A Day at the Henry Ford
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Day 5: June 23, 2015 A Day at the Henry Ford Comment via blog |
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No group breakfast was planned for the first couple days of the conference
and I decided to try the coney island next door rather than eating in the
hotel restaurant or driving somewhere. I done good. The food was good, the
staff friendly, and the prices great. The pictured meal is $3.69 before
11:00 ($5.19 after) plus $1.69 for the coffee. This will be my breakfast
spot tomorrow, too.
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Back at the hotel, we boarded buses for the ride to
The Henry Ford.
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On arrival, I headed straight to
Roadside America: Through the Lens of John Margolies.
which had just opened on the 20th. It will be here through January 24,
2016. Part of the exhibit contains items, such as vintage travel journals
and pennants, that Margolies collected. There is a spot where visitors can
relax and lean up against a cactus. A slideshow of Margolies' photos runs
continuously on a pair of screens behind the Avanti and New Yorker but the
gallery, where Margolies images can be studied up close, is even better.
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My airplane picks are a superb replicas of a Wright Flyer and a Ford
Tri-Motor.
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Picking car photos to post sure isn't easy. My tiny sample consists of
the Mustang concept car along with the real thing, a Crosley Hotshot from
Cincinnati, an 1899 Duyrea "trap", a Tucker Torpedo, the 1903
Packard that was the second car to cross the United States, and
Eisenhower's "bubble" limo.
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After something of a whirlwind dash through the museum, I headed to
Greenfield Village.
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Dayton, Ohio, has a couple replicas of the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop
but this is the real thing with the house they grew up in standing beside
it. I was a little upset about the banner out
front although I eventually realized that I was misunderstanding it. A
play depicting the brothers' return from the first successful flight is
performed at the house several times each day. Its title is Home from
Kitty Hawk. The banner is advertising the play. Seeing the banner on a
pole in front of the relocated house, I read it as "Wright Brothers'
home from Kitty Hawk" instead of "Wright Brothers Home from
Kitty Hawk" and took it as another attempt to steal Ohio's
favorite brothers. After a lifetime around Dayton, I'm no doubt a little
extra sensitive to that sort of things so can't really judge whether the
banner is actually misleading to the general populace.
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For whatever reason, this clock tower is one of my most vivid memories
from my first visit to Greenfield Village around 1964. The facade and
mechanicals are from the Sir John Bennett Jewelry Store in London,
England. It's now a sweet shop.
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The Eagle Tavern was moved here from Clinton, Michigan, where it served as
a stagecoach stop. It has a reputation for good food and recreating a
mid-nineteenth century experience. I wasn't ready for a meal but I wanted
to check it out. I didn't notice the group of LHA folks on they left when
I peeked into the dining area but they jumped out at me when I looked
through the pictures at the end of the day. The group included Illinois
love birds Wayne and Esther Silvius who are celebrating their sixty-fifth
anniversary this week.
When I learned that this was a tavern for real and not just in name, I obtained a beverage and sat with the fellows on the porch for a spell. They have the sort of job to which I aspire. |
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Model T rides are available and there are also some horse drawn vehicles
in the village. Traffic jams can develop. Bicycle riding looks like
another pretty good job although it's not one I'm going to pursue at this
time.
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I saw just a tiny bit of the wide variety of entertainment available in
the village. Slave narratives are the basis for How I Got Here, a
tremendous two person show that includes some songs and audience
interaction. I saw the Greenfield Singers do a Model T Medley and I even
watched that Home from Kitty Hawk play.
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