Museum Quotes & Pics

I love it when history is shown accurately. In southeastern lower Michigan we are bless'd with two open air museums - one is Greenfield Village (which I have written about in a previous blog from November of '07). The other is Crossroads Village in Flint - I plan a blog about this place in the very near future. The first two pictures were taken at Crossroads. Notice the wood-plank sidewalks and authentic roads and streets.

The last two pictures were taken at the Firestone Farm at Greenfield Village.

Anyhow, before we get into the pictures and blurbs, I'd like you to read an interesting quote first. The only thing I don't like about this quote is that I didn't come up with it. Rats.

This is from Gordon Cotton, curator of the Vicksburg, Mississippi museum (taken from the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz):
"I'm not going to go through this museum rewriting the past just to please someone in the present."

Man! I love that quote! Too bad more curators do not have that attitude!

From Crossroads Village in Flint. Michigan:
Welcome to Crossroads Village. Please watch your step. Walks, streets, and floors replicate those of the 1800's and are uneven.

This is a notice for all to see as they enter the Village. I love the fact that they haven't put in curbs and sidewalks like another Village I know (don't worry, GFV, I still love you!).

From Greenfield Village (taken from the Firestone Farm Training manual):
At Firestone Farm, we create an immersion experience. From the moment visitors step from the concrete of the front plaza onto the gravel lane leading to the farm, we want them to feel as if they have traveled back in time to the year 1885.

That the site looks like it is from the 1880's is important, but not enough. We want Firestone Farm to feel like the 1880's. To do this we must make sure the sounds, smells, sensations, and people also seem as if they are out of the past.

You know what? It works! One truly does feel as if they stepped into the past when they enter the gravel walk to the farm. The Daggett Farm is similar, only the era is about 100 years earlier. And they do a pretty good job at the Adams' house as well.

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As I said, we are truly bless'd here in the Detroit area for the historical museums we have access to.

More on Crossroads soon and maybe even something about the Detroit Historical Museum.