Greenfield Village Open-Air Museum

Summertime may be an exciting time at Greenfield Village, but I believe that it's in the Autumn time of year that the Village truly shines, for that's when the traditions we hold so dear come to the forefront. Let's begin the tour with the sights: witness smoke pouring out of the chimneys of the farms and homes as you stroll under the trees with leaves of red, orange, yellow, and even brown and green - colors that one may not find in their own neighborhoods that seem to add that fall flavor as you stroll through the streets of the past. Most of the structures throughout the Village are open during the fall season, however, once again the main presentations concentrate on the two farms, Firestone (19th century), and Daggett (18th century), as they prepare for the winter months ahead. And, believe me when I say that the presenters at these two farms do it right! We'll begin with Daggett - - - - To give a bit of background here, I shall quote from Senior Manager of...

Summertime and the livin' is easy... There aren't too many places one can enjoy summers of days gone by like they can at Greenfield Village. The atmosphere alone will allow the visitor to time-travel to a summer from a hundred years or more into the past. And, if the opportunity arises to visit the Village during a balmy weekday - away from the weekend crowds - one can immerse themselves even deeper into another time and place. A visit to the 1880's Firestone Farm is always a good place to begin. This is where the visitor can see that the heat and humidity of summer does not - can- not - prevent the daily chores from being done. To fully appreciate how our ancestors lived without air-conditioning is to see the women of the house prepare and cook a hearty meal on a wood-burning stove: weeding and picking the vegetables from the kitchen garden, slicing and dicing them on the kitchen table, heading to the cellar for meat, retrieving water from the hand-pump near the dairy she...