownie. Yeah.

That would be the bus Rosa Parks wouldn't sit in the back of.

 

[Connor002]

The main atrium of the museum. However, during the holidays, the main attraction for me has always been…

Do I see a Douglas in the background...?

Yessir, covering your head and neck will save you from nuclear fallout GUARANTEED!

Yep.
Children's desks are built to withstand up to 50,000 kiloton blast!

I remember those...
And, finally for this exhibit… if you can guess the significance of this, you get a gold star… and maybe a brownie. Yeah.

It's [supposedly] the bus in which Rosa Parks made her stand...

I did! I did see a Douglas.

…And, this one belonged to John F. Kennedy. (Yes, this is the one he was shot in.)

The top was obviously added before the decision that the car would be retired...

Ah, I see Connor has made a generous donation to the museum.

I'm a sucker for museums.

 

[Nemo14]

Great report Dan!

 

[Uponastar]

Daniel, you are the best trip reporter!
What great stuff! George would love that place!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[dandaman]

I wonder how fast that thing can go...

Only thing I could find: It has a 5700 GM VORTEC engine.

It's [supposedly] the bus in which Rosa Parks made her stand...

They actually go into details on the museum's official site. (i.e. the bus was definitely in service in Montgomery at the time, etc.)

Daniel, you are the best trip reporter!
What great stuff! George would love that place!
Thanks for sharing.

I thought he'd like Cedar Point better? :lookaroun

(I can still lobby for that, provided he pays for airfare and other costs, of course. )

 

[Uponastar]

I thought he'd like Cedar Point better? :lookaroun

(I can still lobby for that, provided he pays for airfare and other costs, of course. )

He'd like both equally.
But he'd adore those model trains!

 

[dandaman]

He'd like both equally.
But he'd adore those model trains!

George seems more like me than I thought. :lookaroun

 

[dandaman]

As promised, here’s the continuation of my day here. And just for making you wait painfully long, I’ll start it off with a cute squirrel in a tree lot!

Henry Ford must have been really tall…

Ah, here we go. This is Greenfield Village, the first and largest outdoor museum in the world. It’s never been open during the holidays before, save for “Holiday Nights”, so I was pretty excited to see the Village in its supposed off-season.

…Okay, so it doesn’t look like much from here, but it really is an interesting place. This is actually where Walt Disney got the idea to run a train around his park!

They even have a Main Street station…

Never tried this before. (Note: The train only runs in the summertime, so it’s currently in the roundhouse. More on that later.)

Not gonna get much use today.

Here’s the first house: Firestone Farm. This belonged to Harvey Firestone (yes, the “tire guy”).

They even had Christmas dinner set out and everything!

 

[dandaman]

Next house: Henry Ford’s birthplace.

I’ve ridden in the Model T’s before, but not this. (In case you’re wondering, this vehicle has a 2-horsepower engine.)

One could only guess what this is…

Wright Cycle Shop. This is where Orville and Wilbur… Hey, look! A toy store! Hee hee!

What’s this danged flyin’ contraption?! It’ll never work!

Best. Ice cream. EVER. (Butterscotch-dipped large cone of chocolate-vanilla swirl, to be exact, is the best!)

They have TONS of sweets here… even that old button candy for 25 cents a sheet!

“Help! I’ve been sitting here for over 80 years!”

Looks like they had the flag at half-mast for Gerald Ford everywhere.

Menlo Park, and its incandescent lighty stuff.

 

[dandaman]

I forget how old this is, but this is the Ackley Covered Bridge.

“8 cents for a hog?! You’re daft!”

Never noticed this angle before.

Okay, so I don’t know what this is (besides a bird), but I heard the best comment of the day here.

Mom (to kid): Honey, don’t you have a toy mouse somewhere? Put it on your head and see what happens.

Yeah… not too sure why I took this one.

Cotswold Cottage. My sister and Mom had some tea lunch here for $10 in the summer. (Seeing as how the tea sandwiches were the size of medallions, I decided to eat elsewhere.)

Windmill with train track… that reminds me, Thomas rides the rails here in the spring.

Walnut Grove. In August or September, they play old-fashioned baseball here… no gloves, and it’s hit the train going by on occasion. Ernie Harwell was a guest broadcaster for this year’s games.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both…”

They even had the shops decked out for the holidays. (I bought a penny whistle here for $2!)