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Florida: Historic Winter Playground
Monday, May 21, 2007--Today we paid a visit to the Edison and Ford winter estates along the Caloosahatchee River at Fort Myers. Thomas Edison bought 13 acres along a cattle trail and the river in 1885 and established a winter retreat and a laboratory for plant experiments. A look at the view at left above explains why this area enchanted him. The Edison family continued to use the property until 1947, when his widow deeded the entire estate to the City of Fort Myers for $1. It is now a historic site.
Edison developed an interest in plants and was looking for a source of natural rubber. In 1924, the tire industrialist Harvey Firestone gave Edison a native India Banyan Tree that was 4 feet high and 2 inches in diameter. Here Norm, Matt and I posed under it to give some idea of its size. It is said to have 350 roots and be an acre in diameter. A statue of Edison is seen at the far left.
Edison built two houses on the property and they were later connected by a walkway. One wing of Seminole Lodge was the winter retreat for the family and the other wing was a guest house. Many of the rich and famous were guests of the Edisons, including Henry Ford, a friend who bought an estate right nest to Edison in 1916 called The Mangoes. Lore at the site says that the Fords were invited to go camping in the Everglades with the Edisons and they, too, fell in love with the wilds of Southwest Florida. Given the type of vegetation, wildlife, and insect life around even today, it's hard to imagine these folks camping anywhere, much less in the Everglades! As the photo above of the family wing shows, the area didn't remain wild for long. In the 1920s Edison began importing all kinds of plants and installed them at the manicured estate.
The property also had an artesian well, and Edison built a swimming pool for his family and guests that is still in operation today. The overflow from the well was used to create a pond next to the pool. Plantings were added, including a grove of banana trees, to shield the view of the pool from curious onlookers boating or canoeing on the river, trying to catch a glimpse of the Edisons and their famous guests.
The pond also has a grove of papyrus, which was taller than Norm. Edison left his mark on the area in many ways, including the planting of Royal Palm trees for a 12-mile stretch on the main road into Ft. Myers. The city took the name, City of Palms from Edison's gift and the palms still line historic and beautiful McGregor Avenue today. There also is a link between the Edison estate and the Koreshan community we visited on Sunday. It seems the Koreshans acquired some bamboo from Edison and the plants still grow on both sites today. Edison grew the bamboo to have a source for the carbon filaments in his light bulbs.
Matt and Doug said that they probably would not have gotten around to visiting either the Koreshan site or this one except when guests were around, so we were glad that Doug is between semesters and Matt could take a day off from work for the excursion. After this tour we ate lunch at Rene's Deli, which serves a really mean and huge slice of carrot cake, if you are ever there.
Monday, May 21, 2007--Today we paid a visit to the Edison and Ford winter estates along the Caloosahatchee River at Fort Myers. Thomas Edison bought 13 acres along a cattle trail and the river in 1885 and established a winter retreat and a laboratory for plant experiments. A look at the view at left above explains why this area enchanted him. The Edison family continued to use the property until 1947, when his widow deeded the entire estate to the City of Fort Myers for $1. It is now a historic site.
Edison developed an interest in plants and was looking for a source of natural rubber. In 1924, the tire industrialist Harvey Firestone gave Edison a native India Banyan Tree that was 4 feet high and 2 inches in diameter. Here Norm, Matt and I posed under it to give some idea of its size. It is said to have 350 roots and be an acre in diameter. A statue of Edison is seen at the far left.
Edison built two houses on the property and they were later connected by a walkway. One wing of Seminole Lodge was the winter retreat for the family and the other wing was a guest house. Many of the rich and famous were guests of the Edisons, including Henry Ford, a friend who bought an estate right nest to Edison in 1916 called The Mangoes. Lore at the site says that the Fords were invited to go camping in the Everglades with the Edisons and they, too, fell in love with the wilds of Southwest Florida. Given the type of vegetation, wildlife, and insect life around even today, it's hard to imagine these folks camping anywhere, much less in the Everglades! As the photo above of the family wing shows, the area didn't remain wild for long. In the 1920s Edison began importing all kinds of plants and installed them at the manicured estate.
The property also had an artesian well, and Edison built a swimming pool for his family and guests that is still in operation today. The overflow from the well was used to create a pond next to the pool. Plantings were added, including a grove of banana trees, to shield the view of the pool from curious onlookers boating or canoeing on the river, trying to catch a glimpse of the Edisons and their famous guests.
The pond also has a grove of papyrus, which was taller than Norm. Edison left his mark on the area in many ways, including the planting of Royal Palm trees for a 12-mile stretch on the main road into Ft. Myers. The city took the name, City of Palms from Edison's gift and the palms still line historic and beautiful McGregor Avenue today. There also is a link between the Edison estate and the Koreshan community we visited on Sunday. It seems the Koreshans acquired some bamboo from Edison and the plants still grow on both sites today. Edison grew the bamboo to have a source for the carbon filaments in his light bulbs.
Matt and Doug said that they probably would not have gotten around to visiting either the Koreshan site or this one except when guests were around, so we were glad that Doug is between semesters and Matt could take a day off from work for the excursion. After this tour we ate lunch at Rene's Deli, which serves a really mean and huge slice of carrot cake, if you are ever there.
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