Livin' Outside the Box!: A new baby and The Henry Ford

Our time in the UP of Michigan drew to a close and we had to start our journey back south to Georgia. While in Michigan we were blessed with a new grandbaby born to my daughter on August 18, so a trip to Middle Georgia to meet this sweety is in the plans!

Meet Journey Mae!

I also wanted to visit the Henry Ford Museum while in Michigan and had planned to go during our first stop at Camp Dearborn in Milford Michigan. However, we were there during the 4th of July week and I figured the museum would be a mad house, so I decided to wait and catch it on our return trip. If you are looking for a great campground in the southern Michigan area, give this place a look. I reviewed the campground HERE. The drive into Dearborn Michigan where the museum is located is about 30 minutes. The campground has discount tickets available at the office or you can get a discount by ordering and printing your tickets on line.

The Henry Ford Museum is a large complex and you could spend days going through the museum, the village, and the other attractions. I arrived at the museum at 9:45 am and left at 4:45pm and did not get to see everything in the museum building. You can get information on tickets and trip planning HERE.

If you like cars and things mechanical, you will absolutely love this place. If it has 4 wheels, a motor, and a steering wheel, they have it. There are also displays on farming equipment and how power was produced in the industrial revolution. Huge steam engines and turbines are on display, some of them many years old. They also have some interactive display to keep the kids busy but its mainly about our history. You will also learn a lot about Henry Ford, the man and how his creativity, and ingenuity helped shape a nation. Plan a day or two or three at this place. You won't regret it!

President Kennedy's Car

1896 Quadricycle invented by Henry Ford

1906 Thomas Flyer Touring Car - only for the wealthy! It cost
$3500 and the average person had would have to work 6 years
and 9 months to purchase one.

1909 Ford Model T Touring Car. It sold for $850 and the average
person had to work 1 year and 7 months to buy this car.

A 1949 VW

A Classic 1965 Mustand. It sold for $3,334 and the average
person would work 7.5 months to buy this car.

The oldest known surviving school bus.

This monster is an Allegheny Class locomotive that was built
to haul coal through the mountains to the steel mills where it was used.

1836 mowing machine

Notice the architecture on this steam engine form the 1800s.

This is the oldest surviving steam engine in the world. It
was built around 1760. It was used to pump water out
of a deep mine in England.

One of the most interesting exhibits that seemed really out of place was the actual chair that President Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot. Why would this be in a museum filled with mechanical things? It seems that the chair was seized as evidence after the assassination and the owners of the Ford Theater had to petition the government for the return of their property. Once they got it back, it was sold at a 1929 auction in New York where Henry Ford, (the collector), bought it for $2400.