December 10 , 2021

EDISON AND FORD WINTER ESTATES

2350 McGregor Blvd, Ft. Myers, FL 33901

“The Edison and Ford Winter Estates contain a historical museum and 21 acre botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford beside the Caloosahatchee River in Southwestern Florida. There is also a garden center with hundreds of plants and trees available for purchase.”  Wikipedia

In 1885 Thomas Edison, already a renowned inventor, visited Ft. Myers and purchased property along the Caloosahatchee River to build a vacation home, which he named Seminole Lodge.  As time went by, he added a Study, Guest House, Caretaker’s House, Swimming Pool, and Pier.  Edison loved to entertain which was quite evident in the buildings’ design.

In 1914, Henry Ford and his family were guests of Edison at Seminole Lodge.  The family fell in love with the area, and two years later, when the house next to Edison’s house was for sale, Ford bought it and named it The Mangoes.  Ford added a Caretaker’s Cottage to the property.

Edison had built a laboratory near his house, but Ford convinced Edison to let him dismantle it and move it to Dearborn, MI, to be part of his Museum of American Innovation.  The Edison’s Study was built where the laboratory once stood.  A new, larger laboratory was built across the street.

The homes were stately, but not overly so, possibly due to being used only three to four months out of the year.  The houses were about what I expected.  What I wasn’t expecting was the museum that has been erected to honor the two men and their accomplishments (Edison had 1,093 U.S. patents himself).  The collections attributed both men were quite impressive.   

There are several different tour options including both self-guided and guided.  I took the guided tour where the docent did a super job of telling us about the two men and their lives in Ft. Myers.  It may have been a little expensive, but in my mind information I received that I wouldn’t have gotten on the self-guided tour was worth the extra charge.