EDISON AND FORD WINTER ESTATES

Thomas Edison first visited Fort Myers, Florida, in March of 1885. By this time, Edison was already a successful and famous inventor. He wanted to find a warm escape during the winter months from his New Jersey home base. He purchased 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River and created an estate that included two homes and a laboratory

The entrance to the Estates complex from the parking lot. The Garden Shoppe is on the left, and Thomas Edison under the banyan tree is on the right.

There are container gardens all over the estates. These are at the Estates entrance.

The rain barrel is used to catch and conserve rain water. Decorating rain barrels is a fun kind of art and more appealing to look at than just a plain old rain barrel.

Mina Miller married Thomas Edison in 1886. This was the year that they began to create their winter estate in Fort Myers. The statue, Mina Edison in the Garden, was created by sculptor Don Wilkins and generously contributed by Orvall McCleary. It was dedicated on February 11, 2009.

Mina and Robert in the garden

Garden Shoppe

The Edisons created areas for botanical research and family pleasure gardens as well as useful kitchen and truck gardens.

 Thomas Edison under the banyan tree

This tree is sometimes called “The Walking Tree” and is the biggest tree of its kind in the continental US. After studying natural materials that produced latex, Edison began to plant hundreds of varieties on his property in 1924. This India Banyan Tree was a gift from tire industrialist Harvey Firestone. When it was planted in 1925, the tree was 4 feet high and 2 inches in diameter. It is now an acre in diameter and has 350 roots.

Thomas Edison and Becky under the banyan tree

The entrance to the homes is across McGregor Boulevard.

In 2003, the governance of the site was transferred from the City to a new non-profit corporation, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates, Inc. Its mission is to protect, preserve and interpret the site and future growth and development. The new corporation successfully completed a $10 million restoration project in 2006.

The first sight of Seminole Lodge, winter home of the Edison Family, through the trees. It was named in honor of a local Indian tribe.

A huge bougainvillea along the path to the homes. It is the biggest I’ve ever seen.

The Rock Fountain with the Edison Pier in the background. The fountain was sometimes used as a cooling-off spot before the pool was built.

The Edison Pier on the Caloosahatchee River

The river was the main means of transportation until the train came to Fort Myers in 1904, and good roads were created during the 1910s. All of the original materials for Edison’s estate were brought by boat.

Dwarf Poinciana, located to the right of the Rock Fountain


Mountain Aloe


Swimming Pool
The Swimming Pool was first built in 1910. In 1928, Ford remodeled the pool complex, adding a “Tea House” and a Bath House. The Tea House is on the right. The term “teahouse” was popular in California and meant a shady room near the pool.


The Swimming Pool with diving boards at one end with a view of high rises in downtown Fort Myers in the background


Container gardens line the side of the pool. The pool is 50 feet long x 20 feet wide and 4 to 7 feet deep.

The Entrance to the Caretaker’s House, the oldest building at the Estates

A section of this building was on the grounds when Edison purchased the property in 1885 from cattleman Samuel Summerlin. Edison decided to keep it and use it for employees.

Improvements to the Caretaker’s House in 1903 included an apartment for driver Sidney Scarth and family. Scarth was Edison’s driver for around 15 years. A two-car garage and tool bay were completed in 1929.

 

Bromeliads and a small fountain beside the entrance to the house

Interior of the Caretaker’s House with botanical drawings of plant life on the Estates. This area is often used to mount exhibits of horticultural artwork.

The botanical drawings illustrate plants and trees found on the Estates.

Descriptions of the botanical drawings

The chair on the porch of the Caretaker’s House is hand painted with colorful hibiscus flowers.

Entrance to the Moonlight Garden

The garden is completely closed off from the outside. There is a bank of bougainvillea on each side and a wall of podocarpus along the back of the garden. The garden adjoins the Little Office on the far end.


A bench at the other end of the Moonlight Garden


 The pool in the Moonlight Garden
Mina Edison created the garden in 1929. Ellen Biddle Shipman, a well-known landscape architect, designed the space. The pool and bright flowers were meant to reflect the moonlight--thus, the garden’s name. Many of the flowers in the garden today could be found there in 1929.


 The interior of the Little Office
Edison’s original laboratory was moved from this site to Henry Ford’s museum at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan in 1928. Ford agreed to build this little office in its place for Edison. Combined with the Moonlight Garden, the two features create a footprint of the location of the original lab.


 The Little Office with the Moonlight Garden located behind it. Both were favorite spots of the Edisons in their later years at Seminole Lodge.

Pink Trumpet Tree beside the Family Home

Seminole Lodge, the Family Home
By the fall of 1885, designs for the Seminole Lodge Estate were completed, and materials for construction and painting the houses and laboratory were purchased. All materials were sent down from northern cities by several steamships, unloaded, and assembled on site.

Seminole Lodge
On February 24, 1886, Thomas and Mina were married. Soon after, they traveled down to stay at Seminole Lodge. The Estate continued to draw Thomas, Mina, their children, extended family, friends, and business associates for the next 61 years.

 

Interior, Seminole Lodge
 “The house is a dream, and we are living in a fairyland,” wrote Mina Edison to her mother in 1910.

 

Interior, Seminole Lodge
The Family Home living room contains casual Bar Harbor-style wicker furniture, as placed on the Verandah as well. Mina Edison provided entertainment by playing the George Steck grand piano. Notice the light fixture hanging from the ceiling. Edison designed and manufactured “Electrolier” lighting fixtures to accommodate his newest invention. The Estate has 15 located throughout the two homes.

 

Bedroom, Seminole Lodge
Such furnishings are found in all of the Estate’s bedrooms. The sets include a dresser, washstand, quilt rack, small writing desk, and comfortable wicker chairs.

 

Verandah, Seminole Lodge
The verandah (I think of it as a wraparound porch) displays several pieces of the Edison Bar Harbor-style wicker furniture, continuing to illustrate the casual, comfortable lifestyle enjoyed at Seminole Lodge. The Verandah was a favorite spot for visitors to gather.

Seminole Lodge with a pergola to the Guest House. A pergola was added in 1910 that provided a walkway between the two homes.

Pergola and Guest House
The pergola provided a connection between the homes that created a sense of one estate.

Queen’s Wreath Vine on 4 corners of the pergola

Guest House
After arriving in Fort Myers from a trip that took many days, guests would stay for weeks or months. Well-known guests who stayed in the Guest House included President Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone.

Interior, Guest House
 Favorite activities of visiting family and friends included fishing, boating, reading, playing board games, picnics, and walks around the grounds.

Guest House Dining Room

Indianhead Ginger, South American tropical

Henry Ford Statue

This statue, by Fort Myers sculptor D.J. Wilkins, was donated to the Edison and Ford Estates by patron Orvall McCleary in honor of Henry Ford on July 30, 2007.

　

Ford statue and home

Henry Ford, with wife, Clara, and son, Edsel, first came to Fort Myers in 1914 at the invitation of Thomas Edison. In 1916, Ford purchased the property, The Mangoes, next to his good friend, for $20,000. The Ford family visited regularly with the Edisons. Time was spent discussing business and invention, but also on fishing, boating, and camping. Together Ford and Edison explored southwest Florida in the 1916 Model T touring car Ford gave Edison.

Historic Ford vehicles are stored in this building behind the Mangoes. This is a 1929 Model A Four-door Sedan. It was a deluxe model built with 4 cylinders. It has an electric starter and runs at a speed of 50-60 mph. It sold for around $700.00. This was the first Ford to have 4-wheel brakes and shock absorbers.

A Model T Truck

One purchased the basic vehicle and paid a carpenter to build the cab and bed. It sold for around $500.

The Ford Winter Estate of Henry and Clara Ford was in the style of an “American bungalow.” It is 3,000 square feet with two floors, a crawl attic, and east and west porches. Although most of the furnishings on display are not original, records indicate that they are in the style of the Ford residences.

Kitchen, the Ford home, The Mangoes

Maid's Room, The Mangoes

The Mangoes Interior with Fireplace
The interior finishes include the cypress ceiling, beams and yellow pine moldings, built-in benches and window seat, as well as cabinet and shelf storage.

The Mangoes Living Room
It was used on occasion for one of Ford’s favorite pastimes--square dancing.

The Mangoes Dining Room

The Mangoes Silver Service


The Mangoes Guest Bedroom

The Mangoes Porch

Mysore Fig Tree

This tree has a circumference of 305 inches and a height of 102 feet. It is native to China, Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent and northeastern Australia. It is an imposing and beautiful tree. Thomas Edison tested more than 10,000 plants in southwest Florida as possible sources for rubber, for light bulb filaments, and for food, such as citrus, mango, pineapple, and other fruits and vegetables.

Base, Mysore Fig Tree

Yellow Allamanda, Tropical America

Edison’s Research Laboratory

This building is still in the process of refurbishment, but it was here that Edison continued his research. During World War I, the price of rubber rose dramatically, and Edison, along with friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, were concerned with this issue. Thomas was troubled as well, for many of his products contained elements made from rubber. His plan was to discover a domestic source of rubber from a latex-producing plant. Florida’s tropical climate was a perfect location for the project.

Bust of Thomas Edison

In the words of Thomas Edison, “There is only one Fort Myers, and 90 million people are going to find it out.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I’ve visited the Edison Ford Winter Estates several times in the past, but I keep coming back because each time I become reacquainted with how these famous titans of a bygone era spent their leisure time in Fort Myers. It also helps me recall how life was in the not-so-distant past in Florida; for one thing, lack of transportation made traveling difficult, so once you got here, you stayed for a while. I can appreciate the architecture of the period; the homes on the Estates were built to benefit from cross-ventilation because air conditioning was nonexistent at the time, another inconvenience we don’t encounter nowadays. Lastly, I can admire the beautiful, mature, often unique plants and trees on the Estate. (I plan to go back once again and take the horticultural tour.) There is more to see at the Estates than I have shown you here. The Estates Museum has many displays of Edison’s inventions and a special room devoted to the camping trips of Ford and Edison titled, “Into the Wild.” You can see early versions of movie projectors and phonographs, electric light and power generators, mock-ups of Edison’s research lab, and an explanation of his latex extraction process, among other things. Also, Edison’s Research Laboratory will be refurbished at some time in the future. The admission to the Estates for adults is $20, which isn’t cheap, but the historical and aesthetic richness of the Estates makes me think the cost is worth it.