I have visited the Fair Lane Estate multiple times the past few years. While walking through the woodsy area of the Rouge Gateway Trail, if one stays on the Trail, then veers left, there is easy access to view and/or stroll Fair Lane’s extensive grounds. Ongoing renovations to the entire Estate began in 2014, but inside renovations were curtailed in 2020 due to the pandemic and have resumed with no stated date for completion.
Last Monday’s post focused on the grounds of the Estate, including the Manor; the Fords moved into their home in 1915 and lived there until their respective deaths in 1947 (Henry) and 1950 (Clara). You can click here if you missed that post.
Clara Ford loved flowers and the 17 acres of gardens which are part of the Ford Estate would be the envy of any gardener, both back in its heyday and even now. There are many perennial and wildflower gardens, plus a courtyard filled with roses … thousands of roses. In its heyday, Clara could stand at the copper-roofed Tea House and gaze upon 10,000 different rose bushes, some 350 rose varieties, which lined up along the perimeter of the courtyard and surround the courtyard’s fountain.
Although the many birdhouses at the Estate are long gone, at one time there were 500 large and rather ornate birdhouses placed around the grounds, on tall poles or hung from trees. That was Henry Ford’s doing, as he was an ornithophile (bird lover) and enjoyed watching his feathered friends.
The facts and figures about the gardens and birdhouse tell you why a contingent of 26 full-time gardeners were needed to maintain the property.
This post is going to focus on the passions of the Fords … Clara’s flowers and Henry’s birds. I visited the Persian Lilac walkway in May 2021 [click here if you missed that post] and returned mid-Summer 2021 to see the roses in bloom. They were exquisite. I am sure you will agree. I’ll bet they were even more beautiful during the 30 years the couple resided at Fair Lane Estate.
“Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.” ~Walter Hagen
The original garden featured tea roses, roses with a single bud, often prone to disease, but later all the roses were replaced with sturdier and disease-resistant shrub roses. Well I can identify with this swapping of roses as I did the same thing. My original rose gardens similarly were tea roses, but waiting forever for one bloom, then a rain or windstorm might scatter the petals was frustrating, so I replaced my original rose bushes with hardy Home Run Shrub Roses a few years later.
So come along through this wooden gate and take a look at Clara Ford’s rose garden. I wish I could create a panoramic view of the garden, but had to do various shots instead.
In 1930, Clara and Henry Ford visited England where they toured an old estate and admired the iron gate. Clara asked Henry if he thought the estate would sell it to them for her garden. Henry said he doubted they would part with it, so Clara forgot about the gate. Two weeks later when they returned from their trip abroad, Clara went out to check her gardens and discovered the same iron gate separating the perennial garden from her rose garden.
I found a few vintage photos and want to include them in this post. Unlike the photos that are featured around the Estate which were okay to photograph, I’m not about to tread on anyone’s toes regarding copyright issues, so I’ll include the links to three vintage photos from the Henry Ford Organization digital archives,in this post.
The Tea House is located at the other end of the rose garden.
The life-sized bronze sculpture of Clara and Henry Ford was installed near the Tea House in 2018. The sculpture, which took 25 people and 18 months to complete was created by world-renowned Brooklyn-based StudioEIS and gifted to the Estate by Lynn Ford Alandt, the great-granddaughter of Henry and Clara. The life-sized bronze likenesses feature the couple with the Power House in the background. Henry Ford, at 5 feet 10 inches tall with a top hat in his right hand, rests his left hand on Clara’s lower back as she sits in her garden hat gazing toward her rose garden.
Clara was an avid gardener, so there were several gardens on the Estate,the most famous being the rose garden and English-style gardens, but back in the day her peony and rock gardens were also renowned as you see in these vintage pictures which I photographed at the Estate.
Henry Ford loved nature and wildlife.
Henry Ford, a brilliant inventor, had a soft spot in his heart for wildlife, which he said began when the four-year-old Henry watched, alongside his brother, as their parents pointed out a Sparrow’s nest containing four eggs in a fallen tree. This event fostered Henry’s life-long fascination with birds. Henry hired an artist to document many scenes revolving around his workshops, inventions and life at Fair Lane, so Henry commissioned this artist, Irvin Bacon, to recreate that fond scene in a painting for him.
Fair Lane had over 500 birdhouses and an equal number of bird baths which were heated in the cold weather for his fine-feathered friends. Henry’s love of birds extended way past the grounds of Fair Lane as he used his influence to ensure passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918, the first national legislation geared to protect migrating birds and prohibit poaching.
Also, in looking through the Henry Ford Organization digital archives, I discovered this photo of Henry with a telescope enjoying the many birds that lived on the Estate. Click here to view that photo.
Below is a quote about Henry’s vast collection of birds:
“About ten years ago we imported a great number of birds from abroad – yellow-hammers, chaffinches, green finches, red pales, twits, bullfinches, jays, linnets, larks – some five hundred of them. They stayed around for a while, but where they are now I do not know. I shall not import any more. Birds are entitled to live where they want to live.” – Henry Ford
After I published the first post last Monday, several of you asked if I saw any birds around the Estate and were surprised to learn I did not. I only saw bees and butterflies enjoying the many flowers. I didn’t see any of the birdhouses or birdbaths and I wonder if they will once again fill the grounds once the renovations are complete? Perhaps I’ll poke around and see if I can get an answer to that question. Currently, you must be a member/donor at this organization to learn the status of the ongoing renovations.
In visiting Fair Lane Estate and its grounds, plus wading through significant online history to complete these posts, I think that Fair Lane was more than simply another jewel acquired by the Fords. Can you really call a 56-room mansion and extensive grounds a “home” in the sense that you and I define a home? Well, perhaps on a much-grander scale, but I like that the Fords not only enjoyed the opulence of their home in a manner befitting an automobile magnate and his wife, but they also used Fair Lane to fuel their respective passions: Henry for his brilliant ideas and forward thinking more than a century ago and, because the Fords enjoyed nature, Henry had his birds and Clara had her flowers – most of all they had each other, a beautiful love story that lasted until Henry’s passing in 1947.
Fair Lane Estate in Dearborn, Michigan was the home of Henry and Clara Ford from 1915 until Clara’s death in 1950; (Henry died three years earlier). This extensive venue is also referred to as the Clara and Henry Ford Estate and is one of the first historic sites to be designated a National Historic Landmark.
Henry and Clara Ford built this 31,000-square-foot mansion as their dream home and it takes center stage in this 1,300- acre estate which overlooks the Rouge River. This is a popular tourist attraction, with its enviable gardens and interesting architecture and was the final home of the pioneer of Ford Motor Company, whom, as you likely already know, was one of the creators of the automobile. The entire Estate in its heyday consisted of a working farm, pony barn, private garage/laboratory, greenhouse/potting shed, hydro-electric powerhouse/dam and staff cottages. A huge staff was needed to maintain the grounds i.e. the many stone walkways, rose, wildflower and perennial gardens, in addition to the English country manor-style mansion with its indoor pool, skating house and bowling alley. Amazingly, there were 26 gardeners attending to the various gardens and walkways.
I’ve visited this venue in three seasons.
From 2019 to 2021 I visited the Estate multiple times in different seasons and amassed a lot of photos. I discarded those photos taken in the Summer of 2019, because Fair Lane, which has been undergoing extensive interior and exterior restoration efforts since 2014, had scaffolding surrounding the mansion which detracted from the architecture. So, I returned in the Spring of 2020 when the outside mansion restoration was compete and took almost-identical shots, just minus that ugly scaffolding. One day I will return to visit the interior, but the renovations, done in phases, are as yet incomplete, partly because of COVID. I have been dragging my heels on getting these Fair Lane posts done as I wanted to include some historical info along with the photos, all which took time, but I figured the posts are evergreen.
A little backstory about the Ford Estate.
It seems incredible that I never knew this place existed until a few years ago – no big deal right? Except that I passed Fair Lane twice a day as I drove along Evergreen Road going to and from Henry Ford Community College. I will even sheepishly admit that for two years I was on the staff of my alma mater’s college newspaper, The Ford Estate. Query: did I not once wonder about the origin of the newspaper’s name which moniker was chosen for the nearby Ford Estate? Hmm.
Yes, the Estate grounds were next to HFCC, but tucked away from Evergreen Road where I blitzed by in my Biscay Blue VW Super Beetle five days a week. I guess I was not too mindful of my surroundings, or had other things going on. I was carrying a full load of classes, working at the diner part-time during the school year, full-time in Summer and on all school breaks. I was not only on the staff of the newspaper, but also an active member of HFCC Student Government. I wouldn’t want to try that juggling act now, but in those days, youthful stamina and lots of coffee got ‘er done.
Flash forward some 40 plus years later …
In 2019 I participated in the Mutt Strut, a 5K walk/run to raise money for a local animal shelter. The event route went along the Rouge River Gateway Trail and past the Henry and Clara Ford Estate. It was a gorgeous May day and the turnaround point was near the entrance to Fair Lane.
While passing the many flowering apple trees on the grounds, finally it clicked … the venue and the college newspaper’s name. Anyway, I liked that route and made a mental note to return to explore the Estate, which I did on a sunny Saturday afternoon in 2019. Before my return, I researched the venue online and knew there were renovations going on. This time I did not hike over to the Estate, but drove to Fair Lane and parked in an adjacent parking lot. I chitchatted for a half-hour with the guard before entering the grounds. She explained the extensive renovation to the Fords’ home prohibited interior access, but visitors were free to roam around the grounds. The interior renovation of Fair Lane is ongoing to this day and, when completed, will recreate artwork, window treatments, wooden floors and floor coverings in painstaking detail, all to ensure the 56-room Manor will one day look identical to when it was occupied by Clara and Henry Ford.
So, with all that history under my belt, I thanked her and prepared to explore. She called out to me “one more thing before you go dear – please be sure to return in the Spring when Clara’s lilac garden is in bloom – the smell and beauty will blow you away!” I thanked her and off I went to explore the grounds of Henry and Clara Fords’ Estate.
The first stop was Fair Lane Manor.
The Fords’ home took two years to build (1913 to 1915) and was the 15th and final residence of Henry and Clara. It was designed in part by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is made of neighboring Ohio’s Marblehead Quarry limestone and concrete. This massive undertaking began after the success of Ford’s Model T. I’ll focus on photos of the house, but there are adjoining buildings where Henry Ford had a laboratory and a retreat area where he discussed his ideas with fellow inventor/pal Thomas Edison. Edison was instrumental in designing the power plant in 1914, which harnessed power from the River and directed it to the home, laboratory and Clara’s greenhouse/potting shed.
Below are the back of the Manor and two shots of the power plant/garage.
Here is how it looked back in the day.
Tootling along the Rouge River.
The Estate is built on the Rouge River. The rear of the home faces the River and that residence, along with the current 17 acres of gardens and grounds are located high above this River which is prone to flooding.
Below you will see the churning Rouge River …
… and these old photos show how that power was harnessed for use in the power plant.
One can have a peaceful stroll along the Rouge River on some of the stone walkways and there were stone steps as well – you had to have good footing as the steps were steep and uneven and that flagstone path was a bit slippery. The Redbud trees were in bloom and it was a very picturesque sight.
You can see the steps and stones were a bit precarious for walking. Below you can read how Clara Ford had the horizontal stones placed to form Alpine gardens.
Here are more photos around the exterior of Fair Lane Manor.
I stopped at Clara’s Greenhouse and Potting Shed.
I could tell there will be a lot more refurbishing done to the greenhouse area. The trails that lead to the gardens near the greenhouse were fenced off with signs that read “no entry” – oh well, as mentioned above, I’ll return when the restoration is 100% completed .
The potting shed (right) was quaint looking and was more like a small house. I peered inside where a slicker hung on a hall tree and there were high boots and a collection of garden utensils, gloves and potting soil.
There were plants lined up along the walkway awaiting one of the many gardeners still on staff.
Clara Ford loved her gardens and in these vintage photos, you can see all the planning that went into them with master gardeners and renowned landscape designers.
At the guard’s suggestion, I did return to see Clara Ford’s Lilac Gardens and my next post, for Wordless Wednesday, will focus on her Persian Lilacs. Unfortunately, as you see below, some of the Lilacs were lost or pruned back due to disease.
Next Monday’s post, will feature a section of the Estate known as the Formal Rose Garden where Clara Ford could gaze upon her 10,000-plant rose garden. Now you know why there were 26 full-time gardeners on staff!
In a perfect world, the photo shoot for my Easter blog post would find me, Your Roving Reporter, tripping down the perimeter path, clutching onto a brightly colored, beribboned wicker basket and doling out treats to my furry and feathered friends along the way. It would be a picture-perfect morning, the sun high in the sky and a gentle breeze. The birds, all atwitter in the budding trees, would be awaiting seeds and peanuts, while an abundance of squirrels would be scampering over to gather near my feet, or under the Safe Haven Tree, to discover what Easter delights I had for them. Aah – it would be a scene reminiscent of Snow White and I’d return home with a treasure trove of shots to spin into a fun Easter post.
Alas, it is NOT a perfect world and Mother Nature repeatedly messed with me by intruding into my planned idyllic setting and weekend photo-taking project, so instead, I was forced to execute a Plan B i.e. a quick-n-dirty plop of naked-looking nuts onto a muddy surface beneath a still-bare Weeping Mulberry tree. Instead of any fanfare, I’d just take a few photos at the house and be done with it.
It was on one such gray and gloomy morn when I stood in the kitchen, having dumped a two-pound bag of walnuts into a rather blah-looking wicker basket. I took a photo, but instantly knew the brown walnuts, sitting in a brown basket wasn’t very photogenic.
I should have planned better I guess if I would be foregoing the annual whimsical Easter Day blog post. Truthfully, the squirrels wouldn’t give a whit about presentation – they’d bury or gobble up those walnuts and perhaps, if I was lucky, I’d come away with a half-dozen shots of them investigating the booty in the basket, or holding a walnut between their front paws. I mused that Parker likely would moan and groan about not seeing any peanuts and begin nosing around my feet, begging for a treat that better suited his fancy. I conceded that in the past when I decorated the Nutter Butter cookies to look like Easter eggs, they were a hit and I got some cute shots, even if I nearly lost the tip of my finger, after stabbing it with the scissors while wrangling the icing tube lid.
Perhaps a little decoration would add some pizzazz to the at-home shot, so I ran downstairs to my holiday supplies cabinet and returned a moment later. Well, that was a wee bit better. I took another photo.
Close encounters of the Easter Bunny kind.
As I stood there, lost in thought, suddenly I felt a presence behind me, hot breath stirring a tendril of hair that had escaped my messy bun. I whirled around and there he was, towering way above me, the tips of his furry ears grazing the kitchen ceiling. I was gobsmacked to have a face-to-face encounter with the Easter Bunny! “Quick Linda – take his picture!” I told myself.
In this moment of madness, I forgot my manners. After all, what does one say or do when confronted by the Easter Bunny? What I mean is, um … is there a protocol for such a meeting? Do I shake his hand, er … paw? How do I address him?
Confounded by the encounter, I admit all I did was stare at this imposing figure, clad only in a bright-yellow vest adorned with Easter eggs, his face seemingly a permanent expression of merriment. I heard a low chuckle, so whew – Mr. Bunny was merely amused and not insulted by my open mouth and dazed expression in that momentary lapse of good manners. I quickly righted that faux pas, regained my composure and hurriedly extended my hand and stammered “whoa – you startled me, but good morning Mr. Bunny – pleased to meet you.”
He responded in kind, offered his paw and uttered “great to see you again Linda” then added “please … I don’t go for all that formality calling me Mr. Bunny. I just go by “E” these days and that would be “E” for “Eggstra Special” – know what I mean jellybean?”
I nodded my head and decided I was not going to burst this bunny’s bubble and tell him the moniker “E” was usually associated with Elvis. This was not the time, nor place, to be splitting hairs, er … hares over it.
“Okay, well E it is then.”
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here Linda?”
“Why yes, the thought crossed my mind E, so do tell.”
E gestured toward the basket, waving a paw in a dismissive manner and said “Linda, I think you laid an egg with this Easter basket. It’s quite lame looking.”
I said I agreed with him, but as Easter was on the horizon, there was no time to prepare more goodies, so I promised that “next year I will do better!”
E told me he was going to work some magic and suggested I take some pictures as the squirrels’ Easter goodies morphed into something special. This sounded fun so I said “ready when you are E!”
“Watch closely Linda.” I watched the blah basket of walnuts morph into a festive basket of walnuts.
This looks much better doesn’t it?” he asked.
Impressed, I said “wait, what! How’d you do that E?”
“Magic Linda – I have magical powers. I’m here with you in the kitchen, right? You didn’t let me in the house did you? I can be all over the world at one time, delivering Easter goodies to all the children, like Santa. Only for my gig, it’s not like I have a slew of elves helping me. I do it all myself. Just me – E. So, I can do even more with these walnuts if you’d like me to Linda.”
“Um – yes, of course Mr. Bunny, I mean E” I babbled.
“Well, I’m going to wave my hand and use a little magic dust and turn these wrinkled walnuts into pretty Easter eggs and add a festive flair to this basket while I’m at it. I know you are dubious – you may even think this is some hare-brained idea, but ….” A few flourishes of a paw and he stepped back to admire his handiwork, then asked “now what do you think Linda?”
I gushed and told him “great – I love it E! The squirrels will be soooooo delighted, except for Parker as he’ll bug me for some peanuts, regardless of how nice these walnut eggs are.”
“Oh, YOU are not going to be giving this basket of goodies to your little furry friends Linda – that’s MY job and I won’t have it any other way.”
“Oh – okay, got it E.” I’m sure my crestfallen face was evident, so in a timid voice I hinted “boy I wish I could see their faces E.”
“I’ll send you some pictures if you’d like Linda – no worries. I have my own website, including a bunch of photos I scammed from your blog about the City’s Easter Egg Hunt a few years ago and I have an e-mail address, so look for a message from me okay?”
Hmm – interesting. I let that comment about those scammed photos slide, then inquired politely “so, will you be hopping down the bunny trail to give out these magical eggs to my furry friends E?” I could feel a blog post narrative was already bubbling around in my brain.
“Oh no Linda – that’s the OTHER bunny who does the hopping down the trail – Peter Cottontail. Believe me, he’s no Hunny Bunny!” I detected E’s agitation and quickly sought to change the subject, to no avail because before he continued, he shook a paw at me and said“clearly Linda, you have your rabbits reversed. That is Peter Cottontail’s gig and if he catches me, bopping or hopping down the trail, he’ll sue me for infringing on his trademark event. He shows up everywhere I show up, lurking about, checking me out. One Easter, I was feeling pretty spry, forgot myself and started hopping down a path and he caught me. As you can see, he sued the pants off of me. Yep, Ol’ Peter is a lurker. I will give these pretty eggs to your squirrelly friends and take pictures of them from behind a tree. I always have my smartphone on me, tucked into my vest.”
Wow, what a lot of info to mull over. I told E “I will go to another park this morning so I don’t interfere, okay?”
“Good idea and Linda, I’ve left you an Easter treat as well, but I know you’ll wait until after Lent to enjoy it.”
“What treat – where E?” I asked.
He told me to turn around, which I did and found this.
“How did you know I eat dark chocolate E?” I inquired.
He bent down close and one ear flopped sideways giving him an even more comical look and, in a low voice, he said “I know more than you think, so fess up Linda – do you nibble on the ears or the butt of your chocolate rabbit first?”
“The ears first E always!” I replied with a giggle.
“Ouch!!! Linda, you have my heart!” Then poof … he vanished into thin air.
I shook my head as if to clear my brain of cobwebs as I wondered aloud “did I imagine this conversation?” Nope, the basket of walnuts was gone with a chocolate bunny in its stead. I put on my coat and hat and headed out shortly thereafter to clear my head – they were good thoughts, but confusing thoughts nonetheless.
When I was online later, I ventured over to E’s website. It was interesting. (And yes those were my photos from my April 9, 2017 post.)
And then I checked my e-mail – sure enough, as promised, there was a zip file from E.
There were photos of my furry friends posing with their Easter eggs.
E even included a picture of Peter Cottontail lurking in the corner. Whatta guy!!!
This trek to beautiful Elizabeth Park happened on November 6, 2021 and followed a rather meh trot around the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge earlier that morning.
This island park is filled with hundreds of trees, Maples and Oaks mostly. In order to glimpse the peak Fall foliage you might want to make a trip or two during October – the Maples usually turn their vibrant shades of red and orange, followed by the Oaks with their golden hues. However, leaf peeping in 2021 came with an asterisk because, due to an abundance of rain in the Spring, coupled with a hot-and-steamy Summer, many of Michigan’s trees started dropping their leaves in August. I heard and/or read multiple interviews with arborists who confirmed climate change was the culprit. Sigh.
We had several rainy weekends in October, so I decided to just wait until after Halloween to make my foliage-glimpsing visit because the local folks often take their discarded carved pumpkins to Elizabeth Park for the critters to enjoy. In the past, I’ve either watched, or been lucky enough to get a few shots of, squirrels cavorting in these orange orbs, so I was hopeful for a cute photo op. Even without any pumpkin shots, there are always squirrels, geese and ducks a’plenty. This time I was prepared for my fat friend on the Boardwalk and tucked a couple of cookies in my pocket for the always-begging groundhog, but he/she must’ve been tucked away in its burrow.
Because I’m a believer in the adage that every picture tells a story and because I will concede that I am wordy, today, instead of a long post, I’ll let the photos collected on this trek do most of the talkin’.
A vibrant red tree takes center stage – are these glacial erratics in the foreground? Fellow blogger Barbara will know.
Golden leaves which will soon join the others on the ground.
There’s a squirrel prowling around in these leaves – can you find it?
Doing a deep dive for acorns in a pile of leaves is like looking for a needle in a haystack!
This was the only pumpkin at Elizabeth Park and a little worse for the wear.
Humans have knobby knees; hmm … trees have them too?!
“Just struttin’ our stuff.”
“Oh look – a photographer. Smile and say ‘cheese’!”
“How about a nice profile shot Linda?”
“The other people give us corn to take our picture – what do you have for us?”
“Alrighty then, I’ll just poke around in the leaves and grass for food – hope I don’t starve!”
Some people have their ducks in a row … I had my geese goin’ on that day.
“Full speed ahead – showing off my power moves!”
The marina is not emptied out yet; boaters hoped to get more rides down the River.
Strolling the boardwalk on a sunny morn.
Weeds withering away between the shadows of the boardwalk railings.
A mottled Oak leaf grabs onto a crack in the boardwalk.
The long and winding boardwalk comes to an end at the canal.
Female Mallard Duck in a cove area of the canal.
Male Mallard Hydbrid Duek in the cove in the canal.
Ducks in the canal.
The best part of Autumn … the colors, cardigans and cooler weather.
… no raindrops or snowflakes were falling, so happily I set out to glean some steps, amass a ton of photos and simply enjoy myself. It was a perfect Autumn day and I aimed to make the most of it. I knew the beautiful leaves were slightly past their peak and mild weather was on the wane. There was talk of the “s” word and snowflakes a’flyin’ in the coming week.
At the end of that day, worn out from walking at three parks, then working in the yard for four hours, the pedometer registered a little over seven miles, since heading out in the early morning hours of November 6, 2021.
My first stop of the day was the 44-acre Refuge Gateway of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (“DRIWR”) located at the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River in Trenton, Michigan. I follow the DRIWR on social media and they had touted a hiking event from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.; I wasn’t participating in that event, thus I wanted to be early to beat the crowd.
You probably noticed that DRIWR has the word “international” in its official lengthy moniker and this is for a reason: it is North America’s only international wildlife refuge, with the U.S. on one side of the Detroit River and Canada on the other.
This was my fifth trip to this venue since my initial visit in October 2020, shortly after it opened. Even before gas prices were sky high, I usually made a weekend morning out of visiting these three shoreline parks: Lake Erie Metropark, the DRIWR and Elizabeth Park as they are all located within a six-mile area.
Unbelievably this visit to the Refuge would be a totally critter-less trek. How could that be possible? I failed to see a single Ring-billed Seagull, usually a perpetual visitor at any shoreline park. I had hoped to return home packing photos of the abundance of roosting Double-crested Cormorants I spied in the trees across from the fishing pier during the “Walk for the Wild 5K Challenge” on October 9th. Evidently they had flown the coop with just the many nests dotting the trees.
The weatherman said it was 32F/0C with a heavy frost and high humidity. As I dressed I decided another layer or two was in order as I’d be down by the breezy shoreline and likely would be grateful I had bundled up.
As I walked down the hill from the parking lot and past the Prairie Habitat, I noticed the Milkweed pods were either closed up tight or spewing wisps of white fibers which glommed onto the frost-tipped grass and, even in the dim light, on the horizon I saw Humbug Island’s trees were either blah or bare.
In the distance, the sun was slowly filling in the sky casting its rays ever so slightly onto the 700-foot/213-meter-long Korneffel Fishing Pier.
As I peered down that pier that juts out into the western Trenton Channel, just a few fishermen dangled their lines, hopeful for a bite from some of the 113 species of fish in these waters. The Korneffel Pier is able to accommodate 100 persons at a time, so I wondered if the rest of the anglers begged off due to frozen fingers or they had other fish to fry on this frosty morn?
As I stepped onto the Pier, I felt my lug-soled hiking boot sllllllide a little and I went to grab the railing. I had been momentarily blinded by the sun and failed to see this layer of frost on the Pier, which is comprised of metal and a Trex-like material. Suffice it to say, I backed up posthaste – no way was I going to walk that Pier until the tail end of the trek.
So, I hiked back up the hill as the sun was climbing high in the sky. I passed the Visitor Center where I saw the scrawls in the frost, likely the handiwork of the Visitor Center workers.
As I meandered along, I began noting that the heavy frost had left leaves looking like Frosted Flakes cereal and in spots, the grass looked like Mother Nature had sprinkled icing sugar onto it.
I approached the Monguagon Boardwalk which crosses over the Delta. I was hoping to take photos of any Herons or Egrets fishing for breakfast, but I struck out and once again was thwarted by heavy frost that had slickened up that walkway.
Call me a ‘fraidy cat, but I won’t cross the Boardwalk if there’s any wind, because, as you can see, there is no railing and it is a similar material to the Fishing Pier, so I had no intentions of crossing the Boardwalk with this frosty glaze and perhaps slipping and falling into the water.
Finally the sun was up and bright so I got some photos showing the reflections on the water at the Delta. The entrance to the DRIWR and a sizable portion of the Refuge run along West Jefferson Avenue, in the heart of an industrial area, so I am usually careful not to include nearby industrial plants, nor the red and white “Trenton Stacks” which rise from the Trenton Channel Power Plant, in my photos.
I made an exception today due to awesome reflections and to illustrate how industry and nature co-exist here at the DRIWR.
There is some artwork that appears on the fringe of the Monguagon Delta. I scoured the internet to see what this is and who created it to no avail.
This area is the part of DRIWR that hints that industry once was king. The Trenton Refuge Gateway was originally the site of a Chrysler manufacturing facility that was deactivated in 1990 and unbelievably it took two decades to morph from that former industrial site into this natural Refuge. In this photo you see how the picturesque background is marred by the Trenton Stacks mingling with a row of tall trees
The landscape was blah as we had a hard freeze earlier in the week which zapped most of the vegetation, though the occasional wildflowers or colorful weeds had been spared.
Humbug Island was wearing its Autumn colors and some trees were already bare.
At a glance, the ever-present Phragmites resembled shafts of wheat.
Perhaps a jaunt at Humbug Marsh would not be slick and net some photos?
I figured I’d hike over to Humbug Marsh, a pristine 410-acre parcel of land that contains the last mile of natural shoreline along the U.S. mainland portion of the Detroit River. The other 97% of the Detroit River shoreline has been disturbed or otherwise destroyed.
There are several wooden outlooks, one with a pair of high-powered telescopes hidden within a bird blind that resembles a bird’s-nest. Other wildlife observation areas are outfitted with Adirondack chairs, including one near Eagle Point, where, if you’re lucky, you’ll see a pair of nesting Bald Eagles. The remaining outlooks all offer a superb view of Humbug Island, the waterfowl and a total of 300 species of birds that frequent the shoreline, migrate through and/or flit through the forest. Every visit I’ve looked around to find such hidden critters as deer, mink, otter or even an Eastern Fox Snake. I’ve not seen any of these four critters, nor the eagles and I can live without seeing the snake, though I’d like to see it from a few paces away . Within Humbug Marsh is the “Old Growth Forest” so named for its 300-year-old trees, including some very tall and spindly Shagbark Hickory trees. As I approached that area I thought to myself “surely, frost will not be an issue here – I’ll just walk on the Orange and Green Trails in the forest and stay off the elevated walkways which are made of the same material as the Pier and Boardwalk.”
So how did THAT work out Linda?
I passed this new contraption at the entrance to Humbug Marsh which subtly announced to me that the trails might be muddy, so here was something to scrape the mud off your footwear.
Still grimacing a little over the aspect of muddy shoes, I stopped to read this posted sign.
Well, I was disgusted and quickly turned on my heel to leave. While it is already disconcerting to me, a nature lover, to hear the barrage of gunshots from nearby Pointe Mouilee during duck-hunting season, I sure didn’t like reading that waterfowl hunters were right along the shoreline of the Refuge … that didn’t sit well with me at all.
I made another stop at the Pier to check on those Double-crested Cormorants. The early frost was gone, but the walkway was still slick. No worries as there were nests, but I didn’t see any birds.
At least I saw a contrail over the Visitor Center as I headed to the car, after what was a very unremarkable trip here at the Refuge.
I was hopeful for a better i.e. more interesting walk at my next stop, beautiful Elizabeth Park, a venue that never disappoints. That trek will be next Monday’s post.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 