In southern lower Michigan - south-eastern lower Michigan - it's hard to beat Greenfield Village for celebrating Autumn. Especially when you see the October photos, this post will mostly be a feast for the eyes, for Autumn puts its best best foot forward at Greenfield Village.
Why are the trees particularly beautiful there?
Not too long ago I learned that Clara Ford, wife of Henry Ford (auto magnet) loved horticulture, and she made sure that the trees that were planted at the new Greenfield Village would create a special autumn beauty all their own. Most of the trees she originally planted are no longer around, for varying reasons. However, other trees of the same variety as what she first planted are either offspring of her original trees or of the same variety she had planted.
Well, she done good because there is no place as beautiful in the fall as Greenfield Village, especially with them among the historic buildings.
I live in relative close proximity to this historic village so I have the opportunity to visit frequently.
More visits = more pictures.
Ready for fall?
Let's begin the Autumn visits with early September --- ---
September 3rd.
Why do I consider September 3rd as Autumn when everyone knows the first day of fall is around September 20th?
"Astronomical seasons are defined by Earth's position in orbit around the sun, marked by the solstices and equinoxes, and have variable lengths. This is what the calendars follow. Meteorological seasons are a simpler, fixed-length system based on the annual temperature cycle, with each season lasting exactly three months to facilitate consistent weather data collection and comparison."
MeteorologicalSeasons
Winter = December, January, February
Spring = March, April, May
Summer = June, July, August
Autumn/Fall = September, October, November
I mean, as soon as September 1st and/or Labor Day comes, for instance, most of us here in the northern portion begin to think of fall. To make up for it, on Memorial Day in late May we think as being summer, for June 1st very soon follows. When March 1st hits, in my mind it's spring, no matter the weather. And December tells me it's wintertime, with all the Christmas lights, lack of sunlight, and wintery/Christmas music.
And snow---even if it hasn't fallen.
There was a certain tree near our cottage up in Lexington, Michigan where I always first noticed a patch of a color change, and I used to tell my kids, "That's where Fall begins." Well, we no longer have the family cottage, so now I point to this tree near the entrance of Greenfield Village, for the colors begin to show very early in September...sometimes even late August. But here it is...September 3rd - not even Labor Day yet in 2026 - and this is where fall begins for me.
Then I enter the Village, make a right, and, as I head in the direction of the Henry Ford Birthplace (that white house you see in this photo), I note a few other early fall trees. Happiness overwhelms me, for my favorite season is nigh!
Continuing eastward, as I near the Ackley Covered Bridge, I look across a sort of meadow. No color yet, aside from various shades of green, but one can tell what time of year we are heading into due to those variants.
Of course, I always head to my favorite house first - the Daggett Farm House. Again, note the hints of change in the leaves.
Sometimes I like to take pictures that are a bit off center than the norm. For this one, I made sure no other visitors were around and laid on my back on the floor and had the ladies look over me.
The Eagle Tavern.
A very summery look, though check out the tree in the center. Do you see it?
A few days later~~~ For years I have visited the Village on Labor Day Monday, and this year of 2026 Labor Day Monday was late -- September 7th, I carried on the tradition:
The sheep are feeding in the field of the Henry Ford Farm - the Birthplace of Henry Ford.
From the Ford Farm we head into the business district of Greenfield Village.
Just because it's September doesn't mean the warm summer-like weather is going away. In fact, this year of 2026, our fall season was on the warm side.
The Mattox Houses uses dried gourds as bird houses.
Of the names Autumn and Fall, both are commonly used, though autumn is thought to be slightly older, appearing in the 1300s, with the word fall first appearing sometime around the 1500s in reference to leaves falling off trees.
However - - - - -
an even earlier name for this season is Harvest. Harvest comes from the Old English word hærfest, of Germanic origin, perhaps with an underlying, ancient sense of “picking, plucking” (as in, picking fruits to harvest them).
This is in the Firestone Farm cellar - in their cold room. Harvest time!
The Firestone Farm dinner bell. The clouds and the sun were wonderful this Labor Day Monday.
Note the bale of hay in front of the Daggett House.
Another visit, just a few days later, on September 10th.
The day was quite warm and sunny again - not very fall-like.
Sarah harvested in the Firestone Farm kitchen garden.
Choosing horses to work for the day. That's the 1863 Edsel Ford red Barn there.
Look how tall the corn was at the Susquehanna Plantation House garden!
Part of this photo is not true: the blazing fire was added through my own computer magic. This hearth was once the cooking hearth for the Eagle Tavern.
Back near the Daggett House, Norm is checking out the newly replaced sail frames on the Farris Windmill.
Being that the Daggetts were Congregationalists and then Baptists, I placed Norm's bible on the side table just for a photo opp. Perhaps it is open to a verse Sam and Anna would like to share with their daughters. No, no other visitors were there when this was done.
Meanwhile, the Daggett ladies were preparing a fall meal.
Outside the house, I was checking out the ancient writing style of Norm's replicated 1733 bible.
I was back at the Village on September 13 to check out their Old Car Festival event, which I posted many old car photos on my Facebook page. Since I did not write a blog posting on this event this year, I have a few pictures here showing mostly the scenarios depicted throughout the Village:
This is an original photograph of Civil War Veterans from August 1911~ GAR - Grand Army of the Republic
We kind of replicated that picture with many former Civil War reenactors. 115 years later.
There was also another Civil War related group: "Daughters of the Union" (Civil War Descendants). Everyone here is descended from a Union Civil War soldier.
There was a group of World War One reenactors.
A 1920s picnic.
A 1920s picnic.
Of course, I made it down to the Daggett House.
September 23 is the next time I was at the Village
...it's beginning to look a lot like Autumn...
Ah, now we are in late September...leaves are changing a bit more and the field corn stands tall in the Firestone Farm field.
Scotch Settlement School.
Back to the Eagle Tavern.
At the tavern table~~~ I brought along a couple of heirloom Snow Apples. I see a couple of black walnuts, too...
From inside the Eagle Tavern looking out.
Norm and I standing near the gristmill.
There was an autumn display in the Detroit Central Market.
Next up we have my favorite weekend of the year at Greenfield Village - the Fall Harvest Weekend (this year the weekend of September 26, 27).
Now, I intertwined much from this weekend with Hallowe'en at the Village in THIS post. But here are a few more photos that were not included:
The final weekend of September. Unfortunately, our autumn weather here in Michigan has been on the warm side, so our fall colors were taking their sweet ol' time popping. This is looking toward Peter's Field at Firestone Farm.
Peter's Field from another angle.
In the center of this shot is the Firestone Farm House, while to the right we have the red Martinsville Cider Mill. Sadly, this year the mill was not working.
Standing at the Firestone Bank Barn, we can see much of the complex, including the heirloom apple orchard (left) and a portion of the kitchen garden center-right. This is a working farm complex—including the historic farmhouse, barn, outbuildings, and surrounding farm fields—and covers approximately 7 acres. Wait---but what's on the other side of the barn?
This is the other side of the Firestone Bank Barn, where there are a few outbuildings, the hog pen, and where presenters are making up a batch of apple butter.
Apple butter making.
Bushels of corn 'neath the hay wagon.
Here are the grinding wheels - grindstones - of the gristmill - the heavy stones that grind wheat berries into flour and dried corn into meal.
Inside the Gristmill.
At harvest time, they present samples of the types of wheat that could be ground at the gristmill: corn flour (a whole-grain or coarsely-to-finely milled powder produced by crushing dried maize kernels), corn meal (a coarse, whole-grain meal produced by grinding dried corn kernels between stone millstones at local water- or steam-powered gristmills or by way of a small hand-cranked mill), corn scratch (often referred to simply as "scratch" it is a specific grade of coarsely cracked corn produced during the traditional stone-grinding process), and whole corn (corn directly from the cob).
Samples of the types of wheat that could be ground at the gristmill: From the left we have whole wheat (100% unrefined wheat flour that was ground locally using traditional stone mills and consumed shortly after milling before the natural oils in the grain could spoil), wheat flour (milled locally using water- or animal-powered stone burr mills just days or hours before use), wheat bran (coarse, outer husk of the wheat kernel freshly separated or milled using traditional stone mills), and wheat shorts (commonly just called "shorts" or "standard middlings") which refers to a specific byproduct of the flour milling process consisting of fine bran particles, wheat germ, and a small amount of leftover floury endosperm---starchy).
Visitors were able to grind corn with a hand mill.
Over at the Birthplace of Henry Ford was a fiddler, JJ, playing old-time fiddle tunes.
Cooking inside the Ford Home,
The McGuffey Birthplace - this cabin, in the front, was built around 1789.
Cooking at the McGuffey hearth.
Herbs hanging/drying from the McGuffey window
The mid-18th century Giddings House
Cooking in the Giddings kitchen hearth. The Giddings kitchen is only open for Fall Harvest Weekend and during Holiday Nights, so it's a real treat going inside.
The rear kitchen door.
They were making beer at the Daggett Farm House for this weekend, which I covered HERE
The Mattox House was celebrating this season as well. Back in the day they used to show winnowing here. Sadly, not any more. But it was at Mattox where I first learned of this chore.
The ladies of Mattox cooking as if were the 1930s.
Now we can head into October.
October 2nd to be exact:
The colors at the entrance let us know we were in for quite an autumn feast!
A nice little vignette over at the Central Market.
Greenfield Village closed up to daytime visitors during October 2024, which angered many of us. I heard they received many, many threats of members vowing to not renew their membership. Some made good on their threat. I still have no idea why, but I think they tried to make it up to us, for beginning the following year - 2025 - when Greenfield Village mgmt. realized that so many visit the Village sometimes just to see the colorful beauty of Fall, someone (who should get a raise) came up with the wonderful idea to have an autumn horse-drawn ride through a portion of the Village not often seen.
Thankfully, this was brought back this year:
The pick-up sign.
If you look to the left of the Eagle Tavern, you can see the Autumn ride leaving.
There they go, past Town Hall...and, near left in the photo we can also see a Model T.
I also took the tour, of which I continued to do so every weekend it was offered. If you look closely upper center right, you can see the bottom of the Daggett House off in the distance.
As you probably know, the Daggett House is my favorite inside the Village. Plus we can also see the base of the Farris Windmill.
Taken from the wagon - - - sure took quite a long time to replace the windows. Actually, it was clear into mid-November before completion.
Once past Daggett we entered a road leading us into a small forest of trees.
Most of the trees in this area had not yet changed very much this first weekend in October.
And we then follow a road that goes behind a number of historic homes.
This ride is wonderful, and you'll see plenty more photos of it coming up.
But walking is fine, too, for after the ride brought us back to the Eagle Tavern, off we went to roam about the Village on our own by foot. lol
Looking toward the English Cotswold Cottage through the corn stalks at the Susquehanna Plantation. Yep---took this picture while in a corn field.
Looking along the "rustic, unpainted wooden post-and-rail fence that lines the pastures, animal pens, and agricultural fields of Firestone Farm. The museum painstakingly reconstructed over 7,000 linear feet of this perimeter fencing based on historical photographs of the original property. The red building we see is the Martinsville Cider Mill, which was not a part of the original Firestone Farm.
The same post-and-railfence looking in the opposite direction.
Let's go from October 2nd to October 9th - only a week later.
The Village was already in the midst of celebrating Hallowe'en. There is a link to my Hallowe'en visit post coming up soon.
Norm and I went back while wearing our colonial clothing. Could we really be in Sleepy Hollow? Well, if we are, it's not nearly as scary in the daytime as it is at night!
Back to the Autumn tour. Pick up for the tour was near the Eagle Tavern. That's the Martha-Mary Chapel in the background.
Looking sort of in the opposite direction of the previous picture. This looks very close to being the same as an earlier photo, but it's not.
From the Chapel looking across the Village Green.
Norm and I checking out the sites on our autumn tour. Of course, you know what house this is --- ---
We've had much more sun than usually this fall season, and warmer than normal temperatures.
After our ride we took another walk around the Village.
The McGuffey Birthplace Cabin from 1789/1790.
My red coat adds to the autumn colors. Those are the 19th century Slave Quarters behind me.
That's me again, standing outside of the Burbank House cellar door.
Giddings House.
I remember back in the day when the presenters used to do a comparison between the city Giddings and the farm Daggett.
In this window shot, I captured the Autumn Tour moving passed.
While Norm sat outside reading his Bible, he must've been quite a site for those on the Autumn Tour!
The next day, October 10, was another beautiful day, so I went back:
Richart Carriage Shop - one of the first historic buildings seen upon entering Greenfield Village from the gate.
I love the look of the old lamp lit near the Sarah Jordan House. If only it were sunset...
Now we have the red Plympton House, built in the early 1700s, originally just a stones throw from the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, draped in this frame of autumn leaves...
The Wayside Inn, made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (in 1863), was Henry Ford's first major preservation and restoration endeavor in the early 20th century:
"One Autumn night, in Sudbury town,
Across the meadows bare and brown,
The windows of the Wayside Inn
Gleamed red with fire-light through the leaves
Of woodbine, hanging from the eaves
Their crimson curtains rent and thin."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1863
I captured the Autumn horse and cart as they came up from the back road.
A dandy Model T ride!
It's fall, ya'll!
This has to be one of my favorites of the entire season - definitely top 10!
A "closer up" of the Daggett front door and porch. We can even see the stairs leading up to where the bed chambers are.
Ruth spinning on the wheel.
The 1810 Post Office.
We went to Hallowe'en in Greenfield Village on October 16, which I included many pictures - some Hallowe'en and some of Autumn - so click HERE if you would like to see that post and even more images. Then let's head to October 18:
As you can see, October had been mostly filled with sunshine. Here is one of the horse barns seen as you cross the railroad tracks and enter the Village proper.
The town / business district.
As I a-waited the Autumn carriage ride on this day, the school house across the Village Green just looked magnificent to me. What you see here is exactly what I saw when I snapped the picture.
The McGuffey Birthplace all draped in fall colors.
I know...you all think I'm nuts for my love of the Daggett House, but it's my favorite so I will include it every chance I get. Anyhow, this winter or early next spring during the months when Greenfield Village is shut down and I'm in an Autumn mood, I'll pull up this blog post to reminisce.
Had to capture the Daggett House as we passed while on the ride. It looks like it is at the bottom of a ditch, but it's not.
I'm not sure what they call this pastoral area, but we pass it on the Autumn ride. We always see horses there.
It's scenes like this that entices me to continue taking the Autumn tour each and every visit during October. Riding along on a cart, hearing the clip-clop of horse's hooves, and then seeing this -- an old-fashioned Autumn has arrived! The best!
Sometimes I'll wait at a certain spot to watch for the Autumn tour to come by then try to capture an image like no other I've seen.
At one point I took a walk into an area I've not walked to before, but have seen from a distance fairly often.
I returned just two days later, on October 23rd, and snapped a few more images. Again, as a reminder, I concentrated more on the beauty of the season than anything else in these photos:
The entrance to the Village.
The horse stall area next to the Edsel Ford Barn.
The Model T moving passed the Custard Stand.
Similar picture of the school house across the Green that I've taken before showing the changes. The clouds and sun very much add to the ambience as I awaited the horse and cart to show.
The tavern and the New England-style church with the cloudy sky...
Here it is, coming to take us into autumnal historical bliss!
The church steeple and the school belfry.
As we continued on our ride down Maple Lane...
Through the trees we see the back of the Sarah Jordan Boarding House
A pumpkin guarding a bench in front of the Mattox House.
The Burbank House built about 1800.
Another of the Burbank House. For the beauty of the leaves around it, this seemed to have become my photographic house of choice.
Giddings House.
It looks as if the leaves gave us a welcome matt.
Another shot of the pond---the reflections really make this one 'pop'.
If you look left of center you can see the gray Giddings House - the same one seen in the image below.
I captured the horse and cart autumn ride close to the same location it was in when I snapped the previous photo --- We don't often get to see or even notice the back and side of the Giddings home.
The horse field again ---however---- - if you look closely you can see two or three tom turkeys running through.
Red maple tree near the Cotswold Cottage forge.
The sun peeped out - sunshine, blue skies...casting the Daggett House in dark shadows.
Riding along the street in my van on my way home, with no traffic about, I captured the Daggett House from outside the Village, clearly seeing the brick wall that separates the quaint historic village from the rest of the world.
A couple days later, on October 25, Norm and I went together again, and this just might be my favorite fall day there for we had a thick fog covering the area. I have been wanting to experience fog inside the Village for a long time. On my drive out, I take the I-94 freeway through the middle of Detroit and come out in Dearborn, and as I was driving, the fog was rolling about and warnings were coming on the radio. It was hard for me to slow down because I wanted to make it to Greenfield Village while the fog was thick.
I did it! By the time Norm & I entered the Village, the fog was as thick as ever.
I've been there in rain, sleet, sub-zero temperatures and temps above a hundred, ice storm, thunderstorms, even a tornado, but never in fog...until now.
This was as awesome as it gets---perfect for the season!
Unfortunately, it did not stick around as long as I would have liked.
Our first stop was along the farm field of Firestone Farm. The post-and-board / hurdle fencing at Firestone Farm in Greenfield Village was built to accurately recreate the 1885 farmstead of Benjamin and Catherine Firestone. The fences were modeled and reproduced directly from historic photographs of the fields and yard at the Firestone family's original property in Columbiana County, Ohio.
I think I saw a spook over near the gristmill there~~~
A few Hallowe'en scarecrows were standing in the field. They looked a bit creepy in the fog.
A foggy Ford Farm House.
Making our way to our final autumn horse and cart ride for the season, for it ends soon.
So I got this idea for me to walk through the thickest part of the fog and have Norm take my picture, almost as if I am a ghostly specter coming from the mist. I think it turned out very cool!
Little did I know at the time a friend, Emily, video taped me as I moved through the fog:
Emily's original post of this clip had wonderful Celtic music playing in the background. I'll have to figure out a way to add it.
So I asked Norm to walk toward the Church so I could grab a few images in the same manner.
It's like a scene from another world.
The fog was still pretty thick, but it was beginning to dissipate.
One more capture as he made it back. Many of the folks waiting for the ride also snapped a few pictures.
The large stone water trough situated between the JR Jones General Store and the Eagle Tavern has a long history in the village. It's been said that the original historic stone trough is referenced as being from 1837 -- Detroit.
Someone else mentioned that they believe it was one of the last horse troughs in the city of Detroit when it was brought to Green Field Village, though I cannot find proof of this.
This chipmunk was hiding beneath the horse's water trough and every so often would peek it's li'l head out -- I got lucky and captured one of those moments before he snapped it back in.
"Look at the way the sunbeams can be seen in the fog." As I pulled my camera out to capture this wonderful piece of nature, she then said, "It will not photograph well." I think it did!
As you can see, the fog was beginning to lift.
The already beautiful Cotswold Cottage is even more picturesque in the fall.
The dark shape on the right is the Daggett House.
Here comes the sun...doo doo doo doo...
We see the last of the fog comin' up around the bend~~
Making our way back to where we began. On the left is the JR Jones General Store, then the Eagle Tavern up a ways further, and we can also see the Martha-Mary Chapel toward the right. The fog had totally lifted at this point.
My last Autumn tour of the season ended...
And here is the Chapman House, Mr. Chapman being one of Henry Ford's favorite teachers when he went to school.
Back at the Burbank House.
Norm and I at the Burbank House.
From the front of Burbank.
Behind the early 1700s Plympton House, and looking toward the 1633 Farris Windmill and the Daggett House from around 1750 - all from New England.
So, as I made my way to Daggett, I caught up and walked with presenter Megan.
Megan and I sauntered up to the front door.
Here is the kitchen garden on October 25th
Autumn has encapsulated the Daggett Farm House!
What we see here is what I call the out door work area. This is where we will see woodchopping, as well as where repairs or the makings of wooden implements needed for historical presentations are done. It's here where we saw the well-sweep made, where sometimes we may see the shaving horse brought to show the ancient tool in action.
A couple years back we saw a new fence go up around the kitchen garden. If they would have allowed the workers to do this chore themselves in an 18th century manner, which they should have, this is where most of the work would have been done.
I still have high hopes to one day see a few heirloom apple trees planted in this area, as I have been told was finally going to happen - perhaps they could extending the fence to enclose the small orchard.
The two apples in this photo are Roxbury Russets, considered to be the first apple variety grown in North America (apples are not native to this continent and were brought over by the early immigrants and great explorers). Sam Daggett, being the apple man he was, most certainly would have been very aware of the Roxbury Russet and may have even possibly grown them himself in his own orchard. So I brought a couple I purchased for photographic purposes.
Happy Harvest!
The apples were so good -- crisp, crunchy, and juicy. So, while Norm and I sat on the bench eating our heirloom apples, numerous people came up to us and took pictures. Of course, since I was not inside any of the houses, I gave a bit of information on heirloom apples.
There's Norm and I beneath the red maple tree near the Cotswold Cottage.
Norm eyeing Daggett Farm House from the Plympton House.
I appreciate that the Village shows various old-time farming here.
I am ending today's post on the last October visit for me - October 30. Happily, my friend came with me again.
Norm moving toward the church. If you look closely at the beautiful colors on the right of the church, I added a close up in the picture below.
The colors were really popping here~
On this October 30th I decided to wear my "Sunday" clothing - a little dressier than my farm/work clothing I usually wear. Perfect for church.
We here in the Metro-Detroit area of Michigan have a Paul Revere-bell connection:
Whenever a visitor is lucky enough to hear the bell toll from the church steeple at the top of the Martha-Mary Chapel while inside Greenfield Village, the bell they are hearing ringing loud and clear was cast during the 1820s, and is attributed to Joseph Warren Revere & Associates of Boston, Massachusetts—a foundry inherited by Joseph from his more famous father, Paul Revere, after he passed away in 1818.
The following two photographs are near the top of the bunch as favorites to me. Remember earlier in this post when I wrote about the Daggetts and their religion? Well, the following two images sort of reminds me how it may have looked when the preacher at the church the Daggetts came to visit the family, perhaps to ask Sam for help with a project.
In his ledger book, Sam Daggett noted that a Reverend Samuel Lockwood paid him to do some work around the church, including hewing timber.
"Mr. Daggett? I have some work I need done. Might you be available?"
Chuck is fixing the hops trellis.
Looking toward the Burbank House and Office from behind.
Reflections off the water. The red house is the Burbank House.
18th century me crunching through the fallen leaves. That's in front of the Daggett House.
Ope -- there's a Roxbury Russet apple on the Daggett table.
Norm and I had to find our way through autumn to make it from Daggett to Plympton~
The road leading to the Firestone Farm House and barn. See the red building on the far right? That's the Martinsville Cider Press.
As we near the Firestone Farm House, we can peer across the farm field and see the Martinsville Cider Press building from a different angle.
The stone pathway at Cotswold Cottage.
The back stone fencing of Cotswold Cottage.
Going to visit Mr. Giddings.
Here it is mid-November as I publish this post, and I have scads more Autumn photos taken at Greenfield Village already. But I'll post those another time---perhaps in early December.
Anyhow, though there is some history written here, most of this is about the photos. I added simple commentary below many of the pictures mainly because every-so-often, my blog pictures will disappear and usually I can tell which pictures to replace them with by the comments (plus, I have a list of the photos per blog for this reason).
I hope you enjoyed the pictures here and they brought a smile to your face---especially to those of you who may not have the opportunity to enjoy autumn in your area as we do here in Michigan.
Until next time, see you in time.
Hallowe'en and Harvest Time at Greenfield Village 2026 -- HERE
