Henry Ford bought some land in Fort Myers to experiment with semi-tropical materials and get away from the Michigan winters. He later talked Thomas Alva Edison, a friend and personal admirer, to move into the house that Ford owned next door. Both are lionized as geniuses and paragons of the American Industrial age (as is typical of such exhibits). Their weaknesses and nastiness are largely ignored (but in all fairness, their distain for their workers, Ford’s brutal treatment of his son, etc. are mentioned). If this scenario is of interest, you may like the estate.
The tours (optional with a guide or with a speaker phone…I suggest both since there appeared to be little overlap) are not dramatic or extensive and the tour guides, who were mostly friendly, seemed harassed by the volume of visitors and somewhat “burnout”, did an OK job. As nearly everyone had commented earlier, it is expensive. There was a long wait for tickets as we watched earlier groups try to negotiate there military status (active duty only) and various hoped-for discounts, only to be rejected in some ways. Some just left. Our sole request for a AAA discount was rejected because that “could only be done ahead of time at the office that was closed”. The grounds were lovely, but the homes were sealed off to keep the pubic out. Picture 3 dozen tourists straining to peer into little houses though dirty windows as the tour guide prattled on for 2 minutes. The lab, in which Edison was supposed to have made major inventions, looked and smelled like someone’s attic with a jumble of filthy bottles, reflex tubes, and junk. The Guide stood outside the building (no room inside, he said) and told the story, then the group was herded through like cattle. The museum was uneven, with some very interesting presentations, and some confusing and disorderly ones. They need a good museum curator with the power and money to get things done and a better plan of exhibition.
