Wintertime at Greenfield Village

~ We come from the land of the ice and snow...

At the time of this writing - February 2024 - we really haven't had much of a winter.  We've had little snow and,  considering the time of year here in the north,  mostly downright balmy temperatures.  

Taken years ago, back when Greenfield

Village was open into early January

I'm a four seasons kind of guy and I enjoy each one that Michigan has to offer,  which is why I live here  (plus,  my Michigan roots go back to 1883 - quite a long period of time.  I just can't pack up and leave with roots that deep).  And I would probably enjoy winter even more if my favorite historical out-door museum,  Greenfield Village,  would remain open during the months of January,  February,  and March.

You see,  they open in mid-April,  and by the 1st of December they close up the Village for the daytime and only remain open for their special Christmas Holiday Nights evenings.  And though the adjacent indoor Henry Ford Museum stays open year  'round,  Greenfield Village closes its gates in late December,  only a few days after Christmas.  Then the wait until mid-April begins again...

My own wish would be for them to remain open during the snowy months - even if it were only on weekends:  how cool would it be to visit on a Saturday or Sunday and be able to take a horse-drawn sleigh ride  (which I actually have done before back when they were open during early January)?  Or,  perhaps remain open during the late winter and early spring,  allowing folks to watch and possibly partake in maple sugaring  (which they also used to do many,  many years ago)?  And then there is learning how folks whiled away the hours during the winter - the chores and crafts of wintertime past.

I know...I've heard all the reasons why they don't do this  (though,  as I pointed out,  they used to many years ago),  but in my opinion they would only have to have their  'main'  houses open:  the 1880's Firestone Farm, 1750's Daggett Farm,  the 1870s Ford Birthplace/Farm,  perhaps  1930s Mattox,   1789 McGuffey Cabin,   just as a few examples.  Open to the public so the visitors could see wintertime activities in the 18th,  19th,  and even 20th centuries.

And take a sleigh ride to get to those locations to boot!

And maybe,  as an extra added attraction:  behind their Porches and Parlors area there is a sort of steep grassy incline that would be perfect for sledding.  How many young kids today  (besides those who have traditional parents like us)  have ever been sledding?

Not many,  I'm willing to bet.

And one of the best things is that the visitors would be able to enjoy the historic scenic beauty of wintertime that only Greenfield Village has to offer.

It's activities like this that can make the harsh cold winter that we usually have that much more bearable. 

And it's history! 

But,  unfortunately,  this not to be.

At least for now. 

However,  one never knows the changes that lie ahead...right?

So,  in the meantime,  since visitors are not allowed inside Greenfield Village during the off season,  I must consider it a blessing when we do get a goodly amount of snow before the Village closes up,  therefore allowing many of us to enjoy the sites of each season.

In today's posting I have a collection of wintertime photos taken throughout the years,  whether they were taken while the Village was still open during the day in November,  whether taken during a particular snowy December evening during Holiday Nights,  or whether I got antsy and snapped a few  over the wall shots in January,  February,  or March.  They're all mixed in together.

So!  Are you ready for a winter journey to our favorite place in time?

It's always somewhat magical when one can visit Greenfield Village after or during a snowfall,  and I have been able to visit during near white-out conditions as well as afterward,  when the sun sometimes pops out.  In this post,  you will see gray skies and snow falling,  sunny days,  and even gray skies at night,  for they were not all taken the same day or even same year.

Winter at Greenfield Village - - - - 

I remember the excitement of a 2015 snowfall in mid-November.  I scurried to the Village the following day,  camera in hand.  As I trudged along the wintry road to my favorite part of the Village,  I passed the 1870 home and boarding house on the left there belonging to Sarah ("Aunt Sally") Jordan,  who gave room & board to Thomas Edison's workers at his Menlo Park laboratory.

The Sarah Jordan Boarding House,  built in 1870,  originally stood near the laboratory where Thomas Edison and his men toiled in Menlo Park,  New Jersey.  Widowed in 1877,  "Aunt Sally,"  as Sarah was known,  lived in Newark,  and was sent for in 1878 by her distant relative,  Thomas Edison,  to run a place for his workers to eat and sleep.  With little employment opportunities for women,  Mrs.  Jordan accepted the offer and opened the home as a boarding house that same year.

Several of Edison's single employees lived here and would sleep two to three to a bed in the six rooms on the second floor.  In fact,  at the height of the laboratory's activities in 1880,  sixteen boarders called this structure  'home.'

The Ackley Covered Bridge was built in 1832 in West Finley,  Pennsylvania.  

This bridge is one of my very favorite historic structures in all of Greenfield Village.

Did you know that in the old days before the age of the horseless carriages,  they used to shovel snow onto  the roads and bridges so it would be easier for the sleighs to travel?  Yep - it's true,  for many people would either own a sleigh or,  in some cases,  convert their carriages into sleighs for winter travel.

A beautiful scene out of the past - welcome to the 19th century!

I am not sure who took this photo - the person who 

I thought it was said it was not him - 

but it is a truly beautiful scene of 19th century Americana.

This is one of my over-the-wall  pictures - where I am outside the brick wall that surrounds Greenfield Village and hold my camera up as high as I can,  snapping away in hopes that the image turns out.
This one certainly did - and there are more coming.

A presenter scurries past the 1750 Giddings House.

Giddings,  a prosperous merchant and shipbuilder,  built and lived in this home with his wife,  Mehetabel,  and their five children:  Mary  (1752),  John  (1754),  Dorothy  (1758),  Mehetabel  (1764),  and Deborah  (1770).

In December of 1790,  it became the home of New Hampshire's first Secretary of State,  Joseph Pearson,  who,  inside this house,  married Captain Gidding's daughter,  Dorothy,  in April of 1795.

On the right,  there,  you see a house that was initially thought to have been built in the 18th century,  but after some research and detective work by a few very astute historians,  they found that this home, the Susquehanna Plantation,  was actually built in the 1830s.

I am very proud I was able to snap this,  capturing the sun in this manner. 

Henry and Elizabeth Carroll and their family built this house,  known as the Susquehanna Plantation,  in the mid-1830's,  where it sat upon 700 acres,  and they enjoyed a prosperous life,  including hosting extravagant parties.  They had five children.

Their 75 slaves,  however,  did not enjoy the same good life;  they slept in 13 small,  wood shacks with dirt floors and were made to work brutal hours in the fields,  especially during harvest time.

The Carroll family was one of the wealthiest in St.  Mary's County - the slaves alone,  according to the 1860 census,  were valued at $49,000.  Among the slaves were skilled craftsmen,  including blacksmiths,  carpenters,  coopers,  shoemakers,  tanners  (leather makers),  and seamstresses.

The Plympton House,  built in the early 1700s in Sudbury,  Massachusetts.
It was Abel Prescott,  a brother of Samuel Prescott  (who rode with Paul Revere),  that pounded upon this door on the morning of April 18,  1775,  to warn home owner Thomas Plympton,  a member of the Provincial Congress,  that the Regular Army was on the march to Concord.  Warning guns were fired to summon militia companies,  and within thirty-five minutes the entire town of Sudbury had been awakened. 

What do we spy just beyond the Plympton House?

The Daggett House - my favorite in all the Village!

Samuel Daggett,  a housewright,  built this  "saltbox"  house right around the year 1750.

The lean-to  (saltbox)  style was a very popular style of architecture in colonial New England.  The most distinctive feature is the asymmetrical gable roof,  which has a short roof plane in the front and a long roof plane in the rear,  extending over a lean-to.

It is a wonderful example of distinctive 17th and 18th century architecture.

Though  'saltbox'  is the most familiar term for its style for us in modern times,  those who lived in Connecticut  (where this house was originally built)  in the 1700s would have called it a  'breakback,'  while folks in Massachusetts favored  'lean-to.'  

The mid-1600's Farris Windmill relocated to Greenfield Village from Cape Cod is on the left of the home of Samuel Daggett and his wife,  Anna.  No,  it wasn't originally part of the Daggett farm back in the 18th century,  by the way,  though it looks like it fits perfectly.

There were still root vegetables in the ground in the kitchen garden when the snow fell
on this mid-November day.

Here is an over-the-wall shot I was able to grab.  Most often,  these over-the-wall snaps were usually taken in January,  February,  or early March,  during a time when there is no entrance into the Village.

This style of New England architecture utilized a central chimney,  with this one in particular having three fireplace openings on each of the two floors.  English settlers created this style by adapting a medieval house form to meet the different needs and climate of North America.  The design was perfect for the harsh New England climate.

Across the street is the Cotswold Cottage collection that I snapped the same day from,  again,  over-the-wall..

Henry Ford desired to show America's ancestral European life and sent his agent,  Herbert Morton,  to find a typical Cotswold stone house for Greenfield Village.  Morton eventually located this circa 1620 Rose Cottage in Chedworth,  Gloucestershire,  England,  and found that it was for sale.

The workers dismantled the structures stone by stone - numbering each one individually - and packed them in gravel sacks.  Soon the Cotswold collection was on its way to Dearborn,  Michigan  (via boat and then train),  as were a number of the English builders,  eager to help with the reconstruction.

Now here are a couple of colonial winter scenes that not only includes the Daggett House,  but the Plympton House as well  (with Cotswold peaking in the background).

You guessed correct if you said these were taken over-the-wall.  I got pretty good at it,  though my feet were wet from the snow  (I wore my shoes instead of my boots).

There is the Adams House on the left - more on that in the photo below.

Believe it or not,  I was able to capture the Adams House from over-the-wall,  for my camera's zoom was able to seemingly get a close up.

As you may or may not know,  this former home of newspaper columnist George Matthew Adams,  since being brought to the Village back in 1938,  has been presented to show everyday life from around the time of  Adams' birth in the 1870's.

However,  I have been told it is going through a major change:  supposedly sometime in the future the Adams House will become the  "Saline Baptist Parsonage,"  showing the structure as it was during the 1840's when it actually was a Baptist Parsonage.

I am personally very excited for this change to happen,  for the 1840's is one era that I felt was under-represented inside Greenfield Village.  However,  I say  "supposedly"  because it's been over ten years and nothing has been done,  which is a real shame.

In this winter photo we have,  on the far left,  the 1831 Eagle Tavern.  This Tavern has the distinction of being the second structure brought to Greenfield Village.  Only the JR Jones General Store was brought earlier.

In the center we can see the beautiful Martha-Mary Chapel.  This non-denominational chapel design was based on a Universalist church in Bradford,  Massachusetts.  Built inside Greenfield Village the year it opened,  1929,  the bricks,  doors,  and door knobs came from the building in which Henry Ford and Clara Bryant were married in 1888 - the Bryant family home in old Greenfield Township.  Joseph Warren Revere,  the son of the famous silversmith Paul Revere,  cast the circa 1834 bell that is up in the steeple.  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.

On the right we can see the Scotch Settlement School from Dearborn,  Michigan,  built in 1861.

Henry Ford attended class here in 1871.  Even though it was Ford’s first probable Village acquisition,  it was not brought to the Village until the summer of 1929, after the JR Jones General Store and the Eagle Tavern were already settled in their respective places.

The Village Green also hosts a few more structures:  the gray building on the left is the Logan County (Illinois) Courthouse - the very same one in which Abraham Lincoln himself practiced law in the 1840s.

The little red structure on the right began as a school house in 1838 but was purchased by Doctor Alonson Howard in 1855 and turned into his own doctors office.

Also facing the Village Green is the JR Jones General Store  (and the Eagle Tavern in the distance). 

The JR Jones General Store,  built around 1870,  is from the Waterford area of Michigan and,  as mentioned earlier,  has the distinction of being the first building brought to Greenfield Village.

And we have another over-the-wall picture!

This is a photo showing a part of the  'town'  area of Greenfield Village.  From the left is a replica  (albeit much smaller)  version of the first Ford Factory from 1903.

Next we have the Cohen Millinery Shop,  originally located at 444 Baker Street in Detroit.  It represents the new wave of specialized stores in the larger cities in the late 19th century.  It was here that Mrs.  Elizabeth Cohen made her living decorating women's hats from 1892 to 1903,  catering to mainly the middle class genre.

To the right of the millinery we have the Heinz House.  It was in the early 1860's in this Sharpsburg,  Pennsylvania brick house,  built in 1854,  that Henry John  (H.J.)  Heinz  (b.  1844),  the son of a German immigrant brickmaker,  produced the first of his more than  "57 Varieties"  of ketchup.  Using horseradish grown in the family's truck garden along the Allegheny River,  the boy grated and bottled it in vinegar in his mother's new basement kitchen.  Yep,  Heinz 57 was born right here in this building!

It was in this simple two-story clapboard farmhouse  (the white house on the left),  built in 1861 on the dividing line of Springwells and Dearborn Townships in Michigan,  that Henry Ford,  the first of William and Mary's six children,  was born on July 30,  1863.

The dark gray building on the right is the barn.

Yes,  another over-the-wall snap I took.  Hey---I got pretty good at it!

On the side yard of the Ford Home,  the sheep were poking through the snow to find grass in which to graze.

From colonial times and throughout the nineteenth century,  gristmills flourished in America,  especially after the summer and fall harvests,  by meeting an important local need in agricultural communities:  grinding the farmers'  grain into flour,  usually using large,  circular stones.  Gristmills flourished in America by meeting an important local need in agricultural communities by grinding the farmer's grain into flour. 

Henry Ford purchased the 1832 Loranger Gristmill,  located on Sunny Creek near Monroe,  Michigan,  in January of 1928.  It was one of the few structures moved to the Village without prior disassembly.

Here is the dirt road that leads us to Firestone Farm.  The corn shocks seen in the distance are set for animal feed.  If you look above the house and barn you will see a flock of geese flying over head.

As we move toward the house,  we spot the snow-covered heirloom apple orchard. 
 Luckily the apples were picked by the time this early snowfall struck.

The following three photographs are not mine.  They were taken by a few of the presenters who work for the Village,  and I am sorry to say that I cannot remember their names.  But they all know my love for this place and have very kindly shared their winter pictures with me,  and I appreciate them allowing me to use these wonderful photos in my blog post!

The Firestone Farm was originally built by Peter Firestone in 1828 in Columbiana,  Ohio  (just a few miles from the Pennsylvania border),  and was  "updated"  in 1882.  It was brought to Greenfield Village in 1983 and is now a gem among gems inside the Village.

The Firestone Farm,  as it stands now in Greenfield Village,  is a living history re-creation of life on a farm of the 1880's in Eastern Ohio,  and has been restored to look as it did in 1882,  when tire manufacturer,  Harvey Firestone's,  parents remodeled the house to give it a more modern look.  The wallpaper and furnishings throughout the house show what was considered stylish in the later Victorian era.

This is one photo I wish I could claim,  for it could be on a calendar.
I love it - - but it is not my picture.

However,  we are now back to my photos:

The Firestone Barn,  where sheep and horses are kept.

Brrr!
A can't imagine visiting that out house in this kind of weather!

A cozy fire meant for warming and not for cooking.

Back in the day,  visitors were sometimes allowed to see the upstairs of Firestone Farm,  where the family slept.  On this day,  I was lucky to be able to do so and I snapped this picture.

 Here are the corn shocks put up at harvest time,  protecting the feed for the livestock.

The road home...

One cool gray day a number of years later a few of us were back to the Village,  and even wearing our period colonial-era clothing.  It was a dry day,  though very cool and cloudy.  Of course,  at one point,  the snow began to fall after we made it through half the Village,  so I had to backtrack a bit to retake some photos:

Not everyone had a horse,  you see,  so walking was the mode of travel for most who lived in the 18th century,  as long as the snow wasn't too deep.  However,  I've been dealing with sciatica,  and walking has been tough.  So as painful as it was,  I zipped as fast as my painful legs could carry me  (for management would not allow me to bring my horse into the Village)  back to Daggett and the other colonial houses.  Okay,  so I don't actually have a horse...so I had to walk.  Quickly.  But you shoulda seen me huffin'  and puffin'  like an old man!  Well---I AM over 60 years old!

lol

That's not too old,  I know...but it certainly isn't 20!

Especially with sciatica---ouch!

Also unbeknownst to me,  Lee Cagle,  a driver of the Model T's  (and quite an amazing photographer),  also took a photo of me making my way back to my favorite house. 

He was taking a break inside the Swiss Chalet when he snapped it.

SO  glad he did!

Okay,  so I did  bring my horse!
sigh
Okay...I actually didn't.
Yes,  that is actually me riding a horse,  but I wasn't riding inside Greenfield Village. 
I did a little photo-trickery here.
But can you imagine?

When such a storm occurs,  my winter-wear will keep me warm and dry.
My cloak is 100% thick wool.  

So I returned to my favorite house;  the stark dark gray structure was such a wonderful welcoming sight!  And there was Gigi:  "I was wondering who that crazy colonial person was out there in the snow taking pictures!"  she kidded.  "Come on in!"

Invited into the house once again,  the coziness was felt as I glanced out the window into the winter wonderland that lay all around.  I don't believe I've ever looked out these windows during the daytime while snow fell.  That may not sound like anything to most people,  but to me it meant something special - another similar sight that eyes from those who lived 250 years ago had seen,  and now I myself was experiencing the very same.  Oh,  perhaps not this very same scene,  but the experience is there.

And,  along the same lines,  stepping out the back kitchen door,  one is easily drawn

into the world of long ago,  for a snippet of the 17th century windmill and the

red Plympton house from the early 1700s - both now standing as a much older version of their former selves when the Daggett House was built in the mid-18th century,  but looking quite the same. 

Wintertime in the colonial era brought in discomfort and dread to most in the United States,  especially to those living in New England,  the mid-west,  and the plains areas.  For Samuel Daggett and his wife,  Anna,  winter preparations would occur year  'round.  Piles of firewood were cut and stacked in the warmer months for heat in cooler times and for cooking year round.  Corncobs were saved for smaller fires,  or for an extra touch of flavor in hams and bacon smoked over them.  If the fire went out,  flint and steel could spark a new one,  or a child could scamper to a neighbor and bring home a hot coal in a cook pot or a tray of green bark.

Gary Thomas took this photo of myself,  Jackie,  and Charlotte on that snowy
late November day.

I love this country lane that actually leads to Firestone Farm,  which was originally built in the 1820s but greatly updated in the 1880s ...however,  with a little photo-trickery,  I modified this photo slightly to have this lane lead to the Daggett House & farm,  which is more suitable to not only my clothing,  but to this post.  I moved past the Loranger Gristmill  (actually from the early 1830s,  though looking very similar to gristmills 70 years earlier)  and the Weaving Shop (built in 1840 but,  again,  having a strong 18th century look)  that now houses historic spinning wheels and looms dating back to the 18th century.  

This picture of the home of Samuel & Anna Daggett was taken on a late afternoon during a late December snowstorm in 2021.  We were going to Holiday Nights,  but I knew it would be dark when they let us in,  and I wanted a daytime picture with the snow falling,  so I did another over-the-wall image.  Probably my favorite of them all.  The thick,  heavy,  gray snow clouds and the falling snow made for the perfect 18th century winter picture.

"Whose woods these are I think I know.  

His house is in the village though.  

He will not see me stopping here.  

To watch his woods fill up with snow." 

Robert Frost

This was taken at night,  but my camera captured the bright snow with the gray sky and gave it a more late afternoon look.  My friends Jennifer and Amy were with me here.

The soft glow through the window gives off a warm  times-past  feeling
while the snow lay all around.
This is another nighttime shot brightened by the snow and clouds.

In fact,  for many of these nighttime shots taken at Holiday Nights,  with the snow and clouds,  tended to become a bit more brightened up due to the camera taking it all in.  

According to the Exeter,  New Hampshire Probate Records of 1824,  this building was referred to as  "the mansion house."  One can see just by the exterior alone that it represents a more well-to-do residence of 18th century colonial America,  suitable for a man of means such as our Mr. Giddings.  This beautiful structure was situated on property that also included a warehouse and mercantile shop,  both of which Giddings operated,  and over-looked a wharf on the Squamscott River.

The McGuffey Log Cabin Birthplace

When I first saw this photo,  it reminded me of a movie set.  It all looked so fake.
Even the lighting looked staged.
But I assure you everything is real:  the trees,  the snow...and...me!  lol 

So there you have Greenfield Village winter scenes - straight out of the past.  As for us who reenact and wear period clothing,  the cold does not bother us nearly as you might think,  for we are enjoying ourselves in not only what we are doing,  but in weather that adds greatly to our experience and the entire look.

And we know how to dress for the weather.

We here in lower Michigan are used to having full-blown snowstorms.  Not just a few flurries,  but actual inches and sometimes even feet of the white stuff,  falling as early as October and ending as late as May.  And,  contrary to popular belief,  many of us love the snow and enjoy the winter weather...at least until early March!   Especially when we're inside the walls of Greenfield Village~

Until next time,  see you in time.

To explore what an 18th century winter was like,  please click HERE

To explore what a Victorian winter was like,  please click HERE

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