>>This program is brough to you in part by the Paul B. Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation a proud partner of WUCF and the Central Florid community.

>>On this edition of Florida Road Trip, we're headed to the Gulf Coast to uncover the story of Fort Myers, where history stretches back thousands of years.

>>The Calusa were very revered, and I would say the other native tribes were scared of them.

>>Then, fast forward a few centuries when a world famous inventor came calling.

>>When Edison arrived here in 1885, it was just a very small cattle town.

There's no roads.

The only way to even get t this property was by the river.

>>Plus, the fort may be gone, but that doesn't mean you can't step inside its walls.

>>What VR allows us to do is allows us to take you back and see the actual fort and experience it hands-on.

>>From ancient power t scientific progress to immersive tech.

You'll find it all right here in Fort Myers.

Buckle up, Florida Road Trip is back on the road and ready to explore.

♪♪ Hi there and welcome to Florida Road Trip.

I'm Scott Fais.

Long before Fort Myers becam a tropical paradise, it was home to one of the most powerful indigenous groups in Florida.

Later, it became home to one of the most luxurious forts in all of the United States.

The story of Fort Myers begins well before it became a city.

>>The Calusa were her from probably 6,000 years ago.

There's a site in Pine Islan Sound called Useppa Island, and that was inhabited by the Calusa for at least 6,000 years.

There's a site that's very significan in Estero Bay called Mound Key, and it is believed to have been inhabited from about 100 A.D., maybe until the mid 1750s.

>>The Calusa made their home i what is now the Fort Myers area for thousands of years, and their influence was felt far beyond.

But what set them apart from many other Native American groups is how they survived.

>>They relied on the surrounding estuary and Estero Bay for their food, and 95% or so of their food came from the bay, whether it was fish or shellfish.

And they were very prominent, very powerful chiefdom where they had control over other tribe and other chiefdoms around them.

I would say the other native tribes were scared of them.

What's interesting is the Calusa didn't really have control of the food source.

Normally, when a tribe or a community has control of the food source, then they have control of their neighboring communities.

They don't really know what happened to them.

There' no Calusa still existing today.

Some of the married into the Seminole tribe.

Or they traveled to Cuba, or they died of a warfare or diseases.

>>Fast forward to the 1800s and the area's military importance came into play.

First came Fort Harvey.

Then in 1850, a new fort wa established, named Fort Myers.

>>Majo General Twiggs in February 14th, 1850, he establishes Fort Myers.

He names Fort Myers for his daughter in love, the officer Abraham C Myers, who actually, fun fact never stepped foot in Fort Myers.

>>Built for the Seminole Wars, and then later used by the Unio soldiers during the Civil War, the fort became more than a military post.

It stood as a spectacle.

>>It was a luxury fort.

It really was.

It was just a beautiful, beautiful fort.

It had shell walkways, groomed horses, white glove soldiers, buildings made of yellow pine.

57 buildings.

We had a state of the art hospital here.

Cost them $30,000 to build.

Bowling alley.

It was just a soldier's dream.

>>After the Civil War, the fort was abandoned.

That's until one man started a new chapter for it.

>>There was a ma by the name of Manuel Gonzalez, and he was a boat captain.

He would bring mail and supplies between Key West and Tampa, and he often set and picked up in the fort.

And he knew it would just be the perfect place to homestead after the war.

So in 1866, after the war he comes to make his homestead and realize it's been completely looted by pioneer and settlers around the state.

They've come in and they've completely ransacked and taken everything the floorboards, the roofs, the windows.

So when he got here, he realized it wasn't the state of the art fort he had remembered from running mail.

>>Even still, Gonzalez stayed with his son to build a home.

Today, the sight of that home and the fort before it is where the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center is located in downtown Fort Myers.

>>It's a beautiful building.

It was a post office in the 30s and you can still see the gold mailboxes.

>>Gonzalez may be considere the key pioneer of Fort Myers, but several others followed.

Laying the groundwork for a new town.

>>He came with his family friend, Joseph Vivas.

So those were the two first families of Fort Myers.

Later they would be joined by William Clay, who we would know as a moonshiner.

And hence we have Whiskey Creek, where he set up a still.

And then came John Powell.

Powel planted our first orange groves.

So those are the first four families, which would become a little village in the town of Fort Myers.

It really became a town when Captain F. A. Henry settled here with all his cousins.

And he brought the cattle industry with him.

And so we would be known from that point on as quite the cowboy town.

>>Fort Myers has always served as a place of innovation, from ancient Calus shell mounds to military forts to cattle drives.

It's a place shaped by a pioneering spirit that still echoe through southwest Florida today.

>>I do like the culture.

I like the history.

It's really home to me.

I've been here so long.

It's just got a great hometown feel to it still, even though it's growing.

♪♪ >>Sometimes as a kid, studying histor doesn't sound all that exciting.

Except what if you could explore a sunken ship or ho inside a virtual time machine?

Here at the IMAG, kids and kids at heart can both explore the stories that shape Fort Myers past.

>>A lot of the people that live in Fort Myers weren't born here, so they don't know too much of the history.

Being able to come to a place like this allows them to understand wh Fort Myers is called Fort Myers.

If there was an actual fort here, and what else also happened here?

There was a massive Indian civilization that lived here before the European colonization, and they had an impressive history that's very important to learn about.

So the Calusa were among the earliest civilizations that lived in this area.

>>They're credite with digging canals for fishing and passageways for their canoes.

First thing that you primaril see when you walk into this area is our giant dugout canoe that we have here.

It isn't a real artifact, but it is a replica that was donated to us kind of showcasing how they were able to navigate through the canals.

>>History on display here includes artifacts used for hunting, gathering, and fishing.

Also on display a look at the Seminole Indian impac on the Southwest Florida area.

Part of that history is tied to the fort built in the area on the behalf of the United States for the Seminole Indian Wars.

After the third battle, the fort was abandoned, but the museum has an interactive way visitors can experienc what life was like at the fort.

>>So we like to incorporate history and science.

So we created a virtual reality exhibit.

What VR allows us to do is allows us to take you back and see the actual fort and experience it hand on, versus us having a replica in a case that you're not able to really interact with.

And this actually gives you more of a lasting impression, so you're more likely to remember what the fort looks like and experience it if you're being immersed in i versus having it in the replica.

So it allows us to take peopl back to that time and enjoy it.

We did extensive research on it, and we had a lot of maps and a lot of drawings about what the fort actually looks like.

So we relied on that and a lot of historical societies as well here, and we work with a lot of people around here to make sure that we are being as accurate as possible.

>>Fort Myers didn't just play role in early American history.

During World War II, the city helped trai thousands of airmen for battle.

>>The Army built Buckingham Army Airfield as a training for their gunnery school.

They trained Air Force men on using guns while they were actually in the planes.

It shipped them over to Europ to eventually fight in the war.

>>After the war, the United States no longer needed the bases and shut them down.

But the stories of the planes and the people who served at these bases continued long after they closed.

>>In 1942, a group went ou on a training mission on a B-26, and they crashed.

The pilots, they couldn't find the plane.

They couldn't find the crash or anything.

So the Army Air Force just labeled it as a pilot error.

And it wasn't until the early 2000s, when there was a group of treasure hunters that were actually looking for a B-26 that flew out of Cuba after Castro took over.

And it crashed somewhere along the Gulf.

And they were looking for it because it said that it had Spanish treasure.

So they were looking for all of that, and they actually ended up finding this propeller here and this plane crash.

And they thought it was that.

When they realized it wasn't actually that, they did more of a thorough investigation, and they realize that it was actually the plane that crashed in 1942.

>>One more must-see?

The USS Mohawk.

Well, not the actual one, but a pretty cool replica of the World War II Coast Guard ship that now lives on as an artificial reef off the coast of Fort Myers.

>>It's still there.

You can dive down there and see the actual ship.

If you can't dive down there, you can actually see our interactive exhibit that we've got here.

Allows you to see what the ship looks like down in the reef.

Or you can actually see it here.

We use it kind of as an artificial reef for ourselves as well.

We've got some native fish that are on the Gulf Coast.

>>Whether you're into Native American history, military battles, or artificial reefs.

There is something for everyone of every age at the IMAG.

♪♪ You may think of For Myers for its sunshine and sand.

Yet history buffs kno Fort Myers as the winter escape for two of the most innovative minds in American history.

Sure, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford changed the world, but they also left an impact on Fort Myers.

Today, the place where they worked, lived, and played still stands.

>>We have the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford here, as well as 20 plus acres of botanical gardens, fully stocked artifact museum and the Botanic Research Laboratory, as well.

>>In the late 1800s, Fort Myers was a small cattle town reachable only by river, including this property where Edison built his winter home.

>>Edison was here in Fort Myers in 1885.

He is originally from New Jersey, and he's one of the first snowbirds you could say for the area.

He came here to escap the harsh winters of New Jersey, and he was recommended by his doctors at the tim to find somewhere warmer to be.

And eventually, when him and Henry Ford became friends he was one of Edison's visitors here in Fort Myers.

>>Edison bought 13 acres along the river, and is credited with a big par of getting the city recognized.

>>Edison really just brought lot of attention to Fort Myers.

He was already a very notable inventor.

He has acquired over 1,000 U.S.

patents in his lifetime.

>>One of his biggest inventions of all time, of course, was the light bulb.

And when he arrived in Fort Myers, he hadn't finalized that prevention of the light bulb yet.

And one of the things that he noticed that was very unique of the property was bamboo.

We have a lot of bamboo growing on the property, and that was here in 1885.

Edison may arrived in Fort Myers with the idea, but it was the bamboo growing on the property that sparked a major breakthrough when he tried using it as a filament.

And he didn't stop there.

Edison's winter retreat became a research hub for botanical experiments, including one of his most ambitious ideas: finding a domestic source for rubber.

>>Thomas Edison, Henr Ford, and Harvey Firestone came together to create the Edison Botanic Resource Corporation, and the three of them really funded the project of rubber research.

So though Edison front lined it, the three of those men together worked together and really were trying to fin that domestic source of rubber following the First World War.

>>Edison's gardens became his lab.

He tested everything from banyan tree to fragrant plants and edibles.

Many of these plants are stil growing on the property today.

We have the largest banyan tree in the continental United States.

It is the second larges in the United States as a whole because the largest is in Hawaii but we're very close second, and it' one of our champion trees here.

It's over 100 years old, planted by Thomas Edison himself, and he tested it for rubber research at the time.

>>So how did Henry Ford fit in?

Well like many innovators of his era, he looked up to Edison, and their friendshi turned into neighborly visits.

>>Today, you can walk the same paths as these legends did and even peek inside their homes.

Both homes still stand and are preserved, as you would have found them more than a century ago.

>>All the furnishings in bot his Edison main home and guest home are original to the family, so you could really see and visualize how they lived here, as well as plants that are alive and thriving.

>>And if you're into cars this pit stop won't disappoint.

>>I would say a huge staple for us is our antique cars.

All of our cars here do still run, and Henry Ford put a lot of thought into the cars back then, built them in such ways that they've lasted over the years and we put a lot of preservation efforts in keeping those cars running as well.

We have one really unique modified Model-T called the Calliope, and it has a built in organ in the back.

[Calliope playing] >>Today, the Edison and Ford Estates are more than a museum.

They're a place where history, horticulture, and invention all come to life.

From bamboo to light bulbs to banyan trees.

These inventor left their mark on Fort Myers.

And more than a century later, their legacy still lights up Florida's southwest coast.

>>You can read about things all day, but it's very different when you come and experience it yourself and see how people are able to live a completely different time than we did.

There was no AC.

The homes are just very open and on the river are surprisingly cool.

♪♪ >>For more than a century, this city has welcomed baseball greats.

Greetings from Fort Myers, wher every spring palms and pitches go hand in hand.

>>It began in 1914.

Louisvill Colonels, the minor league team, but the first major league team was the Philadelphia A's in 1925.

They came here under the guidance of Conni Mack, their owner and manager.

There was a gentleman in town named R.Q.

Richards who's a pharmacist, civic booster, businessman.

He wanted Fort Myers to join the list of Florida cities with spring training teams.

>>Richards sent letters to all 16 major league teams, but only one bit at the opportunity to visit Southwest Florida Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's.

And when the team arrived in Fort Myers, they weren't alone in their enthusiasm.

Thomas Edison himself was all in on baseball.

>>He read about the games every day in the newspaper, and he went out to a couple of practices and practice hitting the ball, and he's really confident.

He is Thomas Edison, you have to be confident.

And at one point, he actually hit a ball that Ty Cobb pitched to him.

Now Cobb wasn't on the mound, but still it was pretty exciting.

And he hit Cobb in the shoulder and knocked him down.

>>One spring Edison invited the entire team, including the player wives and children, to his home, where he swapped stories about alligators and handed out Cuban cigars.

>>Mrs.

Edison is curious because the Cuban cigars are put in their pocket and they're not smoking them.

And to find out, they wanted it as a souvenir.

So Mr.

Edison called for another round of cigar Cuban cigars so they could smoke them, and then some could be saved as a souvenir.

>>This connectio between baseball and Fort Myers wasn't just about star power.

It also put the town on the map.

Stories of the sunny skies and green fields travel back north via sportswriters, givin Fort Myers a boost in tourism.

>>The five sportswriters were here covering the As.

It's a big deal about that.

It's February, it's cold in Philadelphia, cold in Saint Louis was cold wherever up north.

And they're writing stories from Fort Myers talking about the sunshine, the palm trees, the gentle breeze, the green grass.

And that helped publicize Fort Myers up north.

>>The Athletics trained in Fort Myers until 1936.

And over time, many other teams made the city their spring home, including the Clevelan Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Kansas City Royals.

But it wasn't always a continuous run of baseball glory.

There were seasons when Fort Myers diamonds sat quiet and empty.

>>1943 to 45 there's no spring training in Florida because of something called World War II.

>>It wasn't just the war that caused the breaks.

After the Royals left in 1987, there was another gap until the next minor league team, the Minnesota Twins, came to town in 1991.

And that team brought something else back as well.

Championship magic.

One of the interesting perks of spring training Fort Myers, is every team that came here got better.

And people jok about pixie dust in Fort Myers when you step on that field.

Or now at JetBlue Park or Hammond Stadium at the Lee Health Sports Complex, your team gets better.

That's been the case going back to the 20s, and with every team that came here.

Terry Park hosted legends like Roberto Clemente, Lou Gehrig and Bo Jackson on its field.

And yes, Babe Rut played on their field as well.

On loan for just one day.

>>Yeah.

This is bizarre.

This would never happen today.

Connie Mack wrote a letter to Miller Huggins, the manager of the Yankees, asking if you could borrow babe Ruth for a day.

So Babe Ruth came down here, suited up in a game.

And then minor league Milwaukee Brewers and were town maybe 15,000.

I got 5,000 people here to see Babe Ruth, but alas, the babe did not deliver.

He went 0-4, I don't think h hit a ball out of the infield.

>>Today, Terry Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it's fields are still alive with the sounds of the game no played by athletes of all ages.

They're stepping onto the same mound where some of baseball's greatest legends once stood.

Fort Myers' place in basebal history is now forever secure.

♪♪ >>When visitors strol the grounds of the Mound House, they are literally atop 2,000 years of history from ancient Calusa engineers to Seminole fishers to pioneering families.

The stories of the generations who helped shaped southwest Florida are right here.

>>Fort Myers Beach has a real treasure.

That is Mound House.

Mound House has nearly 2,00 years of continuous occupation.

For Fort Myers Beach, we have the earlier Calusa village history.

We have the later Seminole early Latino settler rancho period and then finally the Anglo American pioneer.

So three cultural periods all on the same three acres.

So it's really not only a great example of the history found in this specific site, but also it reflects the broader history of Fort Myers Beach and coastal southwest Florida.

>>The Mound Hous sits on what's called a midden, which is a human made riser built from layers of shells.

>>A shell mound is a common term.

You can also use the word shell midden.

It's a collection of shells.

Now there are typically four different mounds in Florida.

And for this specific example we're what's known as a domestic mound.

So this mound was built knowingly and intentionally by the indigenous people, the Calusa in this case.

And it was built layer by layer, generation by generation.

There are many different theories to wh the Calusa built shell mounds, but the leading theory is is a form of flood mitigation.

They would build shell mounds, construct their villages and towns on top, thus being safer from rising sea during our dangerous hurricanes.

Thankfully, with the house and the museum being built on top of one of these shel mounds, the Calusa are actually still helping us today i preserving the town's history.

>>The mound site is more than just archeology.

It's a journey through three distinct cultural periods of time.

>>There's actually this middle period that is very little researched, and we're actually one of the few sites that are accessible for visitors to learn about this history.

And that is what's known as the Rancho period or the Rancho period.

This was a good 150 to 200 yea period during the 17 and early 1800s, where Seminole and early Latino settlers from across the Spanish Empire came her to Spanish Florida and establish commercial fisheries right here along the southwest Florida coast.

>>That middle chapter of history connects the Calusa era to the 20th century pioneer story.

New settlers arrived and buil a house on the historic midden.

>>William and Milia Case, they were empty nesters seeking a new start here in southwest Florida like many people still do today.

And they decided to come down here and live on this shell mound.

Now, we don't really know why, but what makes the house so unique?

That color of that brick, that white color is actually a mixture of Portland cement, sand and crushed shells.

>>Over time, the house expanded into what you can see today.

>>The earliest part was constructed in 1906, formerly a small Tudor style kitchen.

Then in 1909, the oldest still remaining part of the house was a 1909 living room, where visitors can see a replica of it today.

And then finally the second floor, the main part of the house.

That last period of additions was completed in 1921.

Several families have lived in the home and on the site, but for the home itself it was primarily the Case family.

>>In 2000, the town of For Myers Beach took over ownership of the site with support from local residents.

>>There's a 15 year process o doing archeological excavations and historic preservation to the 1921 William H. Case House.

Finally, in 2015, enough funding and work was done to open a museum, where today we provide public programs and preserve the various collections and artifacts excavated over the years.

So it really depends on what you're looking for.

And you'll usually find yourself pretty surprised visiting the Mound House.

>>Today, the Mound House brings history to life.

Visitors can tour the museum, kayak through the waterway, or even try their hand at a historic skill.

>>With our interactive Calusa tours, visitors not only get to handle replica Calusa artifacts for both their tools and ceremonial objects, but the best part of it they get to try their hand at using an atlatl.

Now, an atlatl is a spear thrower, a cousin of the bow and arrow.

So probably one of the few museums you can actually start throwing things and have a weapons demonstration.

>>From the Calus midden to the pioneer homestead, the Mound House is just on example of the layers of history found in the area.

>>There's a nice universal history here in Fort Myers, and I think that makes Fort Myers pretty unique.

♪♪ >>That's a wrap on our journey through the history of Fort Myers, a city founded by pioneers and inventors and rooted in history and innovation.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Scott Fais.

We'll see you down the road for the next edition of Florida Road Trip.

Until then, safe travels everyone.

♪♪ >>This program is brough to you in part by the Paul B. Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF and th Central Florida community.