2025 southeast swing – part 11: Thomas Edison in Florida – the grounds

Do you know much about Thomas Edison (1847-1931) beyond his invention of the light bulb? I sure didn’t before seeing his winter home in Florida. We’ll be looking at this winter retreat, his friendship with Henry Ford (more in part 13), and why Edison was one of the greatest men of his time.

Thomas Edison first came to Fort Myers in 1885 to escape the harsh New Jersey winters and buy 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River. The next year he brought his much younger bride, Mina Miller Edison (1865-1947), for their honeymoon in Florida. He was 39 and she was 21. Their first home was way too primitive for this young socialite woman, so they didn’t return for 13 years as Thomas built up his home and the grounds. For the next six decades the Edison family enjoyed their winter retreat with their family and friends.

Edison didn’t just wile away his time while staying in Florida; his main goal was to experiment with plants that could be used as tires for his automobiles. We’ll see more about this experimenting in part 13 of these posts.

In 1947, Mina deeded the Estate to the City of Fort Myers. Nearly all of the furnishings in the Edison Main House and Guest House are original to the Edison family. Some of the information in these posts are from the Edison and Ford Estates’ website.

This first post will take us around the outside of the grounds and highlight the buildings that the family enjoyed over the years. These separate buildings meant that their own home wouldn’t have to be so large.

Edison, Ford, and Firestone formed the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in 1927 as a way to find a natural source of rubber that could be grown and harvested in the U.S. The banyan tree was one of over 17,000 plant specimens that were tested during this project. Over 13 types of these plants are found in the gardens that Edison planted (more in part 13).

Banyan trees, also known as “walking trees,” are native to the rubber-producing region of southern Asia, which dominated the rubber market during the 1920s and 30s.

He realized that he needed to find another source of rubber for tires.

A website about her life tells us that “Her future husband claims he taught her Morse code so that they could converse in secret, even while the family watched. This is how Edison claims he proposed marriage and how she responded “yes.” The two married on February 24, 1886.” AI tells us that “Thomas Edison was profoundly deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other, having lost most of his hearing around age 12. He viewed his hearing loss as a benefit because it helped him concentrate deeply on his work without the distraction of noise.”

So how did Mina see herself as the wife of his older important man, his three children from a previous marriage and their own three children, and an important woman in the community?

AI tells us that “Mina Edison referred to herself as a “home executive,” a term she coined to describe her role managing the large and complex Glenmont estate [in New Jersey] and its staff, raising six children, and overseeing social and civic duties with the same scientific and systematic approach her husband used in his laboratory. She viewed domestic labor as a science and a form of work with great importance, which required skill and organization. Her responsibilities went beyond simply running a household; she was a prominent community leader involved in various organizations. ”

When our tour guide told us about this aspect of Mrs. Edison, I thought of the woman described in Proverbs 31.

After Edison had been here for a number of years, Henry Ford decided to join him and live in a house next door that we’ll see in part 12. Ford didn’t do any of his research for tires here, he just enjoyed winters in Florida with his friend. If you want to see more about Henry Ford and how he helped the South, we learned about him in a visit to Richmond Hills in the Savannah, Ga., area. Ford made a huge change in the lives of the poor people who lived here, and families today still feel this influence.

Edison’s family winter estate was known as Seminole Lodge. When he first came to Florida in March 1885, he was trying to escape New Jersey’s cold winter. After first trying winter in St. Augustine, the cold, wet weather encouraged him to go farther south, and he bought land in the Fort Myers area. The grounds were mostly scrub grass and wild vegetation plants, but he also found bamboo, a natural fiber that Edison experimented with as a filament for an incandescent light bulb.

Mina had an enormous influence over the property’s landscape and helped it become a lush tropical garden for her, their family, and their guests to enjoy.

Edison came here with his friend and business partner, Ezra Gilliland, and they decided to build adjacent winter estates. Gilliland was known for his mechanical, technical, and sales expertise that helped Edison manufacture telegraph equipment, the electric pen, and the phonograph.

Since the materials for building the houses were precut and milled in Maine to be sent to the building site, and every part was “planed, sized, cut, and marked to place” with instructions, hired workmen in Florida could assemble it correctly and efficiently.

Several shipments containing “planks, boards, shingles, windows, and sashes” made their way south by boat, arriving in January of 1886. It only took a few months for these workmen to complete both structures.

caretaker’s house and yard

A section of the next building was on the grounds when Edison purchased the property from cattleman Samuel Summerlin. In developing plans for the estates, Edison decided to keep the house and use it for his caretaker and his family so they could live here throughout the year. It was expanded and improved over the years.

Edison relied on local help to run the estate, as well as staff sent from his main home in West Orange, New Jersey. Staff positions included general agents, caretakers, gardeners, cooks, and drivers.

McGregor Blvd., the street in front of the house, continued for years to be road that cattle were moved along. (Can you imagine the noise and the smell?) Edison used the land on the east side of the street as a large domestic support area. Storage buildings, equipment, a truck garden, and even a horse were located there.

On the west side of the street, along with the houses and the Caretaker’s House, was a similar space but on a smaller scale. In the early years, wheelbarrows, wagons, ladders, rakes, and garden tools were often visible. A warehouse was built here to be used to store the materials for the houses during construction. It was moved to the east side in 1913.

A large chicken house and run were located close to the house. The staff and the family welcomed fresh eggs and chickens every day. This large structure was razed when the existing cistern (read on) was built in 1919, and a smaller house and run were then built.

The Caretaker’s House is an example of a classic Florida Cracker House and was the only structure on the grounds when Edison purchased the property. It was built on property straddling a cattle trail called Wire Road that’s now known as McGregor Blvd. and was used by cattlemen as they drove their herds south to be shipped to Cuba. The building is one of the oldest standing structures in Fort Myers.

Here’s a description of a Cracker Home according to AI:

“Early Florida ‘cracker’ homes were simple, wood-framed structures built by rural settlers in the late 1800s to adapt to the local climate. Key features included elevated foundations to protect from floods, wide covered porches for shade, and designs that maximized airflow through features like opposing windows and dog-trot breezeways to stay cool before air conditioning.”

Sounds like a practical home in its environment.

Ever wondered what the term “cracker” came from? We seem to use it in a negative way today, but that’s not how it started out.

The information with the man sitting in the next picture holding a cattle drover’s whip tells us what a cracker is.

Edison Pool Complex

The original 50′ x 20′ pool, one of the first residential pools, was built in 1910 and is believed to have been constructed using Edison Portland Cement.

Built in 1919, this reinforced concrete structure was built to collect and store 40,000 gallons of rainwater for household use. It has 9-inch thick walls, a vaulted roof, and stepped parapet walls on the gable ends. The side walls are buttressed to provide the strength needed to hold the large volume of water. A diving platform provided challenges to Edison’s family and guests.

In a 1928 remodel, the Pool House was added with changing rooms, a shower, and a Tea House.

Hurricane Ian in 2022 caused a storm surge from the river onto the property to wash out the soil from the base of the cistern, causing it to sink on the river side when the waters receded. This shift affected the two-level diving board platform that was attached to the gable wall of the cistern, and the combination of water and wind destroyed it.

Edison’s laboratory was transformed into his outdoor study

Originally Edison wanted to include a laboratory for his Florida estate. While looking forward to leisure time, he also wanted a place to pursue his inventing. The 1886 laboratory had equipment for mechanical and chemical experiments. Compared to the $12,000 he spent on building and furnishing his home, he spent $16,000 on the laboratory. Much of what ended up in the lab came from his various companies, including the dynamo that was powered by a coal-fired steam boiler; he provided electricity for the estate starting in 1898—11 years earlier than the city of Fort Myers, which became electrified in 1898.

In 1928, Henry Ford convinced Edison to give him the Fort Myers laboratory to add to his collection at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. (If you’ve never been to Greenfield Village and Henry Ford’s Museum next door, please put it on your bucket list. I can’t wait to go back and take in more of what’s there.) In return, Ford financed the construction of a study for Edison and the Moonlight Garden behind it, and made improvements to the swimming pool area.

moonlight garden

Mina Edison decided to create a more traditional garden space after the laboratory was removed and sent to Michigan. Originally the garden featured densely pack perennial plants that would have been used in northern climates. As she got to know the Florida heat and climate better, she changed the foliage to Italian cypress, azaleas, lilies, begonias, and bougainvillea.

grounds around the buildings

During the early 1900s, Florida “Snowbirds” loved seeing exotic, local animals. Regulations about keeping them didn’t exist at that time, and the Edisons enjoyed this tropical pet craze. In 1904, Edison’s youngest son Theodore, age 6, returned to New Jersey from a stay in Florida with 5 baby alligators that he kept in a tub outside their home. One afternoon while Mina was serving tea to a group of ladies, Theodore wanted to show off his “pets” but couldn’t hold on to all of them. They slithered under the table, alarming the ladies.

In the 1920s, The Edisons introduced peacocks to the grounds and kept a parrot on the property. Their pet pelican was named Jerry and is shown in the following picture.

Also in residence were raccoons, a pigeon, a dog, a gopher, chickens, a cow, a calf, and two alligators.

Now onto the Edisons’ home, Seminole Lodge.