I’ve taken a lot of walks this year, but not as many as anticipated after retiring on March 29th. With seemingly endless hours of newfound free time, I had a running list in my head for my longer excursions agenda, but Mother Nature had her agenda as well.
Truthfully, I might have whined more about the weather, but after seeing the recent destruction from Hurricane Helene, plus several bouts of widespread tornado damage this year in many states, including my own, I won’t whimper about the weather.
We didn’t see a drop of rain for most of September, which meteorologists said might have put the kibosh on beautiful leaf colors, but last weekend’s rain, the dregs of Helene’s fury, might have salvaged some of that Fall foliage, thus, the Mitten State is in wait-and-see mode for peak leaf-peeping.
Terri’s Challenge this week is “Leaves and Trees” and today’s post will be about a walk taken at the Clara and Henry Ford Estate in Autumn 2023.
I had this portion of a very long walk taken last year tucked away for several reasons.
I took a lot of photos that day, first as I walked along the Rouge River Gateway Trail while enroute to the Henry and Clara Ford Estate, a/k/a Fair Lane. I wrote a post about that trail experience last year, which you can read here if you missed it.
So I knew that picture-laden post would be groaning (as would you readers) if I included the Estate photos too.
I have not visited Fair Lane, nor the nearby Environmental Interpretive Center in 2024. While I was eager to participate in the EIC’s monthly nature photography hike with a naturalist/nature photographer, first the pesky rain was problematic and then, since this natural habitat is rustic and rather unkempt and due to our state’s overabundance of ticks, I decided I’d just wait until 2025 to join in.
As for a Fall foliage excursion to the Estate in 2024, I follow this venue on social media and there have been extensive renovations ongoing at the Power House and Henry Ford’s garage since Spring. Several photos showed all the vintage Model Ts exiting the garage and into vans to be transported for safekeeping while Phase II of the restorative work is being done. That entire area is cordoned off for visitors.
Restorative efforts for the entire Estate began in 2013, with an eventual goal to return the Fords’ home and grounds to its glory days i.e. 1915 when they moved into their brand-new abode. Even though visitors are free to roam about the grounds, the inside of Fair Lane remains off limits to the public.
I have been to the Ford Estate grounds in every season except Winter, but photos posted on social media show a peaceful venue and it is spectacular even with the many bare trees. Spring is my favorite season to visit here due to the gorgeous Redbud trees, plus I enjoy meandering along the flagstone pathway that is nestled between the 100+ Persian Lilac bushes.
Enjoy the photos of last year’s visit to the Estate – the colors were not yet at peak here.
A mini-meander around Fair Lane’s grounds.
These views of the foliage are from various areas around the Estate. This is the Power House and Garage area, then a close-up of the trees behind these buildings.
The roaring Rouge River and dam (seen in the second photo) are found at the back of the mansion. Henry Ford hired landscape architect Jens Jensen to camouflage the hydroelectric dam that powered the Fair Lane Estate, Power Plant and Garage in a natural setting.
A touch of Fall and …
… a wee bit of whimsy. You may recall I used this sign before in a Wordless Wednesday post, imagining my furry friend Parker’s delight in making this discovery and tipping his head backward to receive those nutty treats. 🙂
This is the entrance to the Boathouse.
The Potting Shed and Tribute Garden.
While the leaves were not necessarily all ablaze in color, the flowers in and around the Potting Shed …
… and Tribute Garden still looked great, some very vibrant.
So, it was no surprise to me that the roses in Clara’s rose garden were also in bloom.
These gardens are well maintained, not only by a gardening staff, but also by volunteers from local companies, namely Ford Motor Company. I met a group of young Ford workers last year when the Lilac gardens were at peak.
I hope to wow you with lovely leaves in a few weeks for my “Walktober” post, so stay tuned.
I am joining Terri Webster Schrandt’s October 6th Sunday Stills Photo Challenge: Leaves and Trees.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Beautiful grounds. Very natural looking.
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Yes, they have a lot of caretakers for this property.
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Wonderful photos, as always.
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Thank you Anne, glad you enjoyed them.
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I don’t know why I have never been to the Ford Estate. Now it sounds like I should wait until they’re done. Or at least until spring!
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Yes Dawn, Spring is the best time to go and check out the Redbud trees, then the Lilacs. I follow them on FB to see the renovation updates and now they are being stricter about taking a camera on the grounds without getting a permit first. So you might want to use your camera phone or if you use your DSLR, don’t take a tripod or long lens. The Taylor Botanical Gardens is the same way this year – if kids want to take photos for Homecoming night, they charge $100.00 for a three-hour block of time.
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wow!
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Yes, in both cases they remind followers they are a non-profit organization. The Botanical Gardens got some comments on that “gentle reminder post” and people were asking “well couldn’t students book a 20-minute time frame for cheaper or have multiple students book the three-hour time slot?” They were not agreeable to that. I don’t see a guard at the Ford Estate grounds – it is free to walk around, but who knows?
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A wonderful place to stroll about
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Yes, very pretty Brian. Springtime is my favorite – the Redbud trees and Lilacs are so picturesque.
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Seems many of us are experiencing odd or slow-to-color Autumns, Linda. I’m patient, and you are so right about appreciating what we have, compared to those who have suffered from nature’s devastations. Now why didn’t I know that you had actually retired? Duh… well good for you! You will and probably already have found a million things to keep you busy!
Last year’s colors at the Ford Estate are stunning! A nice variety of yellows, oranges and reds there! Looks like a wonderful place to stroll and appreciate in every season!
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We have predominantly green leaves here Terri so I think Autumn foliage will not dazzle us at all. The Ford Estate grounds are beautiful no matter the season and they are painstakingly restoring and recreating every inch of the mansion. I’ve seen deer on the Rouge Gateway Trail leading to the Estate and a few wild turkeys critter-wise strolling the grounds. As to being retired, originally I was going to retire 12/31/23 and I had given my boss six months’ notice, but he didn’t look for anyone, so I stayed a few extra months and finally resorted to giving him a final date so he would look for someone and even then he dragged it out to the last minute. 🙂 I have several hobbies I want to begin – maybe over the Winter, The days are passing by so quickly now where they dragged on while still working!
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So beautiful Roses. Wonderful garden & nature beauty looking.
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Glad you enjoyed the photos Raj – it is a very scenic and peaceful place.
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I phone feeling peaceful. Beautiful place like & ❤️.
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Yes, it is very peaceful here Raj. Glad you liked it.
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That’s my mistake hope not a phone. Sorry.
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No problem.
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Thank you so much, Linda!
tack care 😘
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We’re still mostly green here, with a bit of yellow. Hardly any reds. Thank you for the tour of this lovely estate. Your vibrant photos bring it to life so beautifully! 😍
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Thank you Debbie – it is a beautiful venue to visit, no matter the season. I hope to get there in Winter one day. It’s very peaceful walking the grounds. I have never been inside the mansion where they are restoring every aspect of it – what is not restored, is recreated. I follow them on FB so I see the progress. It was once open for tours, but now just if you are a member for certain events. I will be surprised if we get any leaf color this Fall – what falls to the ground is crisp and brown.
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A lovely heading and pretty flowers.
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Thank you Anne – I figured the heading suited the beauty that is found there. You would like all the flowers here … the Tribute Garden has perennials and annuals galore, Clara Ford’s rose garden is the size of a football field, all pink roses with a fountain in the middle and a lot of wildflowers in the wooded areas on the fringe of the Estate.
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The flowers are still blooming, not much color down here in Iowa yet. 🙂
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That’s a real shame Sandra. I think the beautiful Fall foliage will not happen this year due to the drought-like conditions in September in many states, although I heard Vermont is at peak and tourists are flocking there.
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Natures show waits for no one, but the line up for tickets is always long
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Yes, very true Wayne. They are lining up for sure in Vermont where the colors are spectacular this year, but us not so much due to our dry September. Yesterday we had 35 mph winds and what came down were brown, crumpled-up leaves.
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I do miss the fall time colours! It’s not just the look but also the smells!
I suspect more moisture in the air carries more scent molecules and so we pick up these smells more so in the fall time?
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Yes, the foliage is beautiful. I was at Elizabeth Park yesterday for a walk and hoping to get some shots of the Oak trees. They have many Oaks and they all turn gold, but the leaves were still green there. I’ll plan to go in a couple of weeks and more colors hopefully. I think the moist air – that Fall smell – we’ve had high humidity a lot the last week … then a musty smell as the leaves fall and pile up. We used to jump into the piles of dry, raked-up leaves when I was young … it was fun ’til my father said “well maybe you want to help rake them too?” 🙂
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What a great place to take a walk even if the leaves haven’t changed much yet. I don’t know how you get any steps in with all the photo potential!
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It is very pretty there Diane and I follow the renovation efforts and news about the Estate on Facebook and it looks like it will be spectacular inside the mansion once they are finally done. I have to admit that it is a good thing I have more time to walk now since I am either stopping to take photos or feed critters. 🙂
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Amen!
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This looks like a wonderful place to go for a walk. The colors of the flowers are amazing, ours are dreary things by now. I do like a good warning sign, no one wants a walnut falling on them.
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It’s very pretty and picturesque here Ally. They have a lot of professional gardeners and volunteers taking care of all the flowers, even the wildflowers on the fringe of the Estate. I have a high school friend who volunteered to hand water flowers at Greenfield Village – she liked doing that. Now I would have thought a tourist attraction that large and popular for sure would have a sprinkler system. That sign cracked me up too, as did the warning about not picking the flowers
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Miss Linda…………………….I enjoyed your blog on the Ford Estate………………………….especially the sign: Falling Walnuts!
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Thank you Ann Marie – I thought that sign was pretty funny and I pictured Parker standing underneath with his mouth open to catch them. 🙂
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I’ll be with my brothers this weekend in downtown Detroit, Linda, celebrating a birthday. I wish we had time for Fair Lane but I’ve been outvoted in favor of more gear head sightseeing like the Piquette Ave. Plant and the Rouge Factory. At least I’ll finally get an up-close look at the RenCen!
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Dave, it’s just as well you’re not stopping at Fair Lane as the outside restoration efforts would mar your vision – you would be looking at it with an architectural eye. I just saw a video today that they finished up retooling the rustic walkway along the Rouge River (I had to photos showing the shoreline.) It was all stone and crumbling and cordoned off to stay away the last few years. They put all new shoreline rocks in place – it does not look as rustic, but at least will prevent erosion.
I heard about the Piquette Avenue Plant tours. I have not been on the Rouge Factory Tour either. Too bad you can’t also fit a trip to Michigan Central Station which just opened this Summer after six years of renovation. Ford just moved some of their white collar/administrative folks in there today. It was a grand old train depot, but fell into disrepair and was famous among photographers to capture images of the graffiti, but has been restored to its glory and cost Ford Motor Company $950 million to do so. You should see the Ren Cen because now that GM Headquarters will be at the former Hudson’s Department Store site owned by billionaire Dan Gilbert. There is scuttlebutt that perhaps the Ren Cen should be demolished – part of the reasoning was the windows don’t open, so people are hermitically sealed inside. 🙂 P.S. – you are lucky that the Tigers are playing their ALDS Game 5 (if necessary) in Cleveland Saturday afternoon – it would have been a zoo in Downtown Detroit! I’m wondering if the Spirit of Detroit statue has donned a Tigers jersey yet?
Safe travels to you and your brothers!
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Thank you, Linda! I knew you’d have a thought or two here. I’ll push my brothers for a stroll through Michigan Central Station (one of them is a train enthusiast) if only to break up all of the Ford stuff. Knew about the Tigers (congrats!) and hope they’re still playing, but also glad to read they’ll be out of town if they are.
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You’re welcome Dave! The Fords renamed it from Michigan Central Depot for this renovation. Some historians have likened the Depot to Grand Central Station in NY. Your brother will enjoy the tour. When it opened this Summer, they had many video tours posted on YouTube by news stations. The Tigers won again tonight! If they go to Game 5, potentially there will be a watch party at Comerica Park – they did that the last series when they were away. Fans paid $5.00 to watch the game at Comerica Park and the money raised goes to one of the Tiger’s charities. It might be crowded around Downtown then. I sent some info for your brother on the historical aspect of the train station in a separate comment.
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Dave – these are for your brother re: the old Depot. As a train lover, even if you don’t do the tour, he will find it fascinating. Some of the graffiti on the walls was preserved to show how the building looked pre-renovation:
https://www.detroitnews.com/in-depth/business/autos/ford/2024/06/03/a-look-back-on-111-years-of-michigan-central-station/73850458007/
https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/michigan-central-station
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Linda – My brothers and I had a nice reunion in Detroit this past weekend. We stayed in an Airbnb in Corktown so we had easy access to downtown as well as a short walk to Roosevelt Park and Michigan Central Terminal (tours sold out). Ford Rouge Plant tour and The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation on Friday, Ford Piquette Ave Plant tour, RenCen, and Detroit Institute of Art on Saturday, and Motown Museum (sold out) and Detroit History Museum on Sunday. We even found a spare hour late in the day on Friday for a walk around the beautiful grounds of Fair Lane (now I recognize your photos from your post). Dinners at Buddy’s for Detroit pizza, Ladder 4 wine bar, and The Keg (Windsor). One breakfast in the Eastern Market district. Safe to say we made the most of our three days! Thank you for your recommendations; else we wouldn’t have made it to Fair Lane or the MCT. Sorry about the Tigers; they were a great story while they lasted.
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Wow Dave – you and your brothers really packed in a lot of sightseeing in three days! You did a lot of fun stuff too – Eastern Market is a fun and hoppin’ place, especially in Summer for Market Days and Sunday for Lions tailgating. I am glad I could give you some recommendations. You’ve been more places than me per your itinerary! I thought about you slogging around in the torrential rain on Saturday night/early Sunday. I am glad you finally got to visit Fair Lane and recognized the buildings and grounds. They had just finished the Creek shoreline last week – too bad they cordoned off the Power House and Garage and you likely could not get near them. I have not been to the Detroit Buddy’s Pizza, (“home of the original square pizza”), since I left the ad agency. It was a regular Friday treat for a bunch of us in the Creative Department to go there for a lunch of pizza and antipasto salad. That’s unfortunate you could not get into the Michigan Central Terminal – they have had tours since it opened – guess everyone has not seen it yet. Did you enjoy seeing the Detroit Industry Murals painted by Diego Rivera at the DIA? That is a highlight of the DIA tour. I want to go to the Henry Ford as it’s been decades since I’ve been there. Corktown is a lot of fun, close to the old Tiger Stadium. Yes, it’s too bad about our Tiger’s magical season. The Guardians are a good team and throughout the years, there are longstanding records of how many times they have beaten the Tigers. Maybe next year?
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Here’s the tour info for Michigan Central Station:
https://www.detroithistorytours.com/michigan-central-tours
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You called it, Linda. We went to the Institute of Art specifically to see the Diego Rivera. We showed up late in the day and they let us in for free since it was the final hour before closing. That work alone is remarkable – we spent most of the hour in front of it before a quick look around the other rooms. We avoided the rain since we were already at our restaurant in Windsor when it really opened up Saturday night. Except for the couple of sold-out attractions, it really couldn’t have gone better for us.
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With your other tours related to the auto industry, this was a must-see attraction Dave, so I’m glad you got to visit the DIA to see this impressive work. My boss was a labor attorney and liked these paintings so much, he had a complete set in his personal office as well as along the walls of the common areas of the office. That was kind of the DIA to let you in for free. I forgot to mention yesterday I have not visited the Detroit Historical Museum since a 9th grade field trip and I liked the entire cobblestone city street. You lucked out with everything and that’s great you dodged that torrential rain.
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Someone mentioned the DHM cobblestone streets on our first day, and just like the Rivera it was the only excuse we needed to visit the museum. Those recreated streets and shops are so well done. And speaking of the Rivera (again), I’m glad we picked up a brochure to guide us through the details of his DIA frescoes. We wouldn’t have picked up on the dozens of subliminal messages. Clearly Rivera wasn’t a fan of capitalism, or even the disturbing of natural order.
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The DHM museum is one of the highlights in Detroit and it’s been around a long time. And, speaking of cobblestones, you stayed in Corktown, so you no doubt saw the cobblestone streets in that area. There is some controversy right now because the Michigan Department of Transportation wants to remove all the cobblestones for infrastructure repair for drainage, among other things, in a project slated to begin in 2025. People are upset that the charm of this old neighborhood will be lost so they have started a “Save the Bricks” campaign to halt MDOT’s project. MDOT says they will repurpose the paver bricks for other parts of the area, like a decorative sidewalk, or place them at the entrance to Corktown. Yes, there has been much written about those paintings and Rivera’s mindset while creating them, as well as about his wife, artist Frida Kahlo and their volatile relationship.
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Beautiful photos, as always! My goodness, but it is taking a long time to do the restoration on the main house. It was probably ten years ago that I was in the area and visited Fair Lane, and the building was closed for renovation even then. It should certainly look beautiful when they are finished with it.
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Thank you JP! You are correct because they started the renovation on the main house in 2013, but they halted it for a while during the pandemic. I follow the restoration efforts on their Facebook page and they have daily photos and videos showing the detail of all restorative efforts, from rugs to windows and window treatments, fixtures, furniture, etc. – there is a team of restoration experts even examining items microscopically. If they can’t restore something, they have a duplicate created. Now they are working on Henry Ford’s Power Plant and Garage and they finished the shoreline reconstruction behind the house just today – they gutted the old walkway as it was crumbling and the shoreline was severely eroded. I hope to take an inside tour when they finally finish.
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Wow what a very lovely place! The mitten State? I haven’t heard that before
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Yes, very nice Susan. One day they’ll finish all their renovations and I hope to go inside. They are funny about needing a photo permit now for walking the outside grounds unless you use a camera phone or compact digital camera. That has been their mindset the last few months. They call us the Mitten State as our state is shaped like a mitten and people refer to places in the state as “the Thumb” or “the tip of the mitt” for example. We are different! 🙂
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Haha I didn’t know that, now I’ll have to check out a map!
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Yes, do it Susan – glad we have at least one redeeming quality, being shaped like a mitten!
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those great colours of your fall have started to show – but nice you still have some flower blooming.
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The leaves are slower to turn this Fall Andy – we had a very hot and dry September and October. Some of Michigan has had its first frost this week, but not in my area. In fact, yesterday I went to Emily Frank Gardens, a venue with thousands of flowers and the flowers all looked good except the sunflowers which had been picked apart by the goldfinches. The Koi pond was open and the fish swimming about.
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Sweet shots, Linda. And the river reminds me of the river that I live on.
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I always pictured your place near the woods and the water from your descriptions in the past – you are lucky to live there Tom and to capture all the wildlife you do for your macro shots.
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Thank you for sharing the history and photos. Beautiful
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Thank you Kirstin – I’m glad you enjoyed the tour of Fair Lane. It is a beautiful place.
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Look forward to it. meanwhile great pics as always.
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Thank you Barbara – This is a beautiful venue – I am looking forward to seeing the mansion once it is restored to how it looked in 1915. I love the Fall and even if our colorful leaves are not as plentiful this year, I will go out and capture the flavor of the season. I love the harvest décor. We have a rainy day today, the first rain this month. I walked my socks off in October and hated to see the rain arrive.
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Looks like it was a perfect day for this walk. I love that moment in autumn when the flowers are still blooming while the trees are starting to show their colors. The falling walnut sign was great! (And probably timely!)
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It was such a beautiful Fall day Barbara and no killing frost had happened yet so the flowers had stayed vibrant a little longer. We were supposed to have a hard freeze last night, but we stayed at 36, so I didn’t see any dead flowers on my walk today and now we are in the 70s through Monday – Monday will be 76! Very unusual weather. I thought that sign was so funny and I pictured Parker with his mouth open anticipating walnuts dropping from the tree. This morning at the Park I was about to toss some peanuts to a gray squirrel and it ran up a tree, so I was trying to talk it down and I felt something on my foot – Parker (or an imposter Fox squirrel) was sitting on my shoe with front paws on my sweat pants, which startled me and then I startled it – a chain reaction. They are bold and brazen sometimes.
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You created a little monster!!!
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Yes, I have to agree with you Barbara!
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