A Fort Myers laboratory built in 1886 for $16,000 once stood here and included a steam-powered dynamo generator. In 1928, Henry Ford persuaded Thomas Edison to give him the laboratory for Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. In return, Ford financed the construction of this study, the Moonlight Garden behind it, and improvements to the swimming pool area. Edison primarily used the study in the evenings and on Saturday afternoons instead of walking across the street to his new botanical laboratory. The study also hosted a series of birthday interviews in which reporters questioned him on a variety of topics. Following a recommendation from Clara Ford, Mina Edison hired pioneering landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman to design the Moonlight Garden, which features a reflecting pond surrounded by blue and white flowers for viewing on moonlit evenings.

Photo: Brandon D Cross

Photo: Brandon D Cross

Fort Myers, Florida · USA