Mrs. Cohen’s Millinery Shop, Greenfield Village, Dearborn
On December 17, 1903, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio made the first successful manned airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
A scene that may have greeted the Wright Brothers following their December 17, 1903 flight
Orville and Wilbur Wright built their flying machine in their Ohio bicycle shop; Henry Ford relocated the structure and the Wright family home from Dayton to Greenfield Village, the outdoor neighborhood of famous places at The Henry Ford indoor/outdoor museum complex in Dearborn.
The Wright home is decorated for Christmas as it would have been in the month of their historic flight. It’s one of the many historic buildings decorated for the season as a part of the festive, annual Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village.
On select evenings through December 27 the Village is filled with the sounds of live, period music; the aromas of baked goods, cider and roasted chestnuts, and traditional Christmas decor.
There’s ice skating at an outdoor rink, a holiday sing-along, Model T rides and more. The family friendly evenings begin at 6:30 p.m. and close with a fireworks show at 10 p.m.
The home of the Wright Brothers at Greenfield Village
We’ve attended a couple of times and it’s understandable why many of the Holiday Nights are sold out; as of now tickets remain for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 18-20 and Wednesday-Thursday, December 26-27.
Admission is $20 and $15 for ages 5-12; member tickets are $17, $12.75 for youth.
Greenfield Village closes for the season following Holiday Nights, and reopens in April. The indoor Henry Ford Museum is open year ’round.
The Christmas tree in the farmhouse where a young Henry Ford grew up
