"Roughing It" with the Bros in Fort Myers: The Edison and Ford Winter Estates

 

        The Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Myers, Florida recently hosted its annual "Airing of the Quilts" event on its grounds.  The members of the Southwest Florida Quilters Guild display their creations on clotheslines in front of the cottages built by Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  It was a perfect opportunity for us to explore the historic site for the first time.  

        In 1885, inventor Thomas Edison traveled to the wilds of Ft. Myers Florida, scouting for a winter home site.  Smitten, he purchased 13 acres for $2,750 and immediately began designing a family home, a guest cottage, and a laboratory.  He called it Seminole Lodge, and the Edison family spent their winters there, frequently hosting famous guests including Henry Ford, naturalist John Burroughs, industrialist Harvey Firestone, and Herbert Hoover.  Edison and his guests enjoyed the Florida outdoors, swimming, shelling, boating, and fishing for huge tarpon and other fish.  He also worked from time to time, and developed a major interest in botany, using his laboratory and acreage to experiment with various plants for industrial use.

Various pictures of the Seminole Lodge and guest house

    In 1916, Henry Ford bought the property next door to his buddy and built a bungalow that was christened The Mangos.  

    Ford, Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs often went camping together around Florida and beyond.  They, or their underlings, packed their Model Ts and stocked their chuck wagon, complete with camp cook, and hit the road. Maybe they made smores around the campfire and told stories about how they abused their employees, electrocuted dogs, and spread racist propaganda.

    The museum on site contains quite a few interesting displays covering the careers and contributions of both men, minus any controversy or negativity.  The botanical laboratory is also open for visitors, and the Estates have quite an active gardening group which offers workshops, classes, and plant sales throughout the year.  

        The Edison and Ford Winter Estates are worth a visit. Website https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/  It's a great look into the lives of two of the most influential Americans of the 20th century.  

Detroit: Vacation Spot for History Lovers (Part 2)

 

    For our first real post-pandemic trip, we chose to visit two cities that we'd never visited before: Detroit and Milwaukee. Those two midwestern cities may not be front of mind for history lovers who are considering travel destinations, but, as we discovered, there are lots of things to do in each.

    Detroit was on our list largely because of The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, a few minutes from downtown Detroit. The complex made it to my consciousness years ago, and I'd recently read Fordlandia, about Henry Ford and his efforts to corner the international rubber market, which was a great read. As those who know me are aware, I detest and despise the man and practically everything about him, but I have to grudgingly admit that he created an incredible collection of historical objects. During his middle years, Ford became a supercollector of historical artifacts, especially those artifacts that related to men like him, in his mind: innovators, inventors, moralists, nationalists, patriots - AMURICANS!!! He and his agents scoured the country purchasing buildings and their contents, dismantling them, and shipping them to Dearborn, where they were reassembled to form Greenfield Village. He started with the property of his friends, Thomas Edison Wright Brothers,  and Harvey Firestone for example, and then included American nationalists and assimilationists like William McGuffey and Noah Webster. Over the years, more buildings have been moved in to represent more of America. Just a few weeks ago, it was announced that a Selma Alabama home used in the planning and coordination of the Selma marches had been purchased for the Village.

    Not only can visitors walk among and through the buildings, but they can also meet knowledgeable  and enthusiastic docents who are eager to tell you the stories of the buildings. Visitors can also ride around the village in model Ts and model As, or they can take a train ride pulled by an old steam engine or by Thomas the Tank Engine. It's really a great experience all around.

George Washington Carver birthplace

Wright Brothers bicycle shop 

An Illinois county courtroom in which a young Abraham Lincoln argued cases

Display in the H.J. Heinz house

H.J. Heinz home where many of the Heinz products were first produced

Inside Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory

Noah Webster home

Henry Ford birthplace

William McGuffey birthplace

inside Ford's birthplace

inside Ford's birthplace

Edison's Menlo Park Lab buildings

slave cabins from Georgia coast

Edison's Menlo Park Lab

The last Model T to come off the assembly line

    One could take a whole day to see Greenfield Village; seeing the entire Ford complex takes at least two days. On our second day, we did the tour of the River Rouge Ford Plant. Henry Ford originally built the factory as a showcase of  modern American industrial technology. Today, Ford F-150 Crew Cabs are manufactured there. It was really interesting to see the assembly lines at work.

    The Museum of American Innovation, as you would expect, has lots and lots of cars in it, but you could spend a whole day there. 

The Kennedy presidential assassination limo in which he was assassinated. (After the assassination, it was reconfigured.)

The Montgomery City bus on which Rosa Parks was arrested