Koreshan Part 2

Springtime is here. Well not quite by the calendar but the wildlife definitely thinks that Spring has sprung. While having dinner in our dinette one evening and looking out over our side yard, we were entertained by two marsh rabbits doing what rabbits do best. And they also hop really well. Then the next evening at dinner, we had two doves using our yard for a little get together. Life was definitely heating up. Actually we are amazed by the amount of wildlife that we do see. Many different varieties of birds inhabit the bushes, rabbits skit about, gopher tortoises come out to grab a grassy snack and a few snakes quickly make their way away from us.

One of the other benefits of this park is that it is close to lots of shopping including the largest outlet mall that I have ever seen. More than 140 stores are open and more are in the building stage. Just about every name brand is there with many bargoons to be had. Karen heard about it -- where else -- while doing laundry -- from another grandmother who had just stocked up on grandchild clothes. The next day we were off and, 6 hours later, we had done half the mall. Although we managed to get some clothes for Sophie, I was worried that she would grow out of them while we were still shopping. No pictures of this – just imagine more stores than you can count.

We haven't just been shopping, we have also been enjoying the great bike riding around the area. We stopped to get a picture of the Great White Egret that was walking the path in front of us, but I put this picture in instead so Sophie can see her Avi.

We also did a trip to the Edison/Ford Winter Residence Museum. Both Henry Ford and Thomas Edison vacationed in Fort Myers to avoid the winter chill. They were great lifelong friends and had an amazing history. It is interesting that Edison was trying to commercialize an electric car at the same time as Ford was developing the capability to produce a cheap, gas powered car. The rest is history.

This is the view off the front porch of the Edison home. The river in the background is the Caloosahatchee. The river is shallow and, in 1886, Edison built a 1500 foot dock out to the deep water to bring in building materials for his house. In fact, Edison had the whole house built in New Jersey, labelled and taken apart, then shipped to Fort Myers for re-assembly – a prefab home.

One of their friends, a fellow named Harvey Firestone, brought a 4 foot banyon tree from India to help with Edison's research for a domestic source of latex for rubber. That tree, behind Karen, occupies over an acre at present. It would make an awesome home for a tree house.

Edison spent the last years of his life trying to get a commercial source of latex and had this lab built on his estate.

Edison is probably best known for the light bulb. One of the reasons that Edison purchased this property was for the bamboo behind Karen – a possible source of carbon for the light bulb filament. One of his quotes was that he wanted to make light bulbs so cheap that only the rich could afford candles.

Now it is time to move on. We have loved our time at this park, and it will be a tough act to follow. Our next stop is Oscar Scherer State park near Sarasota.