Edison and Ford
Winter Estates
By T. Michele Walker
Photos by Caroline Clabaugh and submitted
Thomas Edison fi rst set foot in Fort
Myers, Florida on March 6, 1885. He
traveled south from his famous home
in Menlo Park, New Jersey to recover from
a lingering illness and to escape the bitterly
cold winters which were wreaking havoc on
his fragile health. Edison, 38 years old and
famous for his invention of the incandescent
lamp and phonograph, needed a break from
the pressures of celebrity. He was also still
recovering from the loss of his wife, Mary
Stilwell, who had just passed away in August
of 1884. Florida provided that escape.
His health recovered and, in this search,
found a new home that would serve as a
respite until he died in 1930. The 14 acres
purchased by Edison were located on the
banks of the Caloosahatchee River. Little
did Edison or the small town of Fort Myers
suspect that this move would thrust the quiet
cowtown into the headlines, transforming the
village into the thriving city it is today.
For 50 years, the Edison family spent the
winter and spring months in Fort Myers,
hosting such notable guests as Harvey
Firestone, Dr. John Kellogg, Charles
Lindbergh, President Herbert Hoover, the
Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, and
Henry Ford, who would later become Edison’s
close friend and neighbor. The visitors
enjoyed the wit and genius of Thomas and his
new wife, Mina, who was a gracious hostess.
After Edison died in 1931, Mina willed the
estate to the city, where 380,000 people
come annually to take a step back in time.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates capture
the lifestyle of the famous families that
inhabited the grounds for so many years.
From the homes, laboratory, and botanical
gardens, it is easy to see this was the home of
a genius.
The fi rst thing one sees when entering the
Edison Ford Winter Estate is the mammoth
banyan tree which covers an entire city block
and surrounds a statue of Thomas Alva
Edison. One would like to imagine the look
on Edison’s face when he saw the tree for the
fi rst time, but in fact, the tree was planted in
1925 as part of an experiment to fi nd other
sources of rubber. Edison’s fi rst glimpse of
the tree was as a sapling. A gift from Harvey
Firestone, the tire manufacturer, the tree was
sent from India as part of an effort to develop
a natural source of rubber in the United
States.
As in most “seeds” Edison planted, from his
laboratory, patents, inventions, friendships;
the banyan tree is a symbol of the fruits of his
labor, something that has fl ourished beyond
his wildest dreams.
The caretakers of the estate rent headsets
for self-guided tours, so visitors can feel free
to wander the grounds at their own pace.
There are also guided tours that leave every
half hour.
Walking around the grounds it is easy to
see that, in the case of Edison, necessity truly
is the mother of invention. For instance, when
Edison came here in 1885 there weren’t any
lumber yards, so they pre-built the houses in