Our current Henry Ford Museum exhibit isn’t the only place to learn about the remarkable life and work of George Washington Carver – just off the Village Green in Greenfield Village is an unassuming log cabin with a big story. This memorial to scientist George Washington Carver commemorates not only the man, but his friendship with Henry Ford.

Ford and Carver shared a strong interest in soybeans, and were drawn together by their mutual interest in “chemurgy,” the science of producing industrial materials from agricultural products. Ford invited Carver to several chemurgical conferences in Dearborn, visited Carver in Tuskegee on his way to and from his winter home in Georgia, and the two met several other times in the late ’30s and early ’40s – all the while corresponding on the possibilities of producing plastics and other industrial products from plants.

Ford built the log cabin in Greenfield Village based on Carver’s recollections of the Missouri cabin in which he was born – but added a special touch: He had it paneled with wood donated by the governors of each of the then 48 states. Carver attended the cabin’s dedication ceremony – and even lived inside the cabin for a few days! – in the summer of 1942, just six months before his passing at the age of 77.

Check out the George Washington Carver exhibit in Henry Ford Museum, and when Greenfield Village re-opens for the season on April 15, stop in and see this cabin for yourself – and then tell us: Does the cabin help you have a greater understanding of Carver’s life, and what shaped him as a person and scientist? How does his story inspire you?