Ford Estate at Fort Myers, Florida
adjacent to Edison Estate
Tucked away in this resort area are nineteen acres on the Calooshatchee River where Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were neighbors and friends.  Back in 1885 Edison and a business partner visited Fort Myers and within 24 hours purchased the riverfront property and began construction of two identical homes. Two years after a visit to Fort Myers, Henry Ford purchased an adjacent estate in 1916. 

We all know many of Edison’s inventions, but I was amazed to learn he held over 1,000 patents, and  is the only person to date who filed a patent for sixty-five consecutive years.  He was still inventing when he died in his mid-80's in 1931.  Henry Ford worked on his automobiles at his estate until they went in to mass production in Dearborn.  Edison’s laboratory was moved to Michigan in 1925, but in 1927 another laboratory for rubber experiments is begun.

In addition to all this information and history, there is a huge botanical garden of rare and sometimes weird plants.  Edison used many of them in experiments, but mostly he was just interested in the variety.  The second largest Banyon tree in the world is on Edison’s estate–the first largest is in India and the third largest we saw several years ago on Maui.  It was an interesting and informative day well spent.

House exterior
House
Ford Garage
Ford Garage
Ford Garage
Ford Garage
Ford lawn ornament?
Kitchen interior
Purple tree
1936 Brewster
1936 Brewster
Electric Cadillac
Edison's Electric Caddy
Ford Chuck Wagon
Ford Chuck Wagon
Model T
Model T
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