Porches & Parlors

Step into the homes and lives of ordinary people who changed our country.

Daily Activities at Porches & Parlors

While there are no scheduled activities today, be sure to see our complete activities listing for upcoming offerings.

Highlights

Noah Webster Home

  Details
Artifact

House

Date Made

1823

Summary

Noah Webster and his wife Rebecca had this comfortable New Haven, Connecticut, home built in their later years to be near family and friends, as well as the library at nearby Yale College. While living in this house, Webster published his famous American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. His dictionary aimed to capture distinctively American words and spellings for the first time.

Object ID

36.812.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Cotswold Cottage

  Details
Artifact

House

Date Made

circa 1619

Summary

Cotswold Cottage is from the Cotswold Hills in southwest England. The Fords were attracted to the distinctive character of Cotswold buildings, which are characterized by the yellow-brown stone, tall gables, steeply pitched roofs, and stone ornamentation around windows and doors. Several decorative additions were made to the house in England, before dismantling and re-erecting it in Greenfield Village.

Creators

Unknown 

Object ID

29.434.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Susquehanna Plantation

  Details
Artifact

House

Date Made

circa 1835

Summary

Henry Carroll owned this Maryland house on the Patuxent River in the decades before and after the Civil War. Its form -- one room deep with porches -- invited cooling breezes in the warm, humid climate. In 1860, the Carrolls raised tobacco and wheat on their 700-acre plantation. Seventy-five enslaved African Americans provided the skill and labor that supported the Carroll family's comfortable life.

Creators

Unknown 

Object ID

42.209.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Daggett Farmhouse

  Details
Artifact

Farmhouse

Date Made

1754

Summary

Like other farm families living in northeastern Connecticut in the 1760s, the Daggetts made and grew many of the things they needed. Along with farming, Samuel Daggett was a house builder and furniture maker. The "saltbox" form of this house -- with short roof in front and long in back -- was a typical New England house type of this era.

Object ID

77.11.0

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Mary Dana Wells.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Mattox Family Home

  Details
Artifact

House

Date Made

circa 1880

Summary

Amos and Grace Mattox -- descended from enslaved African Americans -- raised their two children in this rural Georgia farmhouse during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Amos farmed, cut hair, made shoes, and preached at the local church, while Grace sewed, canned, cooked, and helped needy neighbors. Although life was hard, the family proudly affirmed that there was "always enough."

Creators

Mattox Family 

Object ID

43.154.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Ackley Covered Bridge

  Details
Artifact

Covered bridge

Date Made

1832

Summary

In addition to lending some charm, covering a bridge protects its wooden truss work from weather, extending the structure's service life. Joshua Ackley and Daniel Clouse built the Ackley Covered Bridge in 1832, across Wheeling Creek in southwestern Pennsylvania. Henry Ford acquired the bridge in 1937, when it was scheduled to be torn down, and moved it to Greenfield Village.

Object ID

37.799.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Elizabeth L. Evans.

Greenfield Village
 On Exhibit

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Get more details in Digital Collections at:

thehenryford.org

What is The Henry Ford?

The national attraction for discovering your ingenuity while exploring America’s spirit of innovation. There is always much to see and do at The Henry Ford.

VIEW CALENDAR

  Details

Porches & Parlors

Hermitage Slave Quarters

Enslaved African Americans built and lived in these cabins on the Hermitage Plantation near Savannah, Georgia.  

Daily Life

Each day work is required to keep the farms and homes running.  

Food

Preparation of a hearty meal was part of each day's work.  

Vegetables

A bounty from our gardens.  

Cooking Over a Fire

Many of the daily tasks of early American home life took place outside.  

Chickens

Chickens are kept at some of the residences.  

Garden

Children wander through one of the many gardens at Greenfield Village.