If you’ve never been to Greenfield Village, what are you even doing with your life? Part of The Henry Ford, this living history museum was the first of its kind when it opened in 1929. Over the years, Henry Ford bought many historic buildings from all over the country in order to preserve history that was swiftly disappearing and had them moved the Dearborn, Michigan. Some buildings were taken apart completely, and Henry Ford was such a stickler for detail that every piece—including every nail!—was labeled so that it could be put back together exactly as it originally was.
In the sprawling outdoor museum, you will find working farms and farmhouses, a cider mill, a glassworks, a sawmill, a printing office, a pottery shop, a chapel, a courthouse, a general store, schools, a post office, a plantation house and slave quarters, and much, much more. There are sheep and chickens and horses and cows and pigs and turkeys. There are vast pastures and forests, and even rivers and a covered bridge.
Many historic homes and other important buildings can be found up and down the pristine streets, including Robert Frost’s home, the Noah Webster house, George Washington Carver’s cabin, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, and the Wright brothers’ house, cycle shop, and garden shed.
The roads are traversed by horse-drawn carriages, as well as Model T and Model A cars. You can also ride vintage trains around the village and into an enormous working railroad junction with a stable of steam engines and one of those huge Lazy Susans made just for trains.
They hold historic baseball tournaments and street fairs and vintage car shows and summer camps. There are special events for Hallowe’en and Christmas. Every Independence Day there are four days of celebrations, fireworks, and music from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
And the whole place is filled with people. Yes, there are the visitors—families and school groups and tourists from all over the world. Between 20,000 and 40,000 people attend the Independence Day events alone, and in 2017, 67,000 people came for the Hallowe’en festivities.
But I’m talking about the people who work there. There are reenactors and docents and drivers and waiters and cooks and farmers and artisans galore. It takes hundreds and hundreds of people to keep a place like that going. It’s like a…well, a small town. Which it kind of is, right?
Now, imagine the stories that could happen in a setting like this. People of all ages and backgrounds working in this idyllic place, maintaining this perfect veneer. What might be happening behind the scenes?
A love story? A murder mystery? A bit of magical realism with the ghost of Thomas Edison thrown in? The sky is the limit.
Let’s break down some possibilities, shall we?
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