Henry Ford retreat

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Been on the trail of this for years, finally found it. Not think I found it, for sure. Not much remains but I found a few foundation pieces and found a couple of relics which I'll post later.
Nothing so far that can be tied directly to HF, and the odds of that are slim. Ford had a number of retreats in MI, cabins and bungalows, mostly in wooded areas, until his mansion was complete around 1915, then getaway spots like this were used less and less ,,, This one was used regularly only for a few years from around 1912 to 1916 [celebrated his 50th there], was maintained until his death, and it didn't survive long after, say early 1950's. Had some notable guests [guestbook from this location and most others have survived] including of course Edison, Firestone and other noted industrialists whom he was good friends with.

Was totally in the wooded boonies when it was built and probably in the 50's, now the location is surrounded by suburbia but this little patch of woods has always been and will always remain wooded and undisturbed - HF himself decreed that this would be so, and FMC until this very day are sticklers following his orders. Many square miles in this area and including it and his mansion grounds are a nature preserve. Much of the area is good and flat, easy to detect by most standards of woods detecting. Lots of leaves and fallen trees about the only obstructions, the little bit of detecting I have done so far yielded very few signals, which is good, was worried the area might be trashed with junk targets. Am trying to define the perimeter, am pretty sure the large chunk of concrete was a foundation for the front porch, and have found other foundation chunks about in line with it. Anything metal that was dropped and lost will almost certainly still be there, am really doubting if anyone has trekked back there before. Even in the 1970's, very few people knew this ever existed, and fewer now.

I know image hosting links are discouraged here, so click or not.
reason I used it this time was my pics would have been sideways, imgur spins them the right way automatically. Also I added brief descriptions for each pic, probably could have done that here as well. Am hoping the link will show up as pics you can see here like reddit, if not and if you don't want to click, guess you'll have to use your imagination.
Not much to see but old bricks and trees, feels nice to walk in the footsteps of history in a personal way like this.

https://imgur.com/a/SRIGPTb
 

Kantuckkeean

Bronze Member
Apr 30, 2009
1,608
1,879
Cornfield, IN
Detector(s) used
F-22, cheapo pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Congrats! Sounds like fun hunting.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck
 

1637

Bronze Member
May 26, 2011
1,766
2,407
tujunga ca
Detector(s) used
xlt mxt gmz and now a gmt whites
good luck,keep us posted.is it close to your home?
brad
 

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Xraywolf

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Yep, just a 20 minute drive. So far all I found is part of a toy metal gun [would like to think it was Edsel's, but he would have been in his late teens at this point, so probably not], did mostly recon today and only detected half an hour or so. Glad I don't have to deal with poisonous snakes and bears like some of you woodsman ,, Mosquitoes are enough to chase me off so I want to wrap it up before they are swarming the area. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I am going to bring a rake and get a better look at that runoff pit, and some more detecting of course. Also hoping to uncover some more foundation indications, whole area is thick with leafs.
 

OP
OP
Xraywolf

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
Detector(s) used
Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Stopped by the historical society building, guy there is the one who gave me the final lead on the retreat, quite an eyefull down in the basement
 

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