What You'll Find at The Henry Ford Museum - Part 2

If you read Part 1 from the Henry Ford Museum you probably noticed that there are a lot of cars. Even if you aren't a car lover you can still find something enjoyable at the museum especially if you are an American history buff. Whether you like furniture, American manufacturing, agriculture equipment or learning about the movements of different eras you will find something here. Watch and read below to see everything else that The Henry Ford has to offer.

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Hallmark Ornaments - Special Exhibit

The Henry Ford always has different and special exhibits that they will only have for a limited time when they switch to the next one. So for this one, they had a hall of Hallmark Christmas keepsake ornaments (you know how cool this was to me if you have read about my Travel Tree) throughout the years. They have ornaments that have been made between 1973 and 2009. The next limited exhibit that they will be featuring is one all about Julia Child called Julia Child: A Recipe for Life at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation started May 20 running through September 10.

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Your Place in Time

This exhibit highlights 5 different generations and the technologies that shaped each generation. You'll see the progressive generation, war generation, baby boomers, generation X and the next generation. They have artifacts and other things that will take you back in time to the generation you grew up through. It was interesting to see some of the technologies included and also made me feel old because some of those so-called "artifacts" looked very familiar to me!

Made in America: Manufacturing & Power

Manufacturing and power in America has come a very long way and that it exactly what you will see when you are exploring these exhibits. You will see American innovation at its best between the 18th to the 20th century. Many of the artifacts in this exhibit are larger than life and it makes you wonder just how they got it to fit inside this building. Some of the things you will see include a rotative steam engine from 1788, a gas-steam engine from 1916, Newcomen engine from 1750 and other engines as well.

Agriculture

The Agriculture Exhibit features tools, equipment and vehicles that helped with growing/collecting crops, raise livestock, processing eggs and dairy. Even if you aren't crazy about farming this exhibit is super interesting to see how things evolved over the years to make farming and agriculture easier for the people who do it every day. Some of the highlights in this exhibit are the FMC tomato harvester, a 1917 Fordson tractor and the New Holland Combine.

Fully Furnished

In this exhibit, you will explore American furniture dating back from 1670 and how furniture evolved through the years. Included in this part of the museum are chairs, tables, portraits, loveseats, cupboards and many other items. It's interesting to see how tastes have changed from what's fashionable to what's gaudy and what is different then to now. A few of the highlights are a court cupboard owned by Hannah Barnard, a portable writing desk owned by Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain's writing desk.

With Liberty and Justice for All

This was probably my favorite part of the museum because of all the history wrapped up in this portion. This exhibit includes 4 of the most transformative moments in the quest for freedom: the Revolutionary Era, the Antislavery and Civil War Era, the Women's Suffrage Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement. There are so many cool and amazing things that you are able to see in this exhibit like the chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in at Ford Theatre when he was assassinated. Another amazing thing that you will see is the bus that Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white passenger. To see the seat that she sat in when she started an entire movement made me feel in shock. Another amazing part of this exhibit is the Women's Suffrage Movement where you will see actual banners from the protests, a car from the time period and screens talking about the women who made an impact on voting rights. The banner you will see was actually carried in rallies and marches by the New York Women's Suffrage Party.

Mathematica

This exhibit is for all the math lovers out there (that doesn't include me) even though math is not my strong suit, this is still a pretty cool exhibit. You will see different innovations in math brought to life through different models. Some things you will see include a multiplication cube that lights up (in the video), projective geometry, celestial mechanics and a probability board.

So when I tell you that there is something for everyone at the Henry Ford Museum I'm being completely honest. I was a skeptic to begin with because I wasn't sure how much I would like the museum, while I like cars I'm not someone who knows a lot about them. Even though the car and transportation portion was very involved and interesting there were other parts that were so cool and educational.

So if you are looking for a day of fun and learning then the Henry Ford Museum is for you. I can't get over how much I enjoyed this museum, how much I learned from the day and how they incorporate so much from American history and innovation throughout the years. I highly recommend this museum for people of all ages. For hours and pricing information, you can read all of that in Cars of The Henry Ford Museum - Part 1.