Tuesday, February 18th – Historic Fort Myers

 

 

We spent a good part of the morning working on solving geocache puzzles. Barb and I were still trying to identify birds while Cordell and Jim were working on University of Kansas/Florida State University facts. Since Jim and Barb are graduates from KU, we thought this would be an interesting puzzle for them. The guys finally came up with an answer and since the web site had a checker, we were able determine that they had figured the correct coordinates which directed us to a mural in Fort Myers.
 

 

We made a stop on our drive into town so that Barb could buy a sun hat. The four of us took part in selecting just the right hat for her.

 

 

Once we arrived at the mural we had to gather further information and make calculations based on what we saw in the mural. We most likely would never have seen this mural had it not been for this geocache since it is tucked back in between some buildings. It depicts the part played by black troops defending the Fort Myers during the Civil War.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final GPS coordinates took us to a statue in a park that was almost exactly at the same spot where Cordell and I had sat for the Grand Parade a few days before. Little did we know then that a geocache was hiding only a few feet away from us. The last time anyone had visited this cache was in November and when we didn’t find it right away, I began to think it was missing. Surely with all those people attending the festival during this month, someone must have seen it and taken it away. Finally, Cordell found it in a place where all four of us had looked and not seen it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some more time walking around in the town and we learned that it was incorporated in 1885 with a community of 349 people. The first royal palm trees were planted in 1897.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a beautiful oak tree stump that had an American eagle carved in it by Marlin Miller, a nationally acclaimed woodworking artist and Florida resident. This tree began its growth about the same time the U.S. Constitution was being drafted. It grew so large that it took 5 adults grasping hands to reach around it. Throughout the years various efforts were made to prevent the outer limbs from breaking. However, there came a time when a decision was made that the tree had to go. A suggestion was made to use the tree base and part of the stump to immortalize the landmark which sat at the Lee County Courthouse for a century.
 

 

 

We had our lunch at a restaurant where Cordell and I eaten last week. They have a nice menu, but we all especially liked their quiche.
 

 

Next, we toured the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. Thomas Edison purchased his property in 1885 and Henry Ford bought his in 1916.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvey Firestone gave a banyan tree to Thomas Edison in 1925. At that time, the tree was 4’ high when it was planted on this property. Today it is the largest banyan tree in the continental United States and is about an acre in diameter. Thomas Edison did extensive research in pursuing a domestic source of natural rubber. This type of tree produces a milky white sap (latex) that can be used to create rubber.  He accumulated 2,332 patents worldwide for his inventions with 1,093 of them being in the United States.

 

There is a wide varied of plants growing all over these beautiful estates. We didn’t have time to see as many of them as we wished and plan to return another day just to walk among them.

 

The sun set before we had prepared our dinner, so we ate inside tonight. We watched a movie and ate popcorn.