Explore Porches & Parlors at Greenfield Village

Daily Activities

Historic Cooking

Firestone Farm, Daggett Farm and Edison Homestead
Daily
9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

Find inspiration for your own meals when you step inside the historical kitchens of Firestone Farm (ca. 1885), the Daggett Farmhouse (ca. 1760) or Edison Homestead (ca. 1915), and learn about foodways throughout American history. Delight in how culinary practices have changed over time and how they have been influenced by different cultures.

Outside view of the Edison Homestead in Summer

Consumerism and Homemaking

Edison Homestead

At Edison Homestead (c. 1915), learn how modern food innovations and commercialization changed the way we eat and make foods in our homes. In the afternoon, see how innovations in the home saved labor time and provided the average family more moments of leisure.

Supplies to dye wool with hand dyed wool yarn

Mid-18th-Century Style Wool Dyeing

McGuffey Schoolyard

Learn how wool takes on its vibrant colors with natural dyes derived from items like black walnuts and petals of plants like tansy and calendula. During the program, see firsthand the exploration and experimentation presenters use as they showcase Colonial techniques with nature-supplied dyes.

An Early 1860s Strawberry Party

McGuffey Schoolyard

Mid-June is strawberry time in Michigan, and in the early 1860s a popular form of entertainment was a strawberry-themed gathering or party. At McGuffey Schoolyard, step into that era and learn more about our re-created Strawberry Party. Then, visit Firestone Farm, Ford Home, Edison Homestead and Daggett Farmhouse to learn about the history of strawberries in America and see live food demonstrations 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Discover how our foodways, as well as other household activities, have been influenced by this small, sweet berry.

about this historic district

See the homes and lives of ordinary people who changed America, from humble early dwellings like the 1760s Daggett Farmhouse and 1800 McGuffey Birthplace, to the 1860s Susquehanna Plantation and the 1930s Mattox House.

Highlights

Artifact

Noah Webster Home

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.

Artifact

Cotswold Cottage

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.

Artifact

Susquehanna Plantation

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.

Artifact

Daggett Farmhouse

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.

Artifact

Ackley Covered Bridge

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.

Artifact

Mattox Family Home

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."

Artifact

Hermitage Slave Quarters

Enslaved African Americans built and lived in these brick quarters on the Hermitage Plantation, located just north of the city of Savannah in a rice-growing region. Owned by Henry McAlpin, in 1850 this prosperous plantation had 200 enslaved workers who lived in about 50 similar buildings. These enslaved workers cultivated rice, and manufactured bricks, rice barrels, cast iron products, and lumber.