We were blessed with still another picture-perfect day here in Southeast Michigan, so my destination was Heritage Park in Taylor. I have passed that Park’s entrance hundreds of times through the years, when I traveled up Northline Road to Southland Mall, but it was my first visit there.
I knew this Park would hold much appeal for me, the nature lover and walker. Plus, I was looking forward to visiting the historical village area where you have the opportunity to travel back in time, by checking out the historical homes and walking across a covered wooden bridge.
On such a beautiful Saturday, I expected there might be big crowds, so I arrived shortly after the Park opened at 8:00 a.m. I parked as far away as possible, hoping to maximize my steps for my excursion.
I decided to take a tour of the historical buildings and just enjoy the scenery first, then take pictures later.
The centerpiece of Heritage Park and its historical buildings is beautiful Coan Lake, which is a large manmade pond.
Surrounding this picturesque pond are several buildings of historical significance to the City of Taylor, as well as a beautiful gazebo.
There was the proverbial little red schoolhouse, which looked just as you might have pictured from your grandparents’ description of the one-room building where they learned the three Rs. Its size reminded me of the tiny Walnut Grove schoolhouse featured in the TV series “Little House on the Prairie”.
There was an exact replica of an old water mill which was interesting, especially since you could get right up close to the big wheel that operated the mill.
An old red caboose a/k/a “Fitz’s Caboose” and boxcar sit on some railroad tracks. That caboose evoked a few fond memories of the many times we would need to cross the railroad tracks when we travelled to and from my grandmother’s house in Toronto. Though my parents would no doubt stew over the long wait while the train rambled on and on as it rumbled over the tracks, my mom would say “Linda: the end of the choo-choo train is near, so wave to the engineer on the caboose and he’ll wave back to you!” Lots of fun times when you’re a kid and waving to the caboose engineer and often he did wave back; this seems like a lifetime ago.
A rustic log cabin has the notoriety of being the oldest house in Taylor – it is over 150 years old and still used for meetings throughout the year.
There were other old houses, some which have become a small museum, or a sweet shop, another is a souvenir store, and there is an old church with a wishing well out front.
The historical area of Heritage Park reminded me a little of Upper Canada Village where I visited with my parents when I was young. That Canadian tourist attraction is similar to Greenfield Village, where you are able to walk around and visit homes filled with old-time relics or artifacts, with people dressed in clothing reflecting those time periods.
There were so many sights to see that on the second go-around, this time holding the camera, I discovered I had missed a whole area where there was a tall yellow historical house next to where the Goodwill Garden is located.
The Goodwill Garden is a community effort where different people have small plots of land and tend to flowers and vegetables. All the produce grown there is donated to local food banks and other charitable organizations. The flowers in and around the Goodwill Garden area were gorgeous, and, as far as the eye can see, it was plot after plot of rich earth, filled with colorful blooms and veggies.
Years ago, when I visited Frankfurt, Germany with my parents, I first heard about the concept of having your own garden plot if you lived in the city. It was common for Frankfurt city dwellers to own plots of land in a rural area where they could grow their own fruits and veggies and/or have a flower garden. Those large areas of land were divided into long strips, all individual plots, and people bought a plot, then plopped a small potting shed and a table and chairs there. It was an outlet for fresh air and exercise, plus an endless supply of fresh produce all Summer.
After leaving the historical village area, I headed over to the covered wooden bridge. In my travels, I have never seen a covered bridge so I took several shots of it, from different angles, then walked over the wooden planks, gazing into the water at all the ducks – probably a hundred of them, gathered in the water by the bridge.
The entire grounds are so picturesque, especially Coan Lake, which features several fountains and catch-and-release fishing. There were several men fishing near the covered bridge. Again, the water was filled with mallards, mostly females. I wished I had brought bread for them as you could get so close to the edge of the water. Both the gazebo and a small pier gave an excellent view of the water and the collection of ducks, and even geese that grazed nearby.
After my extensive tour of the lake and village, I then went on the walking path which took me around the entire Park – whew! Luckily I had picked a cool day for this trip as I’d already covered well over three miles before I even started on the walking trail.
My last stop was to visit the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Garden which is located on the fringe of Heritage Park near Pardee Road.
But, it was not open to the public today, as signs indicated a private event (wedding) would be taking place. But, I was able to get up close and peer inside.
Likewise, I looked around the grounds of the petting farm but did not go inside any of the barns. The barnyard had some pigs and a couple of chickens strutting around, plus a pair of ducks that were enjoying their own blue plastic kid’s swimming pool.
I think I will head to Heritage Park more often; perhaps I’ll make a stop there once the colors change. There were already leaves starting to gather at the base of the trees in the wooded areas of the walking trail, and, as I walked past them, I could detect that faintly musty smell of decaying leaves – it is just a matter of time now, before they will be fluttering to the ground.
I loved meandering through this place full of mallards and memories. It was an enjoyable, and even exhausting, trip as my pedometer read 6 ¼ miles by the time I finally reached my car and gratefully sank down into the seat.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
The next time you visit, be sure to walk the trail that goes into the forest. It is also beautiful and very peaceful. Many wildliwers in the spring and a hidden lake that connects to WCCC. Thank you for your wonderful review of our Park!
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Sharon – Wow, I didn’t even see another trail. I was really overwhelmed with how big Heritage Park was and trying to get my bearings so I didn’t get lost (and not find the car again), so I just stayed on the asphalt path and followed that path until I ended up back where I parked near the pavilion. I will be sure to look for it because I know I would love the woodsy experience. I walk at Council Point Park every day and I get that woodsy feel from one of the two walking path loops which is more secluded and runs closer to the Ecorse Creek, so you see more waterfowl and even the occasional heron there, some turtles sunning themselves on logs … very peaceful. I’d like to see the wildflowers in Spring and that hidden lake connecting to WCCC as well. I’m ready to go back now! You’re welcome for the comments – I wish I had not waited so long to visit this treasure.
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Miss linda…………………..you did a wonderful tour of Taylor’s Community Park……………………I’ve been so many times and have never discovered the Goodwill garden…………………thanks for the adventure
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Ann Marie – I am glad you liked it. In all the times we chatted or have written back and forth to one another, you never mentioned it and I wanted you to know about the walking aspect, and especially the fishing, since you and Steven enjoy catch-and-release fishing. The first trip around that Park I totally missed the tall yellow house and the Goodwill Garden is next to it. The house/gardens are to the left of the red caboose. I took some more pictures of the Goodwill Garden if you’d like to see them. Did you take your students when you were still teaching? What a great learning experience for them. Glad you liked the adventure – I sure did too. I will go back for sure come Fall, if not sooner.
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I can see why you’d want to go back there and why you enjoyed the trek so much. That’s a beautiful park with so much to see! Thank you for sharing your visit!!
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You’re welcome Shelley, Every time I go there I see something different and it is like a brand-new experience. I’m putting together my last “park post” … I finally used all my photos and we’ll see how many times I get out to these venues now that Winter is about to rear its ugly head. 🙂
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But…when you’re couped up you’ve got Jared videos to watch 😉 Stay warm and safe! We only got a dusting of snow here…but it is darn cold, so I’m glad I don’t have to go out! I can’t wait to see what you learn from the videos!
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Going to do some housework today Shelley as I have been delinquent (bigtime) in that department. Sounds and looks bad out there – glad to stay in … I have 10 of the 11 Jared videos – also passed them along to a friend who wants to learn manual mode and tricks for her Nikon DSLR … she has been shooting on automatic as well. That is next week’s project unless it magically gets better outside … we are getting either more snow or some freezing rain on Tuesday – freezing rain will pretty much ruin everything for a long time unless it melts. About 3-4 years ago, I had freezing rain keep me from getting out of the garage – we had the Polar Vortex and freezing rain coated the driveway and my garage barely accommodates the car so could not pull out for fear of sliding into the side of the garage as I pulled out (it happened years before with my Regal and I nicked the passenger side mirror) … on top of it the City plowed and left snow piles at the end of the driveway and they froze … I was unable to get the car out of the driveway and on the road from mid-January to mid-March … just ran it every day in the garage to keep the battery good. Now I have a trickle charger, but still want to be able to take it out on the road to keep it in good shape. No fan of Winter – I would NOT make a good Wisconsinite!
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Once I stop playing around with blogging fun, I’ll be hitting the book-keeping-books again…I know the term delinquent well. Enjoy the videos! Yikes – that sounds like horrible weather conditions and nasty that they lingered so long. We have similiar things here, but thankfully we’re well stocked with salt and snowblowers to get us out and about. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that little snow now in January does not mean tons of snow into March and April! Enjoy your weekend!
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I put it off and didn’t do a very good job the last six weeks or so, preferring to go walking and picture taking on the weekends, and usually too bleary-eyed in the morning from staying up late blogging to get anything done during the week. I’m sure you Wisconsinites have provisions for snow removal – the suburbs here aren’t bad, but it is bad in Detroit. They lack the proper snow removal equipment, and salt, and manpower. A big storm can bring Detroit to his knees.
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Wow – that’s crazy Detroit isn’t equipped to deal with the snow like we are in Wisconsin?!
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Nope, the other counties and even Wayne County where I live and where Detroit is have the snow removal equipment, but in Detroit there is not enough, or it is old and breaks down. When we had that bad snowfall about 3-4 years ago on Super Bowl Sunday, I had to hire a Metro Car (first of all I don’t like driving in Winter but half the buses were not operating because of the snow) … I am a Canadian citizen and had to go to the immigration bureau because my first set of fingerprints did not “take” … I told the woman in October that I did not have grooves in my fingertips because of years of typing and it had been a problem before – she said “I know how to take fingerprints” … it was an electronic capture. So I got a letter to return and get them re-taken … this was two days after that Super Bowl snowstorm and it paralyzed the City of Detroit for a week. We have a better mayor now who is trying to make things better by hiring outside contractors, but it still is a real problem.
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Yowsers – sounds like another blog post in the works? 😉
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