A historian’s guide to living history in and around Detroit
You’ve studied Michigan history, but why not live it? Check out one historian’s guide to the best ways to bring history to life in Metro Detroit.
While I was studying at the University of Michigan, my major was Political Science. But whenever the chance presented itself to take an elective in the history department, I seized it. This should probably have clued me in to the fact that my future studies—and future profession—would involve history. Only a few years after college, I went back to grad school to become a historian.
I was fascinated, as any budding historian would be, by everything I was reading. The only issue was, I wanted to actually see, feel, and even taste some of what I was studying. Imagine my delight when I learned that even if I couldn’t travel through time, I could come awfully close, thanks to the many living history attractions in and around Detroit!
Background on living history
What’s living history, you may ask? For the unfamiliar, living history attractions are museums, events, and cultural attractions that allow visitors to physically experience aspects of a historical time period. If you’ve ever seen costumed performers act out a historic battle or visited a museum where you can try your hand at historic crafting techniques, you’ve experienced living history in person, and there’s more to enjoy where that came from. The Greater Detroit area is home to a wide variety of living history events and attractions, which span centuries of knowledge and can take you on a time-traveling journey.
So, what are you waiting for? Check out these Detroit area living history attractions, and get ready for a trip to the past.
Barony of Roaring Wastes
Location: No fixed location
This may not sound like any place you’ve ever heard of, but there’s a reason for that. The Barony of Roaring Wastes is the Metro Detroit branch of the international Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). This living history organization is made up of dedicated members who keep historical crafts, fighting, clothing, and even cuisine alive, while making every effort to be as true to history as possible, particularly with respect to Europe in the Middle Ages. This goes well beyond the fantasy-influenced fun of a Renaissance festival; SCA members research history extensively to recreate the past as well as they can.
Events held by the Barony of Roaring Wastes might include a series of combat trials using medieval tourney weapons, a sewing circle to make historical clothing, or a feast recreating centuries-old recipes. Best of all, they’re always hosting events and looking to welcome new members, so if you’ve always wanted to be a knight, a lady-in-waiting, or anything in between, check them out!
Detroit Historical Museum
Location: 5401 Woodward Ave, Detroit
One of the best-known historic attractions in Detroit, the Detroit Historical Museum, operated by the Detroit Historical Society, is the place to be when it comes to Motor City history. While they have a wide array of traditional museum exhibitions, including permanent exhibits, limited displays, and regular events, a major highlight is the Streets of Old Detroit, which takes you through 70 years of Detroit history, from the 1840s to the early 1900s, through recreated streets, complete with shops visitors can step into. Be sure to stop into the firehouse of the 1870s, and pop by Kresge’s 5 and 10 Cent Store from the 1900s, where costumed reenactors will help you pick out a cold bottle of Mr. Vernor’s ginger ale, or whatever other products you-in-1900-something might have needed!
Dossin Great Lakes Museum
Location: 100 Strand Drive, Belle Isle, Detroit
Alongside the Detroit Historical Museum, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle is a fantastic place to learn about Great Lakes history—and get a close-up sense of some of it. While there are no costumed reenactors at Dossin, visitors to the museum can get a sense of what it was like to sail aboard some of the Great Lakes’ most famous ships by actually walking through parts of them.
You’ll enter through the Gothic Room, the reconstructed gentleman’s lounge of the Great Lakes cruise ship City of Detroit III, which was removed from the early-twentieth-century vessel before it was scrapped in the 1950s. Once inside, you can step aboard an authentic, historic Great Lakes freighter at the William Clay Ford Pilot House, enjoying the view of the Detroit River as you imagine your life as a captain!
Greenfield Village
Location: 20900 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn
Possibly the most extensive and most famous living history attraction in the Detroit metro area, Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford is technically an open-air history museum, but visiting can feel more like stepping into a living, breathing, historic town—albeit one that’s made up of multiple eras. With seven different districts, you can see some of the most remarkable moments in American history up close.
Upon arrival, there’s no shortage of things to see and do, whatever aspects of Michigan history interest you: Visit Thomas Edison’s glasshouse; tour an early Ford motor plant and take a ride on a restored Model T; see craftsmen at work blowing glass, keeping America’s oldest Jacquard loom spinning textiles, and operating a working farm with crops and livestock. You can even chow down on historically inspired recipes at the Taste of History restaurant!
Michigan’s Military Heritage Museum’s Living History Day
Location: 311 N Wisner St, Jackson
While this museum is a great place to learn about history any time you like, once a year, Michigan’s Military Heritage Museum hosts its living history day, Jackson Military History, and it’s not an event to be missed. Most recently, in June 2025, the annual, family-friendly, free event featured displays from different time periods, including reenactors, interviews with veterans, a genealogy program, and, if you were feeling peckish, a full WW1 mobile kitchen rolling through the event, preparing food for visitors. Thankfully, the food was probably much more appetizing than military rations in the 1910s would have been!
History events at Historic Fort Wayne
Location: 6325 West Jefferson, Detroit
While Historic Fort Wayne is regularly open to the public, this former fortress—the third of three built on the spot from the 1700s to the 1840s—is also home to periodic living history events. Highlights in the past have included Civil War Days, with costumed reenactors recreating life during the summer of 1864 at the fort, vintage base ball games (played by early 20th-century rules and in historically accurate uniforms—and yes, it is base ball, two words), and a nineteenth-century-style Christmas event. Whatever the season or the historical era, there’ll be something going on here!
Underground Railroad Living Museum
Location: 33 East Forest Avenue, Detroit
For a unique take on an important part of American history, check out the Underground Railroad Living Museum, located inside the historic First Congregational Church of Detroit. Part museum, part storytelling experience, and part guided tour, this tour must be booked in advance. Guests will be guided through recreations of being captured and enslaved, starting off with an escape, crossing a river and taking shelter in a safe house run by an abolitionist, and finally reaching the last safe haven before crossing to freedom over the Canadian border. The First Congregational Church of Detroit really did serve as a safe house on the Underground Railroad in the nineteenth century, so this tour is both accurate and riveting.
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