By Rebecca Wyatt, OU Web Writer

Visitors to Meadow Brook Hall now can take a little bit of the historic mansion home with them. The Meadow Brook Hall Museum Shop recently opened its doors, offering visitors the opportunity to pick up a piece of OU and Oakland County history. The shop’s grand opening celebration with free food and beverages is scheduled for Friday, June 3, from noon to 2 p.m.

The Meadow Brook Hall Museum Shop offers books, postcards, T-shirts and tote bags for sale. There also are gift items that relate to the hall including tea sets and garden sets representing the many gardens on the Meadow Brook Hall grounds.

"We decided to reopen a museum gift shop for two main reasons: We felt we could add to the visitors' experience at the hall through something they could purchase and take home with them, such as books and souvenirs, and we thought we could make a modest profit doing so,” said Geoff Upward, interim director of Meadow Brook Hall. “We looked at all aspects of the museum activity for potential profit centers, and the gift shop emerged as a likely possibility. The museum staff has done an outstanding job gathering and offering for sale items that have a connection somehow to the building, the collections and the people who lived here on the Meadow Brook estate (the Dodges and the Wilsons)."

The shop also sells beverages, snacks and candy.

The Meadow Brook Hall Museum Shop is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. seven days a week throughout the summer. Guided tours of Meadow Brook Hall are available seven days a week at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. during the summer.

For more information, visit the Meadow Brook Hall Web site.