2025 southeast swing - part 12: Thomas Edison in Florida - his home and guest house - Travel With Us

Edison was smart enough to build a home that would work well in the south Florida climate instead of building a home like he was used to in the Northeast. As his family grew and friends started to visit (especially Henry Ford), he changed and added to their home.

This was our first view of the house with a row of Royal Palms along the walkway.

Edison found that the weather in St. Augustine, Fl., was too cold and wet for him during the winter months. He read about the fishing and hunting expeditions further south along the west side of the state and traveled here with his business partner and friend, Ezra Gilliland. Edison fell in love with the area and bought some property.

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

The original design of the Main House included a kitchen and dining room. The Main House now includes a library, study, bedrooms (upstairs), and Edison’s den.

The porch on two sides of the house allowed for air flow through the windows and doors and views of the river and walkway to the house.

Barney taking off his shoe covers lets us see the view of the lawn and river.

The inside library area is part of the L-shape design of the house to keep the room open and help with air flow.

The other section of the L-shape is a sitting area that includes the phonograph.

The first floor has a study for Edison to use so he didn’t have to leave the house.

The study included this Ediphone that Edison invented; it’s a type of dictating machine that is a predecessor to the modern Dictaphone.

The original design of the Main House included a kitchen and dining room that were outside of the house. In 1906, the Edisons remodeled the original kitchen and dining room to serve as family bedroom suites. At this time Edison was able to purchase the home next to his home and renovated it to be a Guest House with a kitchen for his family and any guests.

With the house renovation, he added this covered walkway to the Edisons’ bedroom.

One view of their bedroom. It’s hard to see, but the table between the windows has a “telephone” that we’ll talk about soon.

This view of the bedroom shows the bathroom and the closet.

We weren’t able to go upstairs, but the next picture shows what the upstairs looked like around 1929. Originally the separate wing served as a kitchen; above it were rooms for the support staff. After the 1906 renovation, the upstairs room above the Edisons’ bedroom was used by their sons, Charles and Theodore.

The main portion of the second floor now includes three rooms and a bathroom that was added in 1902.

One room was a spare bedroom for close family friends. The original master bedroom was then used by the Edisons’ daughter, Madeleine, with an additional sitting room for her.

Guest House

When Edison bought the next-door house, he added this covered breezeway to connect the houses.

Large-scale renovations took place in the Guest House from 1908-1910, including the installation of an extensive call system (so smart). By pressing one of the buttons installed in rooms throughout the estate, a bell in the Guest House Butler’s Pantry rang, alerting staff. The system was improved in the 1920s when a voice intercom system was installed. In this breezeway between the Dining Room and Kitchen, you can see the Graybar Electric central call point without it earpiece.

In the Master Bedroom, what looks like a rotary telephone (remember I mentioned it when we were looking at the Edisons’ bedroom?) is actually a three-button interphone.

It allowed the Edisons to communicate directly with the wall-mounted interphone by the Kitchen and the Garage in the Caretaker’s House. The third button, labeled “maid,” was believed to connect to the second floor bedrooms where the housekeeping staff and cook lived.

The Guest House includes a sitting room, dining room, kitchen, 3 guest bedrooms upstairs, and quarters for serving staff.

Thomas Edison was one of the most famous people of his time, and he shared this estate with other celebrities of the day. Famous guests included Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, President-elect Herbert Hoover, and many others.

Their oldest child and only daughter, Madeleine, had “rules” for guests at Seminole Lodge. It showed her keen sense of humor and caustic wit.

Which one of Madeline’s Rules made you laugh?

A view of the sitting room looking toward the dining room.

The dinner chimes next to Thomas Edison’s chair allowed him to call the staff and move the dinner along. He was deaf so really couldn’t hear the dinner conversation, so he could move the meal along by using the chimes.

Seminole Lodge kitchen for the Edisons and their guests

The kitchen that we’ll see today looks like what it did in 1929 as it evolved over time to accommodate the changing Edison household. By 1919, a large hot water heater was placed on the lattice porch adjacent to the kitchen to provide hot water for cooking and laundry. We’ll see this lattice porch soon.

Their cook was Queenie Adams. She worked in the Edison kitchen from 1926 until her death in 1937 and lived in the African-American neighborhood that’s now called Dunbar in Fort Myers.

Her cooking was so loved by the family that she traveled to New Jersey with the family on several trips.

Queenie became ill in December 1936 when she was with the family in New Jersey. Mina chartered a train car back to Fort Myers so she could be reunited with her family near the end of her life. She died a few weeks later on January 11. Several of Queenie’s favorite recipes are available in a recipe book in the Museum Shop.

The kitchen work area where Queenie did much of her cooking.

This actual icebox has space for the block of ice in the bottom left storage area.

Per AI, “Old Roper gas stoves are known for being large, robust appliances with high capacity, often including features like two ovens, multiple burners, and a griddle.”