#12 An Interesting Place

We have been staying at the Koreshan State Historic Site campground. The first weekend we were here, the park hosted an antique car show. Quite a few restored cars and motorcycles were on display.

With its dense foliage, this campground, like many here in Florida, has pretty private sites, lots of sand, and lots of ants. Our campsite is just beyond the tall slash pine on the left.

Just 4 sites down from us a nature path that winds along the Estero River – no swimming, because of possible alligators! It’s a nice place to walk the dog, but we don’t let him get too close to the river bank. On one walk we heard a huge "belly flop" sound, but by the time we looked, couldn't see anything. It might have been a large tortoise or a gator. This fellow didn’t seem worried, however.

The real claim to fame for this park is the Koreshan Unity Settlement. It’s a historic site with many buildings on the National Historic Register. And guess what? The founder, Dr. Cyrus Teed  (Cyrus = Koresh in Hebrew) brought his followers here from --- you guessed it --- Chicago in 1896 to form the Koreshan Unity, a sect that believed in communal living and property, and for members, celibacy. No tobacco or liquor were permitted. The sect had many positive aspects, including Orchards, Victorian and Vegetable Gardens, machine shops, education programs and even a massive engine and generator to provide electricity for the settlement and surrounding area. One of their beliefs was that the earth surrounded the universe, as depicted in this original artifact below.

And they even made some attempts to prove it.

To the left in the above photo, a community of 10 million people is envisioned. 

Fairbanks Morse Twin Cylinder - Circa 1926

Interesting that in the commune, where most lived in the bunk house, the founder, who was considered the Koreshan Unity Diety, had a large home as did seven women (“Planets” of the church) who came with him from Chicago. The latter were well-off folks who ceded their personal wealth to the church, as did all church members. 

 'Planet's House'

The last Koreshan Unity member passed away in 1981, and she gave the settlement to the State, with the caveat that the state would maintain it intact as the Koreshan community. We’re glad swhe did.

Have you ever heard of “Reciprocity” as it relates to public attractions, like zoos or gardens? Reciprocity means that if you are a member of one attraction, some others will honor the membership with free or reduced admission. For example, at Edison’s winter home in Fort Meyers, we could pay something between $24 and $50 (for both) entrance fees, depending upon which areas and tours we wanted to take. Instead, we decided to get a one year family membership for $85 that entitled us to see all of the places on the estate, get two free tour tickets ($10 value), and to get reciprocal entrance to some other places in Florida and other states (list provided – Cantigny and the Morton Arboretum are included, for example). For no extra cost, we could also sign up all of our grandkids, and they get free or discounted admission from those public places offering  reciprocity. We have already used our Edison membership for half off at the Naples Botanical Gardens.  Anyhow, you might be smart to check into a family membership and reciprocity when you go to some of these public attractions. We also got an annual membership in the Mote Aquarium, which has quite a few reciprocity agreements across the US.

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were good friends, Ford having worked in one of Edison's businesses in Detroit early in his career. They had adjoining estates in Fort Meyers, and Ford usually spent two weeks at his winter estate when Edison was in residence.

Both homes, but especially Edison's, have large gardens with many native and non native plants and trees. Edison brought many plants and trees into Florida from all over the world in his search to develop synthetic rubber.

Ford's home was purchased in 1916, about 20 years after Edison's. 

The Edison estate tour included tours of the lab he built to develop synthetic rubber in 1928 as well as a walk through the Edison Museum where many of his early inventions, including the phonograph, movie projector, dictaphone and others were on display.

Much of Edison's wealth came from the development and production of batteries. This electric "truck" was used in an Elgin factory for 55 years until it was retired in the '50's.

Edison is the only person to have applied for patents for 65 consecutive years! And when he passed away in 1931, his estate was valued at $31 million, compared to Henry Ford's $1billion when he passed in the late '40's. 

This week we also spent another few hours on a Naples beach and part of another day searching for a parking spot at one of the Sanibel Island beaches - with no luck! Oh, well.....

One of the interesting things about camping in Florida State Parks (at least the ones we have camped in) is that because of the vegetation and foliage, you feel like you are in a remote area, but you may actually be quite close to civilization. We have mentioned that there are many small defunct strip malls down here in Florida, but to be fair, there are a lot of thriving shopping districts and malls too. About a mile from Koreshan State Historic Site, for example, we have a very busy, large shopping center with many familiar stores.

 An interesting place, Florida!