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Edison & Ford Winter Estates: Traveler Reviews

2350 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, FL 33901
239-334-7419
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Ranked #5 of 47 attractions in Fort Myers
Type: Historic Sites, Gardens
Owner description: Visitors to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers will enjoy 20 acres of historical buildings, historic gardens, the Edison Botanic Research... more » Owner description: Visitors to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers will enjoy 20 acres of historical buildings, historic gardens, the Edison Botanic Research Lab and the Estates Museum. The newly restored buildings include the Edison Main House, Guest House, and Caretaker’s House and the Ford House. The 1929 historic landscape is throughout the property including the award winning Moonlight Garden. The Estates Museum has hundreds of inventions, artifacts and special exhibits. « less
Useful Information: Bathroom facilities, Activities for older children, Wheelchair access
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776 reviews from our community

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Naples, Florida
Top Contributor
61 reviews 61 reviews
4 attraction reviews
Reviews in 30 cities Reviews in 30 cities
38 helpful votes 38 helpful votes
“Worth a visit”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed December 29, 2012

If you are in the Fort Myers area, you should really put this on your list. It's open all year during the day but during the Christmas season, they decorate the property with beautiful Christmas lights (invented by Edison) stay open until 9:00 PM and have evening guided tours which offer a whole different perspective. You can do a self-guided tour for $15 per person, but for $5 more I would recommend the one hour plus guided tour. The guides are very knowledgeable and entertaining. During busy times, you may want to get there well before tour time because they limit the number of people they take on the guided tours. There's also a "behind the scenes" tour in the morning that sounded interesting. Might try that next time.

You will see Edison's winter home and adjacent guest home with original furniture, You can't go in but everything is visible from the outside. Henry Ford was a buddy of Edison's and bought the house next door and you can visit that as well. Some Ford vehicles from the early days are on display. The grounds also contain Edison's lab and other buildings as well as a museum. For plant lovers, there's an amazing collection of tropical plants on the grounds that Edison collected over the years.

Nice way to spend a couple of hours and learn about some fascinating and influential people who had a huge influence on how we live today.

Visited December 2012
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Ontario
Senior Contributor
40 reviews 40 reviews
11 attraction reviews
Reviews in 19 cities Reviews in 19 cities
23 helpful votes 23 helpful votes
“Volunteers Run it”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed December 26, 2012

The Banyan Tree is worth seeing and the lab is good, but its horribly expensive for a place that has hundreds of volunteers - someone must be making some high salaries to justify the price - its not Busch Gardens

Visited February 2012
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Troy, Michigan
Contributor
19 reviews 19 reviews
11 attraction reviews
Reviews in 12 cities Reviews in 12 cities
10 helpful votes 10 helpful votes
“Wonderful place to visit on a beautiful day...”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed December 25, 2012

We really loved and was in awe of Mr. Edison and all that he had accomplished. This was his winter home and later also became home to Mr. Ford on an adjoining property. We are from the Detroit area and in comparison to Greenfield Village and Museum this was much smaller scale, and also mostly about the Edisons; with some info about the Ford and Firestone families as well. Beautiful grounds to walk about and we were just shy of a few days to see it all lit up for the holidays. I would include this site on another visit to the area as it is not an all day event and can walk around as you please and/or go on a guided tour.

Visited November 2012
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Fort Myers, Florida
Senior Contributor
27 reviews 27 reviews
12 attraction reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“A must see at least once or twice!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed December 24, 2012

I have been through this 3 times with family visiting. Just for the history is well worth the money and time. The labortory was great! Nice gift shop and grounds too.

Visited January 2012
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Clearwater, Florida, United States
Senior Contributor
24 reviews 24 reviews
9 attraction reviews
Reviews in 15 cities Reviews in 15 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“A Walk Back in Time”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed December 24, 2012

If you are a big fan of Edison or Ford or simply into American history this is the place for you. I am history teacher and simply loved the place. My husband and I enjoyed the audio walk through where visitors are able to meander through the estate at their own place and still listen to neat facts. In addition, during the Christmas season the estate is lit up with lights at night. Well worth the visit!

Visited December 2012
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