Our first car trip was to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates which are located in Fort Myers (sorry there are no pictures – we left our camera on the boat). The estates cover over 20 acres with botanical gardens, nine historic buildings including the two homes, guest houses, Edison Botanic Research Laboratory and the Estates Museum which contains a collection of inventions, artifacts and special exhibit galleries. The land around the homes is dominated by the huge Ficus trees that were planted by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone during the time when they were searching for a viable domestic source of rubber (latex) to grow in the region. Extensive research proved that goldenrod was a far better latex source than any of the Ficus trees they planted.
It was a fascinating tour and we commented on how astounding it would have been to sit on the front porch of Edison’s winter home listening to conversations between Edison, Ford and Firestone. These were some amazing men whose inventions and the companies they created had a huge effect on the United States and the world.
Miles: 0 Bridges: 0 Locks: 0
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