" -Bob these houses were built in 1885."

" -Yes."

" -Thomas Edison drew the plans for these homes and he gave them to a man named Steven Nye [unk] and he pre-cut these homes and set them down here on sailing schooners and they resembled in 1886."

" -Where did they, where did they come from."

" -Fairfield, Maine. Edison built the first one over here for his, for himself. And this home right here was built for a business associate, Mr. Gilleland [unk]."

" -Aha. But eventually Mr. Edison used both of the houses."

" -Later on they changed ownership a few times and Mr. Edison retained the ownership of this home and actually did some remodeling and used both homes later on in life."

" -Right now you have tours going through the property. How many visitors do you get here every year?"

" -We have over 400,000 people visit the Edison Home, the Botanical Gardens and the Laboratory each year."

" -Fantastic. You know in looking at them, they certainly do have the feel of New England houses with the clabbered walls and the green window shutters and the, the hip grooves. But what really differentiates them is the amount of, amount of porch you've got."

" -Yes what's real nice about these homes Bob is the wide verandas porches. It circles 3 sides of the homes and it made it, by having the wide porches also lend itself for keeping those French doors open year-round."

" -Tell me something about the grounds here. I notice there's some wonderful trees."

" -Many people don't know it but Mr. Edison was an avid botanist."

" -This is a pretty common tree though in the South. This is a Magnolia isn't it?"

" -Yes it is."

" -That's a beautiful bloom. The whole tree is in bloom."

" -Now Robert is this all wild bamboo behind here?"

" -Yes this is a native Florida bamboo and it grows here on the banks of the river and it was in 1885 that Edison saw the bamboo here and he purchased the property. That was used as a filament for his light bulb and that's why he purchased the, the property on the river."

" -The bamboo fiber. Well, could we take a look inside?"

" -We sure can."

" -So was this the Edison's bedroom?"

" -Yes it is. It's kind of a personal room. It is just as it was when the Edisons left it. Here in this bedroom Mrs. Edison had tea. This is where she had tea the last afternoon before she left to go back North for the final time. And when she died in 1947, she left the homes and gardens and everything here in the homes just as they were."

" -That's very touching. Now, it's unusual to have the bedrooms on the ground floor. Did they also have the kitchens and the dining room around here?"

" -Yes, Bob. Most of this house contains the bedrooms and in the other home there are the kitchens and also that was the guest quarters. We could walk over there and I can show you some of those other rooms."

" -Great."

" -Now this is a beautiful little room and that's quite a chandelier. "

" -Yes this is the sitting room and that is a hand-made brass chandelier. One thing of interest that Mr. Edison had direct current here in these homes in the 1880's and the city of Fort Myers didn't get their power plant until the 1900's."

" -So he was the first one as it should be right?"

" -Right, yes."

" -I noticed that he obviously was taking advantage of the sea breezes here this close to the water what with poor air conditioning in Florida you needed all these French doors, right?"

" -He built the home so that he could leave these French doors open year round. There's no windows in the lower part of the centers of either home just doors and by leaving the doors open let the cross-ventilation circle throughout the homes."

" -And this obviously is the dining room and boy what a difference. This is a very formal rooms with a gleam of Mahogany and silver."

" -Yes this is our formal dining room. A lot of famous people ate right here at this dining room table. President Hoover, Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, Luther Burbanks, John Burrows. A lot of famous Americans ate right here with Edison and his family."

" -Now that's quite a light fixture here too."

" -Yes one thing interesting about that. Notice the carbon filament bulbs, Bob. Those have been burning to our knowledge since the 1920's. They burned 10 hours a day, 7 days a week and they've haven't burned out yet. They've--"

" --That's amazing. Why can't we get light bulbs like that?"

" -Well I'll tell you what. I'll explain a little more to you on the chemical laboratory process straight about those bulbs."

" -Great."

" -This laboratory's built in 1928 and he worked on the light bulb here in this laboratory. He inserted the bamboo filament in here and drew a vacuum on the bulb. That was one of the things he did here in this laboratory."

" -Yes. Now you could get a light bulb today that would burn for 60 years but of course planned obsolescence won't allow it. The companies want to keep us buying new light bulbs every once in a while. What other projects did he work on in here?"

" -Edison worked on golden rod rubber research here in this laboratory. Edison, Ford and Firestone formed the Edison Botanical Research Corporation--"

" --And they were trying to find another source for rubber other than the rubber tree."

" -Right. And they found the natural source of rubber from golden rod and they got a source of rubber from golden rod here in Fort Myers."