Greenfield Village/The Henry Ford
Museum - Spend at Least One Full Day (If Not Two Days)
Here FODORS
My spouse and I
visited both Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation on a
Monday in early July 2017. I first visited the Village back in 1976 at age 8 as
part of a family vacation, and my second visit more than 40 years later was equally
enjoyable.
Prior to our visit,
we tried to purchase our admission tickets online, but we found that the ticket
service automatically added a $6 parking fee to our purchase, and we planned to
arrive and depart via Uber (which is permitted). When we contacted the museum
directly, they were aware of the issue but could not correct for it, other than
to tell us that we might be able to request a cash refund when we arrived
onsite and explained our situation to a cashier. In addition, if we purchased tickets
online, we would have had an automatic service charge assessed. The only reason
that we considered pre-purchasing was because in one online review that we
read, a previous guest indicated that the museum was sold out on the day she arrived
for her visit. (In retrospect, with a property as large and expansive as The
Henry Ford, reaching capacity during a normal visiting day seems highly unlikely;
however, we can see how perhaps the movie theatre might sell out, or a special
event such as Fourth of July fireworks or Halloween trick-or-treating.) So we waited
to purchase our tickets until we arrived at the site. Various individual and
combination tickets are available for just the Museum, just the Village, just
the Factory, or any and every combinations of the three. You can also include
additional features such as an IMAX movie at the Museum or rides on the unique
vehicles in the Village (such as the steam train, Model T cars, horse-drawn wagon,
or Model AA bus). Ticket prices range from about $27 for one component to $76
for the all-inclusive pass that includes every available add-on.
The Museum is open
daily except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Village is open daily in the
spring, summer, and fall, with abbreviated hours/days in winter. (Please
consult the website for exact operating hours and restrictions.) Ford Factory
Rouge is open Mondays through Saturdays except for select holidays, but note
that because of certain scheduled shutdowns of the assembly line portion, you may
not see every aspect of the factory when you visit. (The general online ticket
purchasing website is not overly transparent about the assembly line
operational details, so check the specific factory website for more info.)
We arrived when the property
opened at 9:30 am, and we departed at about 4:00 pm, with an hour break for
lunch, and two 15-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon. Even though we
moved quickly through both the Village and the Museum, it was difficult to see
everything even in one full day. For example, you should factor in extra time
if you want to use the special transportation, go inside every house in the
Village, watch every demonstration (glass blowing, train turnaround, interpreter
interactions), read every item’s placard in the Museum, if you have children,
or if crowds or weather hinder your movements. Despite our breaks, we left
tired at the end of the day, but we felt like we saw a good portion of both the
Village and the Museum. We cannot envision how we could have squeezed in a
visit to Factory Rouge too; however, we did not even consider it because the
assembly line portion was shut down for its July break.
As for amenities, several
dining options exist in the Village, including the Eagle Tavern (which offers
the only sit-down table service in the Village), Sir John Bennett Sweet Shop,
State Street Lunch Stand, Frozen Custard, Carousel Confections, Cotswold
Cottage Tea (with seating adjacent to the adorable building on a patio
surrounded by gorgeous flowers in the spring and summer), A Taste of History (an
indoor cafeteria), Mrs. Fisher’s Southern Cooking, and the Owl Night Lunch
Wagon. The Museum offers dining options such as the American Dog House (hot
dogs), Concession Stand, Lamy’s (a full-service retro diner with seats inside
and “outside” on a raised platform). We ate lunch at the Eagle Tavern in the
Village, which offers colonial meals in a period setting with costumed servers
(see our separate review called “Offers a Pleasant Respite during Your Tour”),
and we enjoyed a quick morning break at the Frozen Custard stand in the Village
and a longer-than-anticipated afternoon break at the Michigan Café in the
Museum. (At the Michigan Café, after you place your order and pay, you are
given a beeper to place on your table. When your order is ready, staff walk amongst
the tables searching for the vibrating beeper, which requires a sort of
treasure hunt as they carry a tray and stop at one table then another and
another until they find the correct table in the large room; small numbered
signs on tall holders would work more efficiently.)
For us, highlights
of indoor-outdoor Greenfield Village include the entire small-town layout of
streets, houses/shops, transportation, costumed interpreters, the Wright
Brothers bicycle shop, Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory complex, Abraham
Lincoln courthouse, Cotswold Cottage, blacksmith shop, sweet shop, and the
train barn/turnaround. Note that in the Village, you will spend the majority of
your time walking from structure to structure on a 1+ mile path, which is more
pleasant on a sunny and cool day than in the rain or extreme heat. Restrooms
and concessions are spaced throughout the property; however, a few more benches
and places to rest (besides snack shops) would be welcome.
Highlights of the completely
indoor Henry Ford Museum of Innovation include the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile,
Lincoln’s chair from Ford Theatre, JFK presidential limo, Rosa Parks bus,
Lamy’s diner, the old business signs/displays (including the Texaco garage,
McDonald’s, Howard Johnson’s, Holiday Inn room), drive-in movie screen/car, farm
equipment, automobile and airplane collections, dollhouses, tiny model trains
and hulking real trains, and the Buckminster Fuller's futuristic Dymaxion House. The indoor museum contains over 26 million
artifacts!
We enjoyed our day
at Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum; both parts were unique and
interesting, and it is difficult to say which we liked better. (We are sure
that the factory tour is excellent as well.) Spend a day (or better yet, two days)
here if you have the time!
