Camp Dearborn
Camp Dearborn in Milford Michigan is one of the two campgrounds recommended by The Henry Ford. The other is a KOA campground. We have nothing against KOA, but when we have an option we like to explore other types of parks as well.
Park History
The camp was established in 1948 in Milford, the home town of Henry Ford. Camp Dearborn is owned and operated by the city of Dearborn and is about 35 miles northeast of that city.
The park itself is really big. As we drove around looking for the dump/water station, we saw at least three ponds. I think they are called lakes, but they aren’t really very large so I have a hard time calling them lakes. They seem to be between about 10 and 30 acres.
Two of the - well, ok, lakes - didn’t look like they were intended for human use. Now that I think about it, the website does mention fishing lakes so that’s probably what those were.
The water body closest to our camp site had a beach and we saw people splashing around in the water.
A Closer Look
OK, stop, back up. I just looked at a map of the park so I could describe it better. Holy smokes, we only saw a tiny corner! There are five lakes, two ponds, and a pool. There is a 27-hole golf course. Well, I guess it’s three 9-hole courses all twisted together. And, I think there is mini golf too.
The overall park is 626 acres. In addition to 191 camp sites, they have rustic cabins and resort cabins (which back up to one of those lakes). There are picnic areas that accommodate 300 to 5,000 people. Five thousand! Oh, what a party we could throw! A launch site provides kayak and canoe access to Huron River. A zip line spans one of the lakes.
OK, I’ll admit, if I was zip lining that distance I would probably decide it was large enough to be called a lake!
Always so much to see
We camped in the area because we wanted to visit The Henry Ford. Tony has waited a lot of years for this visit. And it certainly did not disappoint. However, if we hadn’t spent each of our days at The Henry Ford, I now see that we could have found a lot more to do at Camp Dearborn.
Full hookup sites are available, but we didn’t feel the need for that so we chose a 20-amp site. I’m pretty sure those are actually tent sites. We don’t mind, and our Rockwood Mini Lite 2205s is small enough to fit on a pad made for a tent. The reason we think this, is that between the road and the RV pad, is all grass. Plus there is a tree right in line with the parking spot! It was really strange but Tony is great at backing up so he got the Mini Lite in place quite easily.
The part of the campground that we were in was not very full. In the whole loop there were only three of us. One, oddly, was directly behind us. They got a bit noisy on our second night, but we turned on the fan and fell asleep. When we woke, they were already gone. The full hookup area was much more occupied.
We filled our fresh water when we arrived, and when we were leaving we dumped our tanks and topped off our fresh water. We met a lovely 80-year-young woman traveling in her GeoPro. We got to compare Rockwood notes.
The Henry Ford
As I mentioned, we were in the area to explore The Henry Ford. One day we spent inside the Museum of American Innovation. The next day we wandered Greenfield Village. The village isn’t open every day and we really got lucky weather-wise. On the day we were indoors there was a weather warning and they shuffled everyone into a safe hallway. On our village day the weather was gorgeous.
Indoors, we wandered through countless planes, trains, and automobiles as well as toys, tractors, and furniture. In the village, we saw Henry’s childhood home, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, and the Wright brothers’ cycle shop. Mr. Ford had so many buildings brought to the village to preserve them, and to preserve American history. Docents are available in many of the buildings, to explain the history and way of life of the homes’ residents. Other buildings are self-guided with lots of posters and photos.
A third day at the Henry Ford would not have been unreasonable. We missed parts of both the museum and the village, because there just wasn’t time to see it all. We did get to ride in a Model T, though!
Henry Ford was an avid collector of relics and artifacts that he felt represented technological advancement and a real history of American citizens. The museum building, although it appears to be a converted Model T manufacturing plant, was actually built to house Ford’s huge collection of artifacts. The Henry Ford’s mission is to provide a unique, authentic experience and inspire people to learn from America’s innovative traditions.
Planning a return
Camp Dearborn provides several options for overnighting, and plenty of picnic area and activity to keep visitors busy. When we are ready to see more of Dearborn and The Henry Ford, we will definitely stay again. And hopefully play mini golf.
