Greenfield Village

Greenfield Village had their annual Civil War Remembrance this Memorial Day weekend, so of course I had to go. Although it's a good two hours drive for us, it was so much fun and I'm glad we went. I had been there before when I was little (around eight or so), but I didn't remember any of it, so it was nice to go back.

The majority of this post is going to be pictures, just for your information. I apologize in advance if it kills your computer. :) I'll make them small, but you can click on then to enlarge them.

First we headed over towards the Town Hall to see the fashion show. We were a bit early, so we watched the soldiers drilling on the Village Green while the stage was set up. Then the fashion show started!

I enjoyed learning more about clothing for men and children. It's not really my area of expertise. After the show was finished, Mom and I walked over to a building in which a large collection of clothing was being nicely displayed.

I'm pretty sure the green outfit in the center is a wrapper, based on the ties down the front of the skirt. Anyone else know for sure? 

Edit: The green dress, though similar looking, is not a wrapper. It's from the 1840's-50's.

The blue winter bonnet on the table is my favorite of them all! Doesn't it look so cozy?

My favorite of the ball dresses.

They also had a few mourning dresses, which I love, but somehow I didn't get a picture of those. After that, we walked around the village and saw as many of the buildings as we could.

The 1832 Ackley Covered Bridge.

They had Model T's driving around the village. Mom and I came to the conclusion that someone should make modern reproductions of old cars like these. 

One of the flower boxes.

I believe these were some sort of mulberry trees Henry Ford planted in hopes of getting silk worms growing on them.

Aren't they neat looking?

Near the mulberry trees was the civilians' camp. There we had the pleasure of meeting Becky from The Victorian Needle as well as Ken G. from Passion for the Past and some of his family. It was nice to finally see them in person, after following their respective blogs for quite some time. (Go check them out!)

After talking to them both for a while, a visit to the train yard was in order!

I also found a convenient step to model my split-skirt. :) Firestone farm was next on the agenda.

I wish I could live there year-round. Without all the people though. :) Just me, my sheep and my chickens! There were two ladies in period dress making cookies inside, which smelled delicious!

The lovely organ in the parlor of the Firestone farm.

After seeing the working farms, we went back towards town and saw the rest of the buildings, like the Wright cycle shop and one of my favorite places, the millinery shop! The two ladies there were wearing two-piece outfits from the 1890's. (Big shouldered-sleeves) We talked reenacting and corsets for a while, which was fun.

Beautiful thimbles...

I had a very nice time and I can't wait to go again! I just wish it was a bit closer. One of these weekends I'll have to take the family to see one of the historical baseball games they have.

Have a safe Memorial day weekend!