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The Grounds
With 87 acres, the Ford House grounds, gardens and lakeside landscapes offer you ample space to run, explore and bask in the natural beauty.
Tiptoe through the blooms on Flower Lane, get lost in the heavenly scent of the Rose Garden, enjoy the tranquility of Bird Island, and watch the sailboats and freighters float by on Lake St. Clair.
Landscape Design
The Fords’ vision for the land around their estate included wide-open and intimate outdoor spaces, special places for sports, relaxation, nature, and gatherings. They enlisted Jens Jensen, one of America’s foremost landscape designers and conservationists, to design the grounds here at Gaukler Pointe between 1926 and 1932.
Known as the master of the naturalistic approach to landscaping, Jensen’s design style combines woodlands, meadows, and wetlands in a natural design, giving no hint that it was designed intentionally. If you look closely you can see how Jensen used native plants, the sense of vast open space, the play of light and shadow, and the element of time and season’s change here.
Take a walk along the grounds and observe how Jensen’s approach to landscape architecture engages all five human senses- the sight of many colors and shapes, the sound of water running, the smell of flowers in bloom, the taste of berries, and the feeling of being surrounded by nature.
In 2016, Ford House was honored as a National Historic Landmark, in recognition of the design work of Jensen, in collaboration with the vision of Edsel and Eleanor Ford and architect Albert Kahn.
Explore the Grounds
A Ford House grounds pass lets wander, wonder and explore to your heart’s content. Join us for a day and get away.
Highlights of The Grounds
Gazing from the House to the Gate Lodge, you might never guess the Meadow is one of the most carefully considered aspects of landscape architect’s Jens Jensen’s plan. Jensen’s design creates limitless space with its incorporation of plantings that draw your eye, and makes the land seem to continue far beyond its actual boundary.
The Meadow runs east to west and beautifully captures the setting sun in its grassy slope, punctuated by the shadows of bordering trees, bright daffodils and wildflowers.
Parallel to the north shoreline you will find a protected inlet with a peninsula of land running parallel to the water’s edge. This is “Bird Island”, an island Jensen created from a sandbar in Lake St. Clair. Years ago, Bird Island offered a protective cove for Edsel’s numerous boats. Now it offers protection to migrating birds. Jensen planted the peninsula with seed-bearing herbaceous shrubs, which were left to mature naturally, to attract the songbirds that Edsel and Eleanor delighted in watching. Today, Bird Island is an ideal place to look for wildflowers and many species of birds.
The Lagoon was originally open to Lake St. Clair and was used by the Ford family for a boat landing. For privacy and security it was closed, and now serves as a storm water catch basin.
The shape of the swimming pool, located in the middle of two birch groves, was meant to resemble a natural, free-form, spring-fed pool you might see in Michigan’s northern woods. Ford House is currently restoring and repairing the pool and the surrounding landscape. When you visit, you may notice construction fence around this area while we work.
The Fords loved the water, including boating and birdwatching. They located their home here, on Gaukler Point, to take full advantage of the view of Lake St. Clair.
Flower Lane was designed by Jensen to display cultivated perennial flowers in a natural setting bordered by overhanging, flowering trees. The flowers, shrubs, and trees are shaped in irregular clusters along the lane.
When you walk along Flower Lane, you will see the way the sunlight casts shadows along the flowers and ground cover. Eleanor and Edsel chose specific varieties of flowers and shrubs in soft colors most commonly found in a natural setting.
The Formal Garden was redesigned in 1939, after Jensen retired, by his son-in-law and assistant, Marshall Johnson. You may notice that it is quite different than the naturalistic landscape work created by Jensen. This garden has straight lines and sheared yew hedges. Stroll around the reflection pool in the center and observe how it mirrors the surrounding trees.
Jensen designed the Rose Garden at the request of Eleanor Ford. Rose Gardens were very popular during the Golden Age of American gardening between 1880 and 1940, but not typical of Jensen’s designs because they required hours of maintenance a more formal structure. Here you will find hundreds of roses in various pastel shades. The corners are planted with blue lilacs, which Jensen often used.
Special Thanks
Ford House is grateful for the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund and helping us fulfill our educational mission and making Ford House more accessible to our community.
About Ford House
Ford House is a 501c3 nonprofit and National Historic Landmark. Experience the historic family home of Edsel Ford, the only son of Henry Ford, and his wife, Eleanor. Visitors from all over the world come to wander, wonder, and explore the beauty of this 1928 National Historic Landmark and uncover a unique piece of the American automotive story in metro Detroit. Learn more below.