Edison - Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers Florida

After I finished my Road Scholar program, I discovered that I was practically a stones throw from the Edison-Ford Winter estates so decided to make a quick stop there as well. I have learned that you have to seize the moment at times like this. Even though I had already scheduled a kayaking trip in Sarasota at 2 the same day, I was hoping I could squeeze this in. It was a whirlwind visit and I am glad I did it, because I don't know when I'll be back in that area again.
So I have discovered that birds of a feather like to flock together, in this case people with very creative minds and some money in their pockets tend to mix and mingle with similar folks and thus we have the Edison and Ford Winter estates. Both men were very creative and extremely hard-working. One might think that because they were in a beautiful place like Fort Myers that they would kick back, take it easy, play golf and just chill out. That would be the furthest thing from the truth. They took the opportunity to brainstorm on all their latest ideas while they were on "vacation". Probably, they worked as hard while here as they did anywhere else, feeding those creative juices and fiddling with new ideas.

So here are a few pictures of the area and stuff that they invented...

This is a classic Ford engine while it is attributable to Ford, Edison was working diligently on rubber and was very instrumental in developing tires for the vehicles

This is a telegraph machine and was a precursor to the phonograph...another Edison invention

Many of the various household inventions by Edison

A 50,000 watt light-bulb...just wonder where they might have needed this big bad boy!

The flowering plants on the estates were just gorgeous



The first house is Fords and the second one is Edisons, the one with all the royal palms.