Say what?
That's right. Noah Webster helped design and had this mansion built in 1823 in New Haven:
I was reminded of this when I read Barton Swaim's "A Definitive American Life," a critique of Joshua Kendall's "The Forgotten Founding Father." The first is definitely worth reading, and the second finds itself on my must-read list.
So what's that about New Haven and Dearborn?
You see, it's like this: There was this guy back in the early part of the last century who had all the money in the world. He was also one who had a deep, abiding love of his country. So what did he do with a pile of that cash that he had sitting around? He bought stuff. American stuff. American historical stuff. Including homes (along with Wright Brothers Bicycle Shops and Thomas Edison laboratories), had them disassembled, crated, and shipped to a site near his home in Dearborn. A site that he named the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.
That's right. Henry Ford amassed a breathtaking collection of American memorabilia and housed it in his personal museum and adjacent "village." (When I say "personal," it is said that Ford took an active role in the construction of the museum building and placement of his collectibles.)
Included in his collection is the Webster home.
And it's available for your exploration and learning pleasure daily (starting on the 15th; it's closed in the winter) from 9:30 to 5.
Here's what the village that you can wander to your heart's content looks like:
Yes, click on the image and you'll see that that's Henry Ford's original "factory" on display.
Anyway, before you go, pick up a copy of Webster's biography ...
... and hop in your car.
And commune with American history.
- - -
If you're inclined toward the morbid, the museum has on display - blood stains and all - the chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when John Wilkes Booth put a bullet in his brain, ending his life, in 1865. Henry Ford bought the chair at auction - for $2,400 - in 1929, the year of "The Crash."
How cool is that?
