The Longacre House in Farmington Hills, Michigan is a registered local historic site. A sign is…read moreposted outside that reads:
"Luman W. Goodenough (1873-1947), prominent Detroit Attorney, charter member and first president of the Detroit Rotary Club, acquired this building and land surrounding it in 1915, naming it the Longacre House. The earliest portion was erected in 1869 by Palmer Sherman. The twentieth century saw several additions here including the impressive six-foot high stone wall constructed in 1917 along the east property line. In 1969, Goodenough heirs gave this handsome Georgian manor home and five acres of land to the Farmington area to be used as a community center. This facility hosts conferences and club meetings, numerous weddings and receptions, and recreation courses in crafts and the arts. Local citizens are proud of the Longacre House, which is an area landmark."
I attended my fiancee's good friend's pellikoduku at the Longacre House. (A pellikoduku is a traditional Indian pre-wedding ceremony for the groom.) This house is located about 25 miles from downtown Detroit. It takes a little over 30 minutes to get to the house from downtown Detroit without any traffic. The house is owned and operated by the City of Farmington Hills. This is a beautiful historic brick home that's been well-maintained, inside and out. The outside is picturesque with finely-manicured lawns and nicely-landscaped grounds. I made sure to get a picture with my fiancee in front of the house where there is a nice brick pathway and colorful plants and flowers.
The event took place inside what I believe is the Longacre House's main event space. It looks like a living room (with fireplace) that has been converted and combined with perhaps a back porch or patio area to serve as an open event space. There were five round white tablecloth tables set up with place settings (each table seating 12 people) along with buffet-style catered food and drink. The event space had a drink and dessert station while the salad, entrees, and sides were set up in a separate room nearby. The house was simple with minimal decor - nice chandeliers, curtains, and hardwood floors. There's a small garden and gazebo outside.
I believe dinner catering was provided by Longacre House's in-house catering group, Gourmet Express Catering & Event Planning Group based out of South Lyon, Michigan. We had glasses of a fruit drink with slices of strawberry, purple grapes, and Mandarin oranges. Dinner consisted of spinach salad with croutons, an herb rice risotto, asparagus, lasagna, and a potato dish with vegetables cooked-in such as chopped carrots and squash. There was a coffee and dessert station with both regular and decaf coffee plus assorted dessert bites including what looked like brownie squares and baklava. In general, I thought the food was good. I love greens and vegetables so I got seconds on the spinach and asparagus.
This was a fairly straightforward event. Aside from dinner, there was a pre-dinner gathering, sort of like a cocktail hour, where people mixed and mingled. After dinner, the actual pellikoduku activities commenced. There was also a mehndi (Indian body art) artist who applied red-orange mehndi "stains" to many of the female guests. Longacre House staff were present, but they were fairly hands-off as the food and drink were self-serve. They mainly made sure the food and drink stations were in order, replenished as needed, and cleared finished dinner plates. They were professionally (formally) dressed, polite, and did a good job throughout the night.
If you get a chance to check out other rooms of the house or take a look around outside at the grounds, you should. It's a neat place to explore. There's plenty of parking too which is convenient for guests.
