Thomas Edison

Saturday night my husband and I packed a bag, grabbed the grandson and headed south for a 3 hour drive to Fort Myers, Florida. We pulled into a motel around 11:30 pm for a good nights sleep so we could be bright and bushy tailed for the day we had planned with our grandson. We had decided to take him to see Thomas Edison's winter home and laboratory and Henry Ford's winter home. They were neighbors and close friends. Jesse is a ten year old boy who just soaks up things like a sponge and was thrilled to see many of Edison's inventions. Edison purchased 13+ acres in 1885 and two homes were assembled on the property the following year. His home was known as Seminole Lodge.



The view from the porch.


The garden path connecting to the guest house.



Inside views of Seminole Lodge, Edison's winter home in Fort Myers,Florida. The bedroom is actually seperated from the rest of the house by a breezeway. Originally it was a kitchen but when he bought the house next door the kitchen was then moved to the other house. It was said that he didn't like to smell the food being cooked. There are two additional bedrooms upstairs.




Thomas Edison's lab near his home in Fort Myers, Florida. Pieces have been moved into the museum area while the actual lab is being restored.



In the actual lab...a cot was kept close by. Edison would take short naps during the day and would often work through the night.

The lab that is being restorated.


A generator




Some of the many inventions that Edison worked on over the years. He had over 1090 patents by the time he died in 1931 at the age of 84. The invention that he is most known for is the phonograph. Many people believe he invented the light bulb, but he did not invent the first light bulb. But the man who did couldnot keep the bulb burning for more than a few seconds, so what Edison actually did was perfect it, getting it to burn 40 hours, and later 1200 hours. Another of his inventions is the motion picture camera.




We were all amazed to find out that in 1925 Harvey Firestone gave Edison a 4 foot cutting of a Banyan Tree to add to his botanical research garden and that tree is now nearly an acre in diameter. This tree just seemed to go on forever. The following 3 pictures are of the single tree.





My next post will be Henry Ford's winter home. Jesse was very interested in the cars and stories that he heard about on the tour.