Joslyn Castle to Detroit, Wednesday, October 9, 2019

We awake today to clear skies and temperatures in the upper 50’s - boding for a great day. Our group meets in the lobby breakfast room for coffee, scrambled eggs, toast, pastries, juices and other goodies. All were well satisfied with the breaking of the fast. Most slept well, although one claimed to have fallen from a great height out of bed! (No witnesses, but she is a credible person!)

We mount our coach at 9:30 for our drive north to Bloomfield Hills and our day’s visit to Cranbrook Art Academy. This 300-acre campus includes elementary, middle and high schools currently enrolling approximately 1,600 students. In addition it enrolls college graduates in its world famous arts disciplines, leading to post-graduate degrees in painting, metal-smithing, fabrics, ceramics, woodworking and architecture. The Cranbrook Institute of Science features exhibitions, planetarium, observatory and native plant garden.

There are also the Cranbrook Art Museum, Christ Church and historic houses and gardens. Easily a multi-day destination which we are going to skim in a mere 8 hours. Cranbrook is the creation of Elaine and George Booth. The Booths were the scions of the Detroit Free Press paper and the Booth Newspaper chain. They were fabulously wealthy and very intent on giving back to their community. They purchased the original 175 acres as a retreat from the city for their family and enlisted architect Alfred Kahn to create the Cranbrook Booth home. Soon they decided to add some schools and asked Kahn to design more structures. Kahn demurred as he was busy designing factories for Henry Ford so he recommended Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect who was lecturing at Michigan University. Saarinen accepted, moved to the property and began designing, teaching and building. Thus begun one of the great partnerships in art history. Saarinen, together with his wife, Textile Artist Kjola Saarinen began teaching and training. They created a campus of buildings, museums and workshops unmatched in the U.S. We started with a stroll from the peristyle of the Museum building, through the gardens and eventually to the Saarinen House, which he created to serve as the home of he and his wife and, as he served as the President of Cranbrook Academy until his death in 1950, the home also served as the home of the president. You might recall that Eliel and Kiola’s son Aero Saarinen was himself a famous architect, designing the St. Louis Arch and the TWA terminal at LaGuardia airport among other commissions.

Following Saarinen House, we traveled further to the Booth Cranbrook House and Garden. This original home of the Booth family is modeled on a Cotswold Tudor style home. Booth ancestors were from England, and originally from a small village called Cranbrook, which means field of the crane. Hence the name of the estate. Our group toured the house and then sat down in the huge dining area (formerly the library) for an afternoon “high tea” of sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, jam and petit-four desert treats. Following lunch we strolled the gardens of the home and took a quick look at the gift shop (underwhelming.)

We then headed to the Inn on Ferry Street and back to our rooms for a slight rest before reconvening in the lounge for a cocktail and then onto the bus for a drive to our evening restaurant, Rock City Eatery, only a short drive away. We were joined at dinner by our son and daughterin-law, Jake and Audrey Covert, who live in the Detroit suburb of Pleasant Ridge. We enjoyed our hamburgers, mac & cheese, salads and other typical pub fair. Plus conversation and review of the days sites and activities. We were back in our beds, safely tucked in by 10:00, preparing for our final day tomorrow.