Take a Visit to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates

Here at Fort Myers Mitsubishi, we’re proud to be a part of the greater Fort Myers community. Our region has it all, including beautiful beaches, sunny parks, great restaurants, and plenty of historic sites. One major attraction in our area is the Edison and Ford Winter Estates site, located on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. Keep reading to find out what makes this historic site so special.

History

“Edison & Ford Winter Estate” licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Flickr by fortmyersfl

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates site traces the friendship between two of the greatest mechanical pioneers in American history, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. In 1885, famous inventor Thomas Edison, best known for creating the first incandescent lightbulb, visited Southwest Florida. He fell in love with its tropical beauty and bought property for a vacation home. Building work on his luxurious vacation home, called Seminole Lodge, finished the next year. From 1886 until his death in 1931, Edison and his family spent vacations there, enjoying boating and other outdoor activities.

In 1916, Edison’s good friend, automotive pioneer Henry Ford, bought The Mangoes, a vacation home right next door to Seminole Lodge. For 15 winters, the families spent vacation time together. Edison’s widow, Mina Edison, deeded Seminole Lodge and the surrounding property to the City of Fort Myers in 1947. The city opened the Edison property to the public and created the first version of the museum. In 1988, the city bought The Mangoes from private owners and combined the two properties into the Edison and Ford Winter Estates museum.

Activities

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates offer visitors a range of activities, both outside and indoors, making this a weatherproof spot for learning and enrichment. Here are some things you can do at this historic site:

Walk Through Historic Homes

Each estate has several buildings that you can walk through, with varying degrees of restoration. Different tour levels and ticket prices give you access to different spaces in the estates. On the Edison estate, you can see the family’s main house, Seminole Lodge, as well as the guest house, which has housed famous guests like Herbert Hoover. You can also visit the pool complex, home to one of the very first residential pools ever built in the United States. In the Ford estate, you can visit the main house and caretaker’s cottage.

See the Botanical Gardens

The site contains 20 acres of gardens, mostly planted by the Edisons and their friends, including Ford and Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone Tires, during their winter vacations. The gardens were primarily used for research and private parties. There are currently over 1,700 plants in the garden from over 400 different species. The site’s most impressive outdoor area is the Moonlight Garden, a formal landscaped garden with night-blooming plants and a reflective pond to catch the moonlight.

Visit the Laboratory

Edison and Ford didn’t just come to Florida to relax. They also conducted research to find domestic rubber sources for American industries, like the growing automotive field. Along with Harvey Firestone, the two men founded the Edison Botanic Research Corporation. The corporation’s laboratory still exists on the grounds, preserved to look just like it did in the days when these three inventors were experimenting on local rubber species.

Explore the Museum

Once you’ve walked around the gardens and homes, take a break in the air-conditioned Edison Ford Museum. Here, you’ll find 15,000 square feet of photos, exhibits, and artifacts celebrating the friendship between these two major figures in American history. Attractions include the Timeline of Innovation, which traces the different projects these two men pursued throughout their careers, and the Music & Movies feature, an interactive exhibit exploring Edison’s contributions to the entertainment industry. You can also visit the gift shop after your museum tour.

Admissions Cost and Tours

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates site is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, but they stop admitting new visitors at 4:30 p.m. This historic site offers several levels of admission, allowing visitors to customize their experience. Here are your options for visiting this engrossing piece of history:

Self-guided Tours and General Admission

If you want to visit the site and wander around at your own pace, you can buy a ticket for a Self-Guided Tour. You don’t have to make a reservation, but you do have to arrive at or before 4:30 p.m. to enter the site. Here are the Self-Guided Tours ticket prices:

• $25 for adults.
• $20 for adolescents ages 13 to 19.
• $15 for children ages 6 to 12.
• Free admission for children under age 6.

Daily Group Tours

The site offers guided tours on a regular schedule throughout the day. When you arrive at the site, you can ask the ticket vendor when the next guided tour is and choose whether you want to wait for the tour or purchase a self-guided admission ticket. The tour takes 60 minutes and may include some areas closed off to Self-Guided Tour guests. Here are the prices for a Group Tour:

• $30 for adults.
• $25 for adolescents ages 13 to 19.
• $18 for children ages 6 to 12.
• Free admission for children under age 6.

Specialty Tours

The site offers several specialty tours with their own ticket prices and schedules, giving visitors a chance to see areas that other tours don’t cover. Some of these tours are offered on a regular basis, like the Automotive Tour, which happens every Monday at 10:30 a.m., or the Inside the Homes Tours, which is offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 a.m. Others are available by appointment only, like the Garden Tour. For more information about the site’s specialty tours, take a look at the official tours webpage.

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates site is a local treasure and one of Southwest Florida’s best-preserved historic sites. Oh, and did we mention? Parking is free! If you’re looking for a new or pre-owned vehicle for your next adventure, take a look at our online inventory or visit our lot to speak to a Mitsubishi specialist.