Greenfield Village: Henry Ford's living history museum re-creates American way of life, work

DEARBORN, Mich. — Greenfield Village teaches history the way Henry Ford thought it should be taught. Ford is rather famous for his "History is bunk!" quote. But, they will tell you at the village, that whole notion is taken out of context. It was not history that Ford disliked, but the endless string of wars, politics and dates that teachers tried to hammer into kids' heads.

Rather, Ford said, we should focus on how people lived, what they ate, how they worked.

At the dedication of his museum in 1928, he noted, "Mankind passes from the old to the new over a human bridge formed by those who labor in the three principal arts — agriculture, manufacturing and transportation."

Greenfield Village is the living history, open-air part of The Henry Ford, the extraordinary museum in Dearborn, Mich., that resulted from Ford's original attempt to collect at least one example of everything ever made in America. His passion for collecting eventually extended to buildings, and those buildings have now been arranged in a village that is somewhat reminiscent of a small New England town: a village green with its town hall, crafts shops and residences.

But the buildings were brought from many parts of the country and represent many different periods. And they are not simply buildings from the past. They all represent people "not made famous by virtue of birth or inheritance," rather, people whose achievements "made an impact on America through hard work, persistence, creativity, inner drive and a willingness to take calculated risks."

Some are names you will recognize; others represent ordinary people who lived exceptional lives. There are inventors and authors, as well as plantation owners, farmers and clockmakers.

Some buildings are reproductions or were built by Ford specifically for the park, but many are the original structures. In all, some 300 years of American history are represented, which makes the place an efficient way to discover the past.

Only in Greenfield Village, for example, do the Wright Brothers live around the corner from Thomas Edison's laboratory, and Robert Frost, George Washington Carver and Noah Webster are all neighbors.

A fun way to start a visit to Greenfield is with a Model T ride around the 90-acre site. This not only introduces you to the layout of the village, but it also gives you an appreciation for Henry Ford's magnificent machine.