So, where was the final stop along our route home from Ontario and Lake Superior, where we were able to check off an item that has been on our bucket lists for years? The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, MI!
Years ago, we started watching a show called Innovation Nation that aired on Saturday mornings. The show outlines different inventions and innovations in all kinds of areas, including technology, farming, transportation, and everything in between. The main segments of this show have always been filmed at The Henry Ford museum, and watching this show sparked our intrigue and desire to check it out for ourselves. Seeing that our route home passed fairly close to the museum anyway, we decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity!
This museum complex consists of several different areas, each with its own admission. First, and foremost, is the Museum of American Innovation. There is also the Greenfield Village, the Giant Screen Experience Theater, and the opportunity to tour the Ford Rouge Factory. We only had one day to explore, so we opted to stick with the Museum of American Innovation along with a Giant Screen Experience movie about Detroit’s Hot Rod history. We purchased our tickets in advance in order to save some money.
When we arrived at the museum on our scheduled day, we were greeted with signs on all the doors that the museum would be closing two hours early for a special event. This was never disclosed to us when purchasing our online tickets, so we were not the happiest customers they saw that day. We obviously remained polite, but also sought out a manager to see if any of our money could be refunded, since we were not going to get a full day to explore. They were not able to refund any money, but offered us tickets to Greenfield Village where we could spend the final two hours of the day. That seemed like a good compromise to us, so we set off to enjoy all the museum had to offer!
The special event that they were closing early for was the awards ceremony for an invention convention they were hosting, bringing together young inventors and their families from around the country. It is a really exciting event for the kids and their families, and we love that the museum is supporting young people in thinking outside the box and being innovators, but this meant that the museum was VERY crowded for our day. Had we known in advance, we probably would have skipped the museum on this trip, or rearranged things to choose a different day, but we made the best of it.
The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is huge, and we easily could have spent the entire day here. Other than the Giant Screen Experience movie that was about 35 minutes long, and a brief lunch break, we were inside the museum actively exploring from 9am to 3pm. Knowing that our day was going to be cut short, we hit the areas we thought we would enjoy the most first. We were able to spend a good amount of time and fully see all the exhibits we were most excited about, but did have to speed through a few others. Some of our favorites were Railroads, Driving America, and Made in America Power.
We were also able to enjoy a tour of the Dymaxion House where everyone else in the tour group was marveling at how in the world anyone thought you could live in such a small space, while we were trying to figure out how we could build something similar ourselves. When you have spent as much time in a small travel trailer as we have, your idea of space and how much you need, shifts a bit!
Finally, seeing – and even walking onto – the actual, verified, bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, was truly powerful. Standing in the actual place where such courage was shown and knowing the power that had to help spark the Civil Rights Movement…it is truly an indescribable feeling.
If we had it to do over, we would have skipped the “Detroit: The City of Hot Rods & Muscle Cars” Giant Screen Experience. Seeing a film on the giant screen is nice, but the subject wasn’t really something we were all that interested in. We only paid $5.00 each to see it, though, and it at least got us off our feet and gave our backs a break for a few minutes.
Our biggest surprise of the day was the Greenfield Village. We didn’t originally plan to visit it because we thought it would be cheesy, touristy, and we wouldn’t enjoy it. We loved it, though, and we want to go back! We were only in the village for two hours, which wasn’t NEARLY enough time. This is another place we could easily spend an entire day. We were really only able to spend time in the Liberty Craftworks, Railroad Junction, and Edison at Work areas. We enjoyed watching the crafters, and seeing the trains and Roundhouse, but the highlight for us was Edison at Work. We were fascinated to see the re-creation of Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory Complex and to learn that much of it was actual pieces, parts, and buildings of the original complex that was relocated to Greenfield Village. We even saw the actual chair, nailed to the floor in its original location, that Thomas Edison sat in when he came to see the re-creation at its grand opening. We found it truly fascinating! We expected the village to be cheesy replicas of old things that didn’t really have any history to it, but that is not at all the case. Many of the buildings and artifacts in the village are items that Henry Ford slowly amassed and moved to his museum many years ago.
Greenfield Village also offers rides in Model Ts, horse carriages, and on the steam powered train that circles the complex for a fee, but we didn’t choose to partake in any of those activities. It was fun to watch them pass by on the streets, though! They did lend an authentic feel to the area.
Since returning home, we have done more research on Ford, and have also decided that we shouldn’t have skipped out on the Ford Rouge Factory tour! Between the museum, the village, and the factory tour, we could and should have made this a two, maybe even three, day event! Luckily, it is only a 7ish hour drive from home, so we will definitely make our way back again!
Now, if you are ready to take your own trip and want to camp like we do, you might be asking, “Well, where did you stay?” Great question! There are several “resort” campgrounds, along with a couple of state parks that are options, but we went a different direction this time. We didn’t want to pay for amenities we wouldn’t use, like swimming pools, beaches, comfort stations, trails, day passes, etc. so we chose the Wayne County Fairgrounds and RV Park in Belleville. This park has both full hook-up and water and electric sites, a bathhouse with showers and laundry facilities, and an onsite dump station. Based on the reviews we read, we opted for a water and electric site in the back of the park. This turned out to be a good decision. The sites in the front of the park felt very crowded and we had much more space where we were in site 103. There was also some space between us and the long term residents of the park where there was more activity in and out throughout the day and night. At $35 per night we felt it was a good deal, and while it wasn’t the nicest campground we have ever stayed in, it felt like a safe place to leave the Bigfoot while we were away at the museum all day. We will likely stay here again when we come back for more!
We loved our visit to The Henry Ford and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys museums in general, or has particular interest in invention or history. Let us know if you have been yourself, and what your favorite part was!
Until next time!
