Made Up Of The Inventors' Historic Homes, Laboratory, And A Museum Full Of Inventions, Giving Visitors The Feeling That All Is Possible
It may be one of the most inspiring places in America: The Edison & Ford Winter Estates, which is made up of the inventors' historic homes and laboratory and a museum full of inventions, gives visitors the feeling that anything is possible. There's something for everyone – from gardens and science to exhibits and history – but the biggest draw of the estates is the feelings of empowerment it provides its guests.
Whether guests are meandering through the 20 acres of gardens or touring the museum or botanic research laboratory, visitors are standing where history was created, “where Thomas Edison and Henry Ford talked about what the future would hold,” said Vice President of Community & Visitor Relations Lisa Sbuttoni. “As you walk around the museum you see these quotes dating back from the 1920s... 'America will run out of coal and oil and we need to look at the wind and sun.' This is visionary... And the more you learn about this man... You find out on the tour that Edison was 80 percent deaf. But he created recorded sound and the phonograph. That's amazing. There's story after story... You can't help but get inspired by his genius. You can't help but feel like anything is possible.”
Edison alone was responsible for 1,093 patents in his lifetime. And they were very diverse, said Sbuttoni. There were patents for batteries, cement, electric lights and motion picture. The 15,000 square foot museum “inspires imagination” and “stimulates the senses” with its galleries and collections of inventions, artifacts and exhibits. Visitors can see Edison's telegraph, telephone, x-ray machine and even the custom-made Model T that was gifted to him from Henry Ford, another inspirational visionary.
So how did these two become such great friends? How did the estates come to be?
The two inventors met at the World's Fair. Ford, 16 years younger than Edison, came to the famous inventor with an idea. And Edison had told him to follow his dreams. The dream ended up turning into the Ford Motor Company. Ford had always looked up to Edison, as many people still do.
Edison had already been living at the property for the winter when Ford came to visit him. He ended up buying the house next door. But they weren't only best friends and neighbors.
“During that friendship,” said Sbuttoni, “World War II ended and there was a shortage of rubber. The country was importing it from England. It was very, very, very costly. Edison needed rubber for phonograph, Ford needed it for cars and [fellow inventor and friend] Harvey Samuel Firestone for his tires. Edison and Ford and Firestone got together to combat it. They started their own corporation, establishing the Edison Botanical Research Corp here and built a lab in 1927. The lab was completed in 1929. They tested 17,000 different varieties of plant material in that lab, researching a natural resource of rubber.”
The laboratory at the estates has been restored to resemble the exact way it looked back when Edison and Ford first built it and used it, inspired by old documents and photographs. Anyone who walks into the building can picture the two inventors hard at work inside its walls. And even though Sbuttoni has worked at the estates for over 10 years she still gets a special feeling every time she's there.
She said: “Greatness was created here. I get inspired every time.”
To Sbuttoni, the estate is history, science, horticulture. It's a beautiful and inspiring place to work, where she still learns and sees something new every day.
The Edison estate is another favorite of hers. The house has the original furnishings of the Edison family, including a ton of the original knick-knacks. There's the Chinese Checkers game board that the children used, the original piano they played on...
“I feel a sense of tradition and a sense of my own family history when I'm in those houses,” said Sbuttoni. “One of my favorite rooms in the houses is the kitchen. It's in its own little complex of separate rooms. I was raised in New York and my great-grandfather built our house... There's all these separate rooms. The kitchen has so many details. What I feel and what I have heard visitors say, it's nostalgia. I look at the glassware on the table, the original glassware, and see pieces that belong to my grandma. I feel that's what the houses do for me.”
Offering countless tours, seminars and workshops monthly, there is always something to discover at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. Visitors can learn more about the iconic and internationally known historic figures than they ever thought possible. They get insight into their lives, their inspirations, their creations... But the estate offers more than that.
“It's very important to look at our past to know where our future is going,” said Sbuttoni. “To see how they were visionaries and the American spirit is still alive. It inspires us to be creative. It inspires us to follow our own dreams.”
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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