The Edison-Ford winter estates

Posted by Sparky on April 5, 2017

Edison estate

Edison gardens

The dock remains

Jett and I are nearing the end of our third winter in Florida. And for three years we have had the Edison-Ford winter estates on our “to do” list. Finally, last week, we actually did the tour and got that particular item off of the list.

Thomas Edison wintered in Ft Myers for many years. Later, Henry Ford bought the adjacent estate and the two hung out together in the beautiful Florida weather. But these weren’t just vacation homes – Edison, workaholic that he was, built a laboratory here and used his 10 acres of gardens to grow plants that he could study, especially latex-producing plants that he thought might be capable of producing artificial rubber.

The houses themselves are humble, considering the stature and wealth of these two men. The living rooms and dining rooms were small, the kitchens were basic and the furniture was simple – rattan on the wide porches. Edison, of course, lit his house with DC electric lights. Even his fishing boat was electric.

The house was built before the railroad reached Ft Myers, so Edison built the house with materials that arrived by boat. To accommodate these ships and, later, his fishing boat, he built a very long pier into the Caloosahatchee River – at one point nearly 1,500 feet long.

The grounds, while populated with plants intended for research, are no less beautiful for being practical. You can barely see the house from McGregor Blvd due to the heavy foliage.

The museum at the visitor’s center has many photographs of Edison and his family “relaxing” at the winter estate. In every photograph Edison is wearing a suit and tie and his family is wearing what appears to be their “Sunday finest.” While it is possible that he allowed photos to be taken only when they looked their best, I found myself wincing at being so overdressed in the Florida sun. Edison was granted over 1,000 patents in his lifetime.

But why didn’t he invent shorts?