Henry Ford Museum

[Joe417]

We were thinking about visiting the Henry Ford Museum. Online didn't give me any practical info about visiting. It said 3.5 hour to visit, but it looked much bigger than that. Then it dawned on me that it may be multiple complexes.

Anyone have any practical do's and don't for visiting. We travel in a crew cab long bed, is it hard (as far as traffic) to get in and out. Looking at the online map it looked to have several parking areas.

Are the parking fees outrageous like those in and around Chicago?

Do they accommodate truck campers?

Any recommended camp grounds not too far from town but not in the city??

Thanks,

[ependydad]

As for places to stay- we are Thousand Trails members and used the TT St. Clair location. It wasn't great but we got a nice spot under the trees that we were wedged into (42' fifth wheel into a 30-35' spot - our choice). Terrible cell service (back in 2015) and no security at the gate. But it was free/night and made it worthwhile to us.

[Lynnmor]

They must have updated the menu since I was there some years ago. 🙂

Since I have much interest in things mechanical, many hours are not enough to visit. Some non-mechanical types might want to just breeze thru while yawning, after all that old stuff had no keyboards.

[wlstroud]

We've visited the area and The Henry Ford several times in a Ford F350 crewcab dually. No problem negotiating the highways and streets. The parking lot at the museum has adequate space. We/ve been there during spring, summer, and fall seasons. The Museum (and movies), Greenfield Village, and the Ford F150 assembly plant are very informative and enjoyable. The restaurant food is decent in the Museum and at Greenfield. We spent a full day at the Museum; a full day at Greenfield; and, 1/2 day at the Ford truck plant. Go and enjoy!

[Joe417]

Thanks all for the feed back.

Sound like a good place to visit. We were thinking late September into October time frame.

We've had several enjoyable sightseeing trips in the North Indiana and South Michigan area.

[Matt_Colie]

We are locals and have been members of the museum for most of the time we have lived here. We have also been volunteers in our younger years.

When we host friends, we advise that they plan a day for the museum, another for the village and if they want to do the Ford Rouge factory tour, that is another. Wear comfortable shoes.....

Parking at the museum is OK for many vehicles and now that summer is over, weekday parking will be pretty good.

Matt

[GeoBoy]

Joe, we did the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village last September. We stayed at the Wayne County fairgrounds with full hookups, don’t use their showers there terrible. The drive to the museum is about a half hour, depending on traffic. We parked our TC under a nice tree in their free parking lot. The museum will take most of the day and there are restaurants throughout the museum, Greenfield Village will take most of a day and likewise it has places to eat and ice cream. Enjoy you trip.

[Veebyes]

We spent an entire day there & just about got our fill. Next day did the village & Ford plant.

Like any facility of it's kind plenty of parking.

[jfkmk]

Stopped at the Henry Ford a couple of years ago on my way home during a business trip. The Henry Ford is amazing!

I spent 3 hours just in the museum and didn't see it all. That is just me, no spouse or family to talk about what we’re looking at. I would give it two days to see Henry Ford and Greenfield Village and another day to see other things in the area.

The parking lot is huge. You’ll have no problems parking your truck or driving in the area.

Enjoy!

[valhalla360]

Just the museum...a day is enough for us.
Add in Greenfield Village, which is tied in to the complex, 2 days makes sense.

No parking is not a big issue, nor is driving around the area.

[Trackrig]

Plan on spending thee day, there's lots to see - a lot more than just Ford stuff.

Bill

[DrewE]

In my opinion, it takes a good day to see the museum reasonably thoroughly and a second good day to see Greenfield Village reasonably thoroughly. That doesn't mean reading every sign or necessarily seeing every last exhibit, but it should give enough time to cover most things at least briefly and linger at some things that are of greater interest. Needless to say, people differ in how rapidly they go through a museum, so that's at best a very rough guide. I assume the factory tour is more of a fixed length thing, though I haven't done that myself.