Ovaltine Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 (edited) During a break in the action of my daughter's volleyball tournament at the UM Dearborn fieldhouse today, I took a half hour and walked over to Henry Ford's Fair Lane mansion/estate. For details about the place, check here: http://www.henryfordestate.org/fairlanestory.htm What a neat experience! The grounds are completely free to wander around as if you were 'ole Hank himself. You can stroll by the Rouge and see the massive hydro-electric dam he had built. You can see his stonewalled gardens, and the outside of the garage and generator house. You can even walk around the main mansion and stand on the porches HF lounged on once upon a time. The mansion had a function going on and wasn't available for walking in, but tours are normally available Tuesday - Sunday during the heart of the morning and afternoon. Guided tours run 90 minutes and cost $12 according to some info I saw posted. I got to see the cool "cave" entrance to his boathouse which built into a side of a hill. The channel to the boathouse entrance was filled in a long time ago, but with the clean up of the Rouge over the past several years, there's consideration of reopening it at some point for boat rides! It was neat walking up to the place and peeking in a few windows. I got to see into a neat little glassed in study on the back side of the place, and the ballroom on the north side of the house. Talk about a FIREPLACE! So.... if you ever find yourself in Dearborn with an hour or so to kill, just take Fair Lane Drive (on the west side of the mall) and do a Michigan left-turn into the marked entrance just about a mile north of Michigan Ave. There's free parking, and you can get out and be on the front "porch" in 2 minutes. As a side note, a good book to read before taking a tour is Robert Lacey's "Ford: The Men and the Machine". -Ovaltine Edited May 17, 2009 by Ovaltine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinaw Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I grew up in Dearborn and spent may an hour traipsing around the Henry Ford mansion grounds in my youth. Even used to swim in the lake HF built at the far end of the old rose garden. If you know where to look at the mansion, you can see the old cornerstone that was placed by Thomas Edison back in the early 1900's. The tour is well worth the admission price, you see stuff that will really impress (like the experimental "X" engine). A must-see for any auto fan interested in Ford history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenwowski Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I toured Henry Ford's estate five or six times while I was attending Michigan State Univeristy. Each time I went, I discovered something new and I also highly reccommend the tour. If you are in the Dearborn area I would also take the Rouge factory tour and go to the Henry Ford Musuem. I love that whole area its like FORD COUNTRY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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