August 4, 2007 - Lovers Key (Edison & Ford Estates)

Well, it's time for the tourist trip -- and some stuff at "home".

Yup, we're about to check out the Ft. Myers, FL, winter vacation homes of some of the people who helped shape this great country of ours.  It's mostly Thomas Edison's place as Ford was a friend of his who eventually bought the house next door.  I guess Edison really didn't take a vacation as such, he just came down here because of the milder winter weather, and just kept on working.  He was quite the inventor and was keen on helping others advance their ideas as well.  Among his friends was a fellow by the name of Firestone.  Yeah, that one.  The one with the tires.  Naturally, Ford and Firestone would get to know each other, but how did Edison fit into the mix?  Well, to begin with, Ford was an employee of Edison originally.  Edison encouraged him to continue with his efforts at building a gasoline powered vehicle and financed some of his early efforts. 

Anyway, back to the beginning (entrance) to this historic site.  The big Banyan tree you see, located right at the entrance, is believed to be the second largest of its kind in the world (the one in Hawaii is pretty big and there's one in India (where they originate) that's pretty big too, so one of those is probably the largest).  It was presented to the Edisons as a gift from Harvey Firestone when it was just four feet tall; it was planted in 1925.   Some very large limbs has to be cut because they were sending roots down to where the buildings were located; nevertheless, its canopy is over an acre in diameter.  Barb and I have pictures of us (somewhere)  standing under the big one in Hawaii.  They are amazing trees!

Then the obligatory "Go stand by the....." pictures.  That's me doing what I've always done.  Looking up to Edison, and Barb doing what she's always done.  Admiring big trees.

Now, there's all kinds of stories about the different buildings on the preserved site about who owned them when and all that.  This place was originally a stop-over for the "crackers" driving cattle.  McGregor Blvd is named after one of the cattlemen, and it was the trail used by the herders to bring the cattle to Port Charlotte for shipping.  The herders (known as cowboys in the mid-west, TX, etc.) were called "crackers" because of the noise of their long whips used to encourage the cattle to go here or there.  The cattle weren't hit with the whips as much as they didn't like the "crack" and would move away from it.  I've been told that the sound of a good cracker can be heard from over 1/2 mile away.

Because we're "seniors" and because we were there in the first couple of hours of opening, we got a twofer.  Two of us for the price of one.  Pleasant surprise to us.  We didn't think about trying to use our National Park pass, which may have given us free admission, because it wasn't until later that we learned it was a National Historic Site, and some of them recognize the pass.  Oh well, the twofer was good anyway.

There are guided tours as well as self-guided tours.  We were given these little recorders, and whenever we came upon a numbered sign, we'd press the corresponding number and listen to what it was all about.

We like the wide porches!  Particularly today, when the rain & wind was an on-again, off-again business.  14' wide seems about right to us, like this one.  Plenty of room for furniture and good conversation with room for the kids to run through without messing everything up.  You can get up and move around without stepping on anybody.  Provides plenty of shade besides, and down here that's a good thing.

Symmetry is somehow comforting to me in landscaping, walkways, and such.  This is a very comforting place from my standpoint. 

The fans were a nice touch, and I'd usually be able to find some reason to stand by them, like reading about these wonderful vehicles. 

See that hat I'm wearing?  It's from a visit to Quartzsite, AZ, during the annual migration of RVers on the West Coast.  It lives in the Jeep in case I forget my Tilley or if there's more sun than I think is good for my ears and don't want to wear a ball cap.  Well, as you remember from the last update, my Tilley died a horrible death.  I wrote to the company, sent my poor old hat along with the receipt from January 28, 1991, asking if they could "fix" it, and Tilley sent me a new hat for free the same week.  Can it get any better than that?  No wonder they're still in business and expanding their line.  Now we can buy sox, underwear, dressy jackets, and all kinds of slacks, shorts, and a variety of hats from them.  I always liked the product, have a pair of zip-off slacks and vest, Barb has a pair of their shorts, and next time we replace sox & underwear we're going to try some of theirs.

My dad was 13 when this truck was built, and he loved to tell stories about he and his brothers and the Model T's they had around the ranch.  Got some pictures of him with one in our cargo trailer-storage, but the body was different than this, and now I know why.

Apparently both these vehicles get to run around for parades and special days.  Glad to see that.  Things like this should be enjoyed, not stuck away in some musty corner with only a few select people getting to see them.

I've taken the recorder and stuck it in my shirt pocket with the lanyard around my neck.

Good thing they didn't live in the State Park as almost every tree here is "exotic"--not native of Florida (State Parks eradicate exotic plants).  Firestone was interested in getting some kind of domestic source for rubber for his tires and Ford was too.  So the ever-inventor Edison helped by planting all kinds of different latex producing trees, shrubs, and plants.  Eventually settled on a type of Goldenrod, but more on that later.

Can you imagine a more tranquil setting in which to think about new stuff?  Or modifying existing stuff?  That's the Caloosahatchee River in the background, and in the photo on the right you can see the pier jutting way out into the river.  The river is very shallow and the deep channel is nearly 1/4 mile from the shoreline.  This amazing tree with its bizarre root structure is a type of fig.

Climbing that tree would be bad enough, but can you imagine slipping and sliding back down again?

The tree with the huge stickers on it is the Floss Silk Tree.  Interesting images from that name, none of which seem to match what I think about while looking at it.

Below are pictures of this beautiful Crape Myrtle, one of my mothers favorite trees.

For some reason, these trees also seem to do well in Sacramento, CA, and I suppose other places as well

Some of the landscaping is obviously replacement for hurricane removed trees, etc. like these Royal Palms.

Don't be calling this a "chandelier", it's an "Electrolier" thank you very much.  Edison tried hard to get the name to stick, differentiating it from those beautiful hanging devices that held candles.  His, of course, is electric.  These bulbs are not original, but it's still possible to build bulbs to match the originals, and we saw plenty of them.

The pretty colored "flowers" aren't flowers at all.  They're the leaves that just haven't turned green yet!  The actual flower is that little white blossom.

This series was taken as we walked out to the pier.  It was originally even longer than it is today, and there was a gazebo on the end and the owners and guests would go out there some evenings to enjoy the breezes.  Quite a combination of hard work, energy, and genteel living all at the same time.

In his later years, his wife had a small office built for Edison closer to the house where he could go and study and do minor experiments.  It was surrounded by the partially above-ground swimming pool, and this lovely garden that had recently been re-sodded.  Couldn't tell if there were fish in that little pond or not. 

The flower is on a shrub just outside this garden.

It's called an Angel Trumpet.  Aptly named we thought.

Orchids are air plants, aka epiphytes.  In other words, they don't get nutrients from their root system.  The roots are only to hold the plant on some host.  Mrs. Edison really liked orchids, and they were all over the place.  The current staff accommodates her memory by continuing to grow orchids all over the place, and the way they do it is by strapping the plant to a tree (in this case, a huge Cuban Fig) until the roots gain a foothold.

The orchid from above has these pretty yellow blossoms.

The above building houses Edison's original lab.  It's quite a site.  Sorry, light wasn't good enough for a decent picture.  But it had all the paraphernalia of a genuine pharmaceutical lab and was quite impressive.  After the lab, we headed for the museum and enjoyed some air-conditioning for the rest of the afternoon.  The "chuck wagon" was about as full a kitchen as these fellows had back home.  Excursions into the wilderness to hunt, fish, and just goof off was an annual affair, and sometimes the wives would go along too.

Really fun to see some of the original cars and other stuff these people had used while here.  Some things have been removed to a museum near Dearborn, MI, and some things brought in from other residences, but it still made for a great day of gawking for us.

Well, gee.  That's not all THAT old now, is it.

There were lots of things that worked back in "the day", and we were impressed by the fancy painting and in some cases engraving on the tools.  See that #29 on the display case?  We'd push 2-9 on our little recorders and hear all about the things that were in there.  Part of the admission fee, and we liked it a lot.  That way if we didn't have any interest in whatever was there we could just walk by, unlike a truly guided tour.

Technology is truly a fun topic for me.  Can you imagine what this man would be doing if he were here right now?

We've obviously transitioned from the Edison (that's a bust of the man) into the Ford section.  Barb and I had a 1949 Ford F-1 pickup truck, and it's engine was just like this one.  Made me feel right at home, looking at this 1941 version of the flathead V8.

A last look at another of the cars used by the people here, and then we're back home, and on the beach.  First time I'd seen a sand dollar that was alive and had signs of life.  Barb's seen loads of them, of course.  Interesting critters.

A wonderfully encrusted conch....and very much alive.  We were out on a weekend doing our turtle patrol, and the tide was out quite a bit, exposing some of these older, living shells (the orange is the live animal inside).

These shots are just to prove that once in a while I'll go to the beach too.  And this happened to be on a Saturday, and I'll not make that mistake again.  Besides having to call the rangers to tell these people with the dog to get it off the beach (yeah, it was cute riding on its board) I had my line snagged by some people in a boat, I had some guy trip on my line as he was walking along the beach looking for a place to fish, and it was just general mayhem.  I go fishing to enjoy nature.  Some peace and quiet.  If I catch a fish there's a 95% chance I'm going to release it, so yeah, I'm not really after fish when I'm fishing.  Easier to just fish from my back yard with the cold drinks and toilet close at hand and not crowded.

And with this last bit of "wild" life (Barb's shot), we'll end this update.  That's a Fighting Conch (Barb collects the empty shells) with its odd-looking inhabitant with the wonderfully designed eyes and remarkable "foot."  Evolution indeed--I don't think so!!

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