Indoor Activities at Edison & Ford Winter Estates for Rainy Days

FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 16, 2018) – Edison & Ford Winter Estates offers indoor activities for Southwest Florida visitors and residents. The National Historic Chemical Landmark botanic laboratory and the air-conditioned, 15,000-square-foot museum are open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On days when it’s raining or too hot to spend time outdoors, visitors have the option of purchasing an admission ticket for the museum and lab only. The cost of the museum and lab ticket is $15 for adults, $12 for teens (ages 13-19), $8 for children (ages 6-12) and children 5 years old and younger are admitted free.
The museum offers two new exhibits: the Smithsonian Spark!Lab and the Timeline of Innovation. The Smithsonian Spark!Lab is a hands-on, interactive exhibit for families and children. A series of rotating stations with themes such as vehicle construction, microscope plant exploration, flying machines and Snap Circuits challenge visitors to place themselves in the mindset of an inventor.
The Timeline of Innovation is a chronological exhibit of both Edison’s and Ford’s major innovations. The timeline highlights achievements in dozens of fields and showcases some of the most interesting artifacts. It also provides visitors with a narrative on how Edison, Ford and others built on earlier innovations to create their own inventions. Visitors also can attend daily phonograph demonstrations and listen to Edison’s favorite invention.
Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone formed the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in 1927. The three men were on a quest to find a natural source for producing rubber in the United States and tested more than 17,000 plants in the botanic laboratory, now a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Today, visitors can walk through the lab, which was operational until 1936.
In addition to the lab and museum, the site includes Thomas Edison’s and Henry Ford’s winter homes, caretaker’s houses, the swimming pool complex, Edison’s study and the Moonlight Garden, all on more than 20 acres of botanic gardens. It’s open every day of the year, except Thanksgiving and Christmas.