Historical Presenters outside Eagle Tavern, Greenfield Village, 2004

In the early 1980s, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village began assessing and upgrading the interpretation of its buildings, focusing on the dramatic changes that Americans experienced during the 1800s. This included reinterpreting Clinton Inn to its 1850s era, when proprietor Calvin Wood operated the building as Eagle Tavern. This photograph, from 1982, re-creates the dining experience of that era.

Much of Greenfield Village looked quite different in 2002 from what you see today. The village was showing its age -- its crumbling infrastructure desperately needed repair. Yet replacing the underground systems also provided an opportunity to refresh and revise Greenfield Village itself. In September 2002, Greenfield Village closed to the public and restoration began. The transformed village reopened just nine months later.