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FORT MYERS |
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FORT MYERS , fifty miles south, may lack the ιlan of Sarasota, but
it's nonetheless one of the up-and-coming communities of the southwest
coast. Fortunately, most of its recent growth has occurred on the north
side of the wide Caloosahatchee River, which the town straddles,
allowing the traditional center, along the waterway's south shore, to
remain relatively unspoiled.
Once across the river, US-41 strikes downtown Fort Myers, picturesquely
nestled on the water's edge. Here, the Fort Myers Historical Museum ,
2300 Peck St (Tues-Sat 9am-4pm; $2.50), provides thorough insights into
the town's past, including the exploits of Dr Franklin Miles, the local
man who developed Alka Seltzer.
In 1885, six years after inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison
collapsed from exhaustion and was instructed by his doctor to find a
warm working environment or face an early death. Vacationing in Florida,
the 37-year-old Edison bought fourteen acres of land on the banks of the
Caloosahatchee and cleared a section of it to spend his remaining
winters (he lived to be 84) at what became the Edison Winter Home , 2350
McGregor Blvd, a mile west of downtown (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm;
guided tours every half-hour; $12; an extra $2 allows you entry into the
Ford Winter Home). The tours begin in the gardens, planted with such
exotics as African Sausage trees and wild orchids. The house (which you
can glimpse only through the windows), though, is an anticlimax, its
plainness probably due to the fact that Edison spent most of his waking
hours inside the laboratory , attempting to turn the latex-rich sap of
Solidago edisonii (a strain of goldenrod weed he developed) into rubber.
However, when the tour reaches the engrossing museum the full impact of
Edison's achievements becomes apparent: a design for an improved ticker-tape
machine provided him with the funds for the experiments that led to the
creation of the phonograph in 1877, and financed research that resulted
in the incandescent light bulb. Here, too, you'll see some of the
ungainly cinema projectors derived from Edison's Kinetoscope - which
brought him a million dollars a year in royalties from 1907. Next door,
the uninspiring Ford Winter Home , bought by Henry Ford in 1915, is open
for viewing (tours as for Edison Home). The banyan tree outside the
ticket office is the largest tree in the state, grown by Edison from a
seedling.
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Vacation Rentals in Fort Myers |
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from $49.77
USD