The Caged Graves of Henry and Clara Ford: Dearborn, Michigan

The death of Henry Ford really shook up Detroit back on April 7, 1947.

The whole city seemed to stop as it observed moments of reverent silence. His body was taken to Greenfield Village, where mourners and admirers came to pay their respects...approximately 100,00 of them. The city basically came to a standstill: gas stations closed, buses, streetcars, and motor vehicles all stopped running. Even Ford's auto factories and car sales outlets around the world closed temporarily. It was the largest funeral in the history of Detroit.

Henry and Clara Ford's final resting place is not where you would think it would be: in a secluded grove of trees, surrounded by security and away from the public eye; or maybe in a heavily-locked, guarded, and secured mausoleum on a grassy hill in the rear of an affluent cemetery. Neither is the case, but it's still impressive.

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The Ford Family Cemetery is behind a fence that anyone can see as they drive by on Joy Road on the north end of Dearborn. Henry and Clara are here, as are many other members of the Ford family. The cemetery lies within the grounds of St. Martha's Commons, which holds the church that Clara had built in memory of her mother: St. Martha's Episcopal Church. The Ford Cemetery is actually closer to Triumph Church on the same grounds.

There are only around sixty gravesites, but Henry & Clara's are the easiest to find. They lay side-by-side underneath a device that looks almost like a cage, or metal bars, but it is called a mortsafe. Its function is to squelch any grave-robbing or theft, whether some 'ghoul' wanted to steal the body for who-knows-what reason, or to look for expensive jewelry. You'll see this contraption in the photo gallery below.

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