"Last Friday (April 8), we celebrated the Detroit Tigers Opening Day. Today (April 15), we had another opening over in Dearborn as Greenfield Village opened its gates for the first time this season."
WDIV TV Newscasts
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Closed since the last evening of the wonderful Holiday Nights on December 28th, 2021, Greenfield Village reopened its gates on April 15, and it was like a "Welcome Home" celebration for so many of us. As Members of the Village, where we pay one flat annual rate and can visit as often as we want for the year, we are itching to return by the time April finally arrives. Now, one might think we'd be bored visiting so often, but we are not...not at all.
And for a variety of reasons:
~seeing our presenter friends. And they are friends...neighbors, even, in a way.
~it is also a place to walk and clear one's head...to get away from modern anything, even for a short while.
~many, many photo opportunities. That goes without question.
~but mostly, for me, just to be in the midst of all that history - - - - - - I can't explain. It feeds my passion for the past until my cup runneth over.
And it's here where we can see - witness - the seasons as they change...I do especially enjoy seeing the way history is presented throughout the year as it would have been in times past.
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| Welcome to Greenfield Village |
For instance:
spring - plowing, harrowing, planting, and cleaning
summer - haying, 4th of July celebrations, summer harvest, and period baseball
autumn - fall harvest and food preservation, wool spinning & dyeing, beer brewing, and winter preparations
Hallowe'en - spooky fun throughout the Village, including a haunted train ride
and
Christmas - period decorations, music, nighttime homes lit by candle & oil light, food, and general historic Christmas and New Year's festivities
There is also Motor Muster, Old Car Festival, and numerous other events throughout the year.
The only season the average visitor is not able to enjoy in Greenfield Village is winter. We used to be able to many years ago, but they now shut down for the first three and a half months of the year, and so those of us who love "seasonal history" in this part of the country either have to travel a ways to experience wintertime past or just read about old time winter activities. Unless you are a living historian and can plan period winter activities (as a few of us do). As for Greenfield Village, from what I understand, these winter months are used for cleaning and repairs in preparation for the rest of the year.
Anyhow, due to the fact that they are closed for so long, Opening Day in mid-April is cause for celebration for us history buffs. Yeah, let the media clamor over the Detroit Tigers' opening day; million dollar sports stars ain't got nothing on our country's past!
So it was on this Good Friday, April 15th, here in 2022 - a members-only Opening Day - and many of us fought the wind and the off-and-on rain and damp, cold weather for our excursion. Yes, we are a brave and perhaps a bit crazed lot, but we love "our Village."
Of course I had my ever-present camera with me and took plenty of photographs of this exciting first day.
I hope you enjoy what I have here:
Speaking of cameras...
The re-opening of Greenfield Village was a bigger deal than I thought it would be to the local media. Local TV news station, WDIV, was there to do a story on it.
Well, at least one news station covered it:
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| Charlotte - you know Charlotte from our 18th century cabin time - was being interviewed by our Local 4 news. She did a bang-up job! Click HERE to see the news story. |
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| Then, at 9:30 in the morning, the Armington & Sims steam whistle blew, letting everyone know the gates would open! For the first time that I've seen, when the whistle blew everyone in line began to clap! Into the gated past we all went. Not raining at this point...but the ominous clouds in the background are there... |
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| One structure in each of the sets of windows makes for an interesting photo. The Cotswold dove cote is on the left (1620), the 1750 Daggett House is center, and the Farris Windmill, from around 1633, is on the right. What's cool is that the building I was standing in when I took this picture is the Cotswold Cottage, built in England about 1620. |
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| "Oh! Oh! Wait!" I said as I saw a red-hooded colonial woman moving quickly down the street. I knew she would pass the Giddings House so I ran up a bit to take this picture. Yeah, this almost 61 year old still runs when he gets excited - - lol! |
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| Here comes the horse and carriage. How could I not make the valiant attempt to snap another "must have" photo? And I also have the 1780 McGuffey Cabin there in the background. |
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| Over in the Ford yard we have the sheep all lined up for inspection - - - |
Being that this was April 15th, I knew I had to stop in at the Logan County Courthouse.
So, due to the not-so-pleasant-weather, it was not long after that we found ourselves back in the van and on our way back home. But I was so glad to make it to another Opening Day - it truly is quite an event for us.
Let's jump to the year 1915 and head to the Edison cottage that once belonged to the inventor's grandparents:
And over at the 1880s Firestone Farm, they, too, are celebrating the Easter Holiday.
What makes this story even more exciting is that Abel Prescott, who lived in Concord, was told by his brother, Samuel, to ride out to nearby towns to warn them of the King’s Army marching toward Concord and to prepare their militia. Samuel Prescott was one of two men who rode with Paul Revere a few hours earlier!
Ohhh.....that snow!
"Why?" you ask. Because our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln once used to practice law in this building as a circuit-riding lawyer. And since this date was the 157th anniversary of his death, I felt it only right to pay an homage the best way that I could at the moment.
By the way, this was no ordinary Opening Weekend for Greenfield Village; for the first time in 22 years, a new historic structure was added to the collection of history here:
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| So I made sure to visit an actual building in which Lincoln once stood. |
Research shows that when he was a young attorney Abraham Lincoln practiced law in this walnut clapboard building, which was built in 1840. Mr. Lincoln was a circuit-riding lawyer and would travel upon his horse to the tiny country towns within a certain perimeter - Lincoln and the other handful of circuit riding lawyer companions with him covered the Eighth Judicial Circuit which covered around 11,000 square miles - and they would follow the judge to the courthouses of the towns.
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| The presenter mentioned that visitors continuously came into the courthouse mentioning that it was the anniversary of Lincoln's death as well as the date of the Titanic sinking. I did that (lol) - I posted on the Friends of Greenfield Village Facebook page a few historical events that happened in April, including the two mentioned here - - the members paid attention and reminded the presenter! I love when that happens. |
For much of the 19th century in rural Illinois, court was in session only twice a year, and could be a raucous affair. It was quite entertaining for the folks sitting on the hard wood benches or peeking through the windows (which were oftentimes opened due to the heat from all of the bodies inside).
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| This photo was one I set up during the Civil War reenactment a few years back, and gathered a number of my reenactor friends together to sort of give a glimpse of what it may have looked like during a session. |
It was quite the "to do" for the country townsfolk, for this was about the only time a small town could have some real big-time excitement. People from all around the neighboring communities would travel to the court building to be enthralled by the legal battles at hand; I liken it to a modern-day court-room television drama that are always so popular today. Of course, the local businesses always had red-letter days during the time the court was in session as well.
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| Detroit history~ Welcome the Detroit Central Farmer's Market, originally built in Detroit in 1861 - the newest addition to Greenfield Village. |
Over the last few decades, the Village has been focusing a bit more on food and drink history, which I have found to be fascinating. I have purchased numerous books on the subject to further my food history research, including replication cookbooks from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as some that concentrate on heirloom vegetables & fruits, especially apples. Even books about heirloom plants such as Love Lies Bleeding and Hollyhocks.
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| Jim Johnson, Director of Greenfield Village & Curator of Historic Structures and Landscapes at The Henry Ford, spent all opening weekend, including Easter Sunday, giving a history lesson of the Market and told us about its restoration and what went into bringing it to the Village, where it will be preserved, God willing, for generations to come. |
From WDIV:
A piece of Detroit history that was nearly torn down has been made new again, and is ready to be seen by visitors at Greenfield Village in Dearborn.
Now on display at Greenfield Village is a 160-year-old pavilion from the Detroit Central Farmers Market in Cadillac Square. The structure, which opened in 1861, is part of the original farmers market.
It’s one of the buildings where vegetables were primarily sold, according to Jim Johnson, director of the living outdoor museum. Johnson says the Central Farmers Market was originally in Cadillac Square, although the photographs taken then are a bit misleading now.
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| “A lot of the buildings you’ll see in the photographs no longer exist in that area,” Johnson said. |
“There was a whole block surrounding the market of brick structures that were all brick and mortar shops, in addition to all of the hucksters, as they were called, and the stall owners -- everybody that was here selling their goods. And that spilled out into the street. There was a huge area where guys just sold right out of their wagons.
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| Some of the downspouts were actual downspouts doing the job they were made for, while others held electrical wiring. |
The historic pavilion isn’t just part of Detroit history, it also helps tell Detroit history -- like why the building, and the farmers market in general, was needed in the first place.
“The city of Detroit grew by leaps and bounds each decade through the 19th century, and by the 1860s, they had a huge population to feed,” Johnson said. “So, this became one of the central points where you could go and buy your groceries.”
The market was only open for about three decades, officially closing in 1893.
“That’s when the city decided the area needed to be beautified, opened up traffic, and the central market was literally shut down almost overnight,” Johnson said.
Re-construction took place throughout the pandemic, and now the structure will be open to the public. The piece of 19th century architectural beauty has been saved for us, and for the history books.
“This is extraordinary,” Johnson said. “This is a very wonderful, rare building, and we’re thrilled that we’re able to save it and now present it..."
It is 80% original.
The last historic structure that was placed inside Greenfield Village was in June of 2000 when the Detroit, Toledo, & Milwaukee Roundhouse opened. The interesting thing about this Central Market in comparison is we now have a far more open internet, which includes a few popular sites that didn't exist at the time, such as social media, and photographs are now a constant normal and very popular item to post. So interested folks had been able to see the step-by-step process of the Central Market being re-stored and re-constructed. I think what I am waiting/hoping for is to see it utilized as it once was: selling seasonal fruits & vegetables in summer and autumn, perhaps flowers and heirloom seeds in the spring, and even pumpkins for baking and carving jack-o-lanterns, gourds, maybe decorative cornstalks, beeswax, and other items with a fall flavor.
Of course, much will depend on the weather...but one can hope.
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| A small Opening Day vignette inside the Detroit Central Market. Maybe one day it will be more than a vignette. |
Either way, I am so excited to see how they will use this!
So, let's look at a couple photos of before, during, and now:
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| This is the way the spot which the Market now sits has looked for a couple of decades. Right near the yellow silk mill building was where we would set up our campsite for Civil War Remembrance. |
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| And this is how that same spot looks now. |
And in between the then & now photos:
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| Summer 2021 Not from the same angle, but one can see the construction of this historic building going up. |
Yeah...as one who has been very interested in period farming, I really love the idea of this Market. And I do hope it is utilized in the right historical manner.
I am certain it will be.
However, I was back at Greenfield Village only two days later, and this time brought my wife along.
Yes, we came on Easter Sunday. You see, in my family we hold our Easter celebration on the Saturday before the actual holiday so our family can all be together instead of coming over at differing times throughout the day. That means Easter Sunday itself is somewhat quieter and gives us time for church and perhaps a visit or two.
And, on the rare occasions that Easter falls a bit later in April, such as it did this year, we also have time for Easter at Greenfield Village!
So back we went, and enjoyed Easter Sunday in a historic setting!
Now, I'm not sure why Mr. Ford did not find and purchase an authentic period church for his Village, but instead he instructed his right-hand man, architect Ed Cutler, to design and build one right there on the Village Green.
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| I went down a small embankment on the side and behind the church to take this picture. |
Churches were a center of community life in the 1700s, a place where townspeople came together to attend services and socialize. The Martha-Mary Chapel, with its architecture inspired by New England's colonial-era churches, was built in Greenfield Village in 1929.
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| The bricks and the doors came from the building in which Henry Ford and Clara Bryant were married in 1888 - the Bryant family home in old Greenfield Township (from which the Village name was taken). |
The name "Martha-Mary" came from the first names of his mother and mother-in-law.
Sticking by his original New England village plan, Ford made sure that the steeple of the church was the highest point in Greenfield Village. This was as it was in most towns across America. Once a very religious nation, towns and villages were built around the place of worship, and the buildings of the towns were never taller than the church steeple, therefore, no matter where a townsfolk was at, they could always find the church because of its height.
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| "Joseph Warren Revere cast the steeple bell circa 1834. Revere was the son of the famous silversmith Paul Revere who had an extensive knowledge of metallurgy and opened his own foundry in 1792. This bell hung in the belfry of the Universalist Church in Hingham, Massachusetts from 1834 to 1927, before being installed at the Martha-Mary Chapel in Greenfield Village." This is so cool! |
Did you know there is a second Martha-Mary Chapel?
Set atop a grassy knoll in Massachusetts on the grounds of Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, the 2nd Martha-Mary Chapel was built in 1940 by Ford by using trees that fell during a 1938 hurricane. A small graveyard lies between the chapel and a Red Stone Schoolhouse, the school to which Mary took her little lamb back in the day.
Yes...very cool indeed!
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| The ladies of 1915 Edison were making chocolate Easter eggs, which is a tedious task. |
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| Gigi pours the chocolate into an emptied egg shell. |
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This real egg shell, all cleaned out, is now filled with melted chocolate. Now to wait and let it harden. |
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| Using natural dyes, the Easter eggs of Firestone Farm. |
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| Easter eggs decorated - love it!! |
In Christian tradition, Easter Sunday is the day Jesus came back to life after dying on the cross on Good Friday. For many people - Christian and non-Christian alike - this holiday represents rebirth and new life as well as the coming of Spring, and has then been linked to the egg, which is an ancient symbol of new life that some believe may have pagan origins.
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| The Easter Bunny was at the new Central Market. The Easter Bunny is a German tradition - they are first mentioned in the 1682 book "De Ovis Paschalibus" ("About Easter Eggs") by Georg Franck von Franckenau, which told of the German tradition of a hare bringing Easter eggs for the children. |
This was my second time visiting on an Easter Sunday. My first time was a few years back. In fact, I wrote a history of the holiday HERE.
Now, not all was about Easter:
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| What we have here is the back corner of the McGuffey Cabin, the smokehouse, and there, slightly in the distance, we see a horse and carriage. Spring is in the air... |
Being that this was April 17 - only two days away from Patriot's Day - I had to stop at the Plympton House.
This little red house has a Revolutionary War connection:
I originally learned the following while researching the little red house while at the Benson Ford Research Center. Then I found other resources that verified the information - in various books on Paul Revere and the battles of Lexington & Concord.
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| This house, built in the early 18th century, originally stood in the vicinity of the Wayside Inn in Massachusetts. |
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| In the wee hours of April 19, 1775, "An express came from Concord to Thomas Plympton Esq., who was then a member of the Provincial Congress, in that the (Redcoats) were on their way to Concord - between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning. The sexton was immediately called on the bell ringing and the discharge of Musket which was to give the alarm. By sunrise the greatest part of the inhabitants were notified." (The above photo was taken a couple years ago) |
Historical biographer and author, David Hackett Fischer, wrote that Abel Prescott "went to the home of Thomas Plympton, the leading Whig in Sudbury, and the town's alarm bell began to ring... Warning guns were fired to summon militia companies on the west side of the Sudbury River and also in East Sudbury, now Wayland. Within thirty-five minutes the entire town of Sudbury had been awakened."
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| The interior of the Plympton House. |
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| The plexi-glass made this a difficult picture to take, but I accomplished it! |
The response from Sudbury?
“The morning was remarkably fine and the inhabitants of Sudbury never can make such an important appearance probably again.”
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| Looking at the Daggett House from the Plympton House. No, these two structures were never near each other until they were brought to Greenfield Village. The Plympton House, as mentioned, came from Massachusetts, and the Daggett House came from Connecticut. But both stood in their original locations during the time of the American Revolutionary War. |
And to further the information on this house’s Revolutionary War history:
Thomas Plympton also had a Revolutionary War son, and his name was Ebenezer Plympton. Ebenezer is listed on the muster role as a private in Captain Aaron Haynes' Company of Militia, which marched to Concord during the Lexington Alarm on the nineteenth of April, 1775.
So this little red Plympton House sitting inside Greenfield Village has direct connections to not only the Revolutionary War itself, but to the very beginnings of it: the Battle of Lexington & Concord, and even to Paul Revere. It truly is a special part of American history!
Over at Firestone Farm - - -
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Firestone farmer, Tom, over looks the fields, planning his spring plowing, harrowing, and sowing. And the day after I took this photo he informed me that they "harrowed the ladies (kitchen) garden this morning...before the snow." Snow? What snow? |
For the the very next day...that Monday following a blue-sky Easter...
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| Tom, the farmer in the previous shot, took this picture pretty much near the exact same spot. Such a change in one day! April in Michigan does not mean we have a Disney spring, with leaves suddenly sprouting, butterflies flying about, and flowers blooming throughout the land. |
My friend, Ian, also journeyed to the Village on that snowy Monday. Knowing what a fan I am of the Daggett house, he took a couple pictures for me.
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| Photo of an early spring snowstorm of Daggett, Plympton, and Susquehanna taken by Ian Kushnir |
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| I can just imagine Samuel Daggett out working in the barn with son Isaiah, preparing for spring planting (even with the snow), while his wife, Anna, was in this house with the girls, Asenath and Talitha. Photo by Ian Kushnir |
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| My friend, Loretta Tester, took this shot of the Daggett House. I am blessed to have such friends who are on the look out for me! |
Well, that's Michigan for you.
But we know we are at the end of one season and the beginning of another. And the date on the calendar says spring started almost a month ago. But does the earth know that?
A.D. 1546
The church bell rings out nine times.
"Nine of the clock," remarks Tom.
"What is 'the clock'?" I ask. Being that I am from 200 years previous, I have not seen 'the clock' before and know not of what he speaks.
He looks at me. "How can you not know what a clock is? It is a machine for telling the time. With weights and cogs and things like that. Surely you've heard one? All the folks live by its time. But there are those who are constantly saying 'sorry, sorry' for their lateness - and why? Because their clock tells them so. If they didn't have a clock, they would never be late. No one would know."
I am still mystified. How do you get a machine to tell the hour? Time is reckoned by the motion of the sun around the Earth, which is down to the Will of God, so how do you make a machine that tells the Will of God?
(taken from the time-travel book The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer)
I suppose we can liken this to a calendar as well, wouldn't you say? I mean, doesn't the Earth know the month is April and the season is spring?
Silly Earth...lol
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| Ah...springtime... In the Ford yard, under the "watchful clock" of the replicated Independence Hall, we see the Merino sheep grazing in the grass while the Torch Lake steam locomotive chugs past. Built in 1873, the Torch Lake is the oldest continuously running locomotive in the United States, encircling the Village daily from April though September. |
More Greenfield Village to come in future posts ~ ~ ~!
Until next time, see you in time.
Here are a few other postings you might enjoy:
A Taste of History
A Taste of History
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1 comment:
I've only just finished this wonderful post, and I see you've shared another. So nice to have things open again and folks out and about.
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