Located in Fort Myers on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, Edison and Ford Winter Estates is a must-see destination for travelers and those who love history. This property is the location of both Thomas Edison’s and Henry Ford’s winter homes, set among beautiful botanical gardens. Here you can learn about the lives of these famous inventors by touring their historic homes and an extensive museum with exhibits on their inventions. This National Historic Landmark is a great day trip or family outing!
THE STORY BEHIND EDISON AND FORD WINTER ESTATES
Famous inventor Thomas Edison purchased the property along the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers in 1885 with the plan to create a winter retreat where he and his family could enjoy Florida’s warm weather. This retreat eventually became known as Seminole Lodge and included multiple houses, sweeping gardens, and a laboratory where Edison could continue his work on their trips to Florida. The Edisons thoroughly enjoyed numerous activities such as swimming and boating at their Florida estate. Thomas Edison called it his “Eden” and credited the retreat with adding years to his life.
Henry Ford, who was close friends with Thomas Edison, visited the Edisons at their Florida home in 1914, and in 1916 decided to purchase the house next door to the Edisons. The Fords traveled to their winter Florida home for two weeks every February to celebrate Edison’s birthday.
Florida appealed to industrialists in the early 1900’s due to its abundant natural resources, mild climate, and the growth of tourism that led to a land boom. Thomas Edison foresaw the rapid growth that Fort Myers would experience and famously said, “There is only one Fort Myers, and 90 million people will find this out.”
Thomas Edison passed away in 1931, and in 1947 his wife, Mina Edison, gifted the estate to the city of Fort Myers in memory of her husband. In 1988, Henry Ford’s winter home was sold to the city of Fort Myers and opened to the public in 1990. Today, Fort Myers is ranked as the fastest growing major city in the United States and is known for its beautiful Gulf Coast beaches, downtown River District, host of outdoor activities such as shelling and birdwatching, and of course the beautiful and historic winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
TOURING THE ESTATES
When we visited Edison and Ford Winter Estates, we opted to do the self-guided tour, which includes the historic homes and botanical gardens. We used the free audio app (available in the app store for Apple and Android phones). This app provides different informational audio segments to listen to at marked signs throughout the grounds and takes about an hour to complete. Edison’s laboratory and the museum are not included in the audio app and take additional time to complete.
The self-guided tour is included with basic admission, which costs $28/adult, $20/teen, and $15 for children ages 6 to 12. Children five and under are free. Edison and Ford Winter Estates is a member of the American Horticultural Society Reciprocal Garden Network and the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, so if you are a member of a partner garden or museum, you can receive reciprocal admission at Edison and Ford Winter Estates.
If you would prefer to have a guided tour, historians lead educational tours multiple times a day, starting at approximately 10am and ending around 2pm. These tours last about sixty minutes and do not include the laboratory or museum. Tickets for admission including a guided tour are $35/adult, $28/teen, and $20 for children ages 6-12. Members of reciprocal gardens or museums pay $10 for the guided tour.
For additional fees, you can also take the Automotive Tour, which focuses on Ford’s automobile collection and lasts about ninety minutes. This tour is only available on Mondays at 10:30am.
The Inside the Homes Tour is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am. This tour lasts approximately ninety minutes and includes rooms inside the historic houses that are not accessible on the other tours. Although this is the most expensive of the tour options (adult tickets are $50), this tour is limited to a small group in order to facilitate questions and discussion. (Please note that children under seven are not permitted on this tour.)
All of the tour options include both Edison’s and Ford’s winter homes, as well as several of Ford’s vintage automobiles, artifacts, and the scenic botanical gardens. The gardens, in particular Mina Edison’s Moonlight Garden, as well as the riverfront and the large porches of the historic homes, all make excellent photography spots.
THE EDISON BOTANICAL GARDENS
The botanical gardens at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates cover over twenty acres and include over 1,000 plants from six different continents. Many of the plants were originally used in Edison’s botanical research. For example, Thomas Edison experimented with many different plants, including Goldenrod, in his search for a homegrown rubber to replace the rubber imports from Asia.
Some of the highlights include the Moonlight Garden, a large formal garden filled with shrubs and fragrant night-blooming flowers. Fruit trees such as mango, jackfruit, and lychee trees dot the landscape, and more than sixty different species of palm trees line the walkways, a reminder of Edison’s efforts to plant palm trees around Fort Myers, which led to the nickname “City of Palms.”
Our favorite part of the botanical gardens was the giant banyan tree near the entrance to the museum. This banyan tree was originally imported from India as part of Edison’s quest to establish a domestic source of rubber. The tree was planted in the late 1920’s at only four feet tall. Today, it stands at 74-feet-tall and is 393 inches around in circumference. Its canopy is an acre wide!
THE MUSEUM EXPERIENCE
After touring the historical homes and enjoying the peaceful gardens, step inside the museum and explore a variety of historical exhibits, interactive displays, and inventions. Here you can peruse a gallery of Ford’s antique automobiles and view many of Edison’s inventions, such as early motion-picture equipment, a phonograph, and light bulb developments.
Adjacent to the museum is Edison’s laboratory, where you can see Edison’s original research equipment, such as test tubes and machinery. The lab is designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark and tells the story of Edison’s rubber-research operation.
Overall, we love how Edison and Ford Winter Estates blends history, innovation, and Florida’s natural beauty. It is ideal for families, photographers, and anyone wanting to dive deeper into Florida history. We encourage you to add it to your Fort Myers itinerary!
Looking for other things to do near Fort Myers? Check out our South Florida page here!
Sarah
I am the main writer and website designer for Florida Unveiled. I love the parts of Florida visitors don’t often see: the tea-colored water that flows in cypress-laden rivers; the chorus of frogs after a hard rain; the rustle of palmetto as an unseen creature scampers by. Some of my favorite places in Florida are the Everglades, the Keys, Smyrna Dunes Park, Bok Tower Gardens, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, and St. Augustine’s Historic District.
