Starkville Christian Home Educators

[Angie Riffell]

Greenfield Village is a homeschooler's dream. It was conceived by Henry Ford as a way to capture the time of the great inventors in American history. He bought and relocated the famous homesteads and factories and farms of his heroes to one location, creating a picture of Americana from 1850-1910. It was absolutely inspiring.

We spent about 20.00 a ticket to see Orville and Wilbur Wright's home and bike shop, Abraham Lincoln's courthouse, Robert Frost's house, Noah Webster's house and library, Firestone's farm, McGuffy's log cabin, the slave quarters of George Washington Carver, and Thomas Edison's entire Menlo Park workshops. This does not include many other lesser-known homes from horticulture, sports, and literature greats. Plan on spending the entire day in the Village. Be prepared for lots of walking. We splurged and spent 10.00 a person for unlimited train, buggy, Model T, and carousel rides when our feet got tired.

The Firestone farm is incorporated into a large working farm complex where they grown food for their very authentic restaurants. They cure their own bacon, make their own candles, and create their own pottery, tin, and glass decorations. The food at the Eagle Tavern is delicious when eaten in candlelight.

We rode around in old Model Ts and took a million pictures. We are going to create a scrapbook of the trip so that we can go over all the great inventors. We did not have time to go to the museum, which is a Smithsonian quality experience in itself. Maybe at Christmas when we go back. Plan two days if you want to do both. Plan a third day if you would like to take an extensive tour of the Ford River Rouge autmotive plant.