Edison Ford

No van yet (it should be ready tomorrow), so I played tourist today and went to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers. Edison was a remarkable, remarkable person. Do you know he is the only person who patented something every year for 65 years? What amazes me the most of the whole estate is that electricity was in homes before indoor plumbing was.

There are a ton of pictures here. Enjoy:

This is one of the many banyan trees on the property. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone grew and tested over 17,000 varieties of plants to try to find a source of rubber, or latex, that could be grown and produced quickly. Edison thought we were relying too much on the foreign supply of rubber and feared we would have a shortage. Of all the plants they researched, they found that goldenrod produced the most latex.

The view of the Caloosahatchee River from Edison's back porch as it may have looked when he lived there and a view of the river as it is now

Inside the Edison house. As much money as Edison had, I was impress at how sparse and down-to-earth the home and furnishings were

An original electric light switch:


Picture of Henry Ford's home. Ford and Edison had adjoining homes.

The fence is the property line between the Ford and Edison residences:


And the view from Ford's front porch:


Various other pictures from around the Edison estate:

The Edison family pool. Before the pool was installed, they had to go to a local hotel to go swimming

This is the moon garden. It is called a moon garden because its purpose is to sit out in it at night and enjoy all the evening bugs and creatures. Bugs??? As in mosquitoes???

Edison's study and the botanical laboratory:

Why do you suppose this brick is here and how long do you think it's been here?



This was the pier that reached 1500 feet out into the Caloosahatchee River. At one time, there was a cabana at the end of the dock that was lit with electric lights