The Sunny South # 3: Heading Down to Fort Myers

The weather has been almost as brutal for Florida as in the rest of the continent.  I know some people will laugh incredulously, but the simple truth is that many buildings in Florida, especially older ones, were built without such little luxuries as central heating, insulation and thermal windows.  Suddenly a temperature near or below the freezing point becomes a much more serious matter than it would be in climes where such temperatures are a routine part of winter.  

Even driving south to Fort Myers didn't make much of a difference.  A day or three like this is actually not all that uncommon in Florida during the winter, and I come prepared for it, but this colder spell has been hanging on through the whole week, and that's unusual.

Anyway, before I get to my adventures in and around Fort Myers, I have to share a visit I made on New Year's Day when it was cold and rainy all day.  Half an hour drive east and southeast from North Redington Beach brought me to downtown St. Petersburg, and there I went to see the spectacular Salvador Dali Museum.  It was opened in 2011 to house a substantial collection of the Spanish artist's works, the largest such collection outside Europe.  

Of course, the art is fascinating but I didn't try photographing that.  My camera is too hard to control in an indoor setting with indirect lighting.  But the architecture of the museum is just as fascinating to me, so here are a few pictures to show the building, outside and in.  As you approach from the parking area, it looks like just another concrete cube -- that is, until you get closer and see the sculptural water pool and fountain rock emerging out of the corner of the structure.

As you continue around the walls, a free-form glass shape gradually emerges, wrapping itself around the northeast corner of the concrete box and up over the top.

Architect Yann Weymouth calls his flowing glass shape "The Enigma."  Hard to think of a name more suited to either the shape or the work of the artist housed within to which it pays tribute.  Inside the building, the Enigma houses a gift shop and café on the ground floor, and a rising ellipsoidal atrium with a soaring spiral form that is best described as a sculpture supporting a staircase -- since the spiral rises far beyond the top of the stairs.

This design isn't a mere eccentricity on the part of the architect, although it certainly has a whimsical air about it.  It's also a practical solution to the problem of protecting the valuable artworks from the depredations of hurricanes.  The galleries are all housed in the concrete shell (which is 18 inches thick) and on the third floor -- hopefully, well above the reach of any storm surge.   Meanwhile, the sculptural Enigma adds intriguing fluidity to the public spaces and interior of the building, and creates not only natural light within the structure but a natural link from the outside world to the inside contents of the collection.  I think it's a first-rate piece of architecture.

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The drive south to Fort Myers from the Tampa/St. Pete area is, frankly, boring.  It's 3 hours or so of continuous freeway driving, punctuated only by interchanges with clusters of hotels, restaurants, and gas stations.  We'll pass lightly over the memory of it and get to the good stuff.

At least, if it didn't get much warmer, it got sunny -- which makes a huge difference.  One of my essential go-to activities in Fort Myers is to drive over the 5-km long causeway to Sanibel and Captiva Islands at least once -- and even twice if I can manage the time. 

Sanibel and Captiva are unique in my experience of Florida.  They're natural islands (with only limited man-made portions) which have managed to preserve their natural state to a pretty impressive degree, given the amount of tourist development.  Everywhere you go, roads are shaded over with old trees and buildings are surrounded by aged groves.

Businesses generally have very unobtrusive signage, and buildings rarely rise any higher than 3 storeys or so.  Many of the restaurants and shops are housed in old classic Florida buildings which leak cold air and true island character in equal proportions.  Brilliant colours are part of that island character.

An eccentric sense of humour fits the atmosphere well too, as shown outside one of my favourite Florida eateries -- the Island Cow.

The crown jewel of Sanibel for me is the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  I always go there whenever I can.  There's a lengthy paved road winding through the refuge, giving excellent views of the natural bayous which are the home of thousands upon thousands of water birds of many species.  Nature at its most collaborative is illustrated by the fact that the same sandbars, on each visit, seem to be populated by different bird species.  This time I got a cormorant doing what I suspected might be the mating dance -- either that, or the bird was suffering from a severe case of what was called (when I was young) the heebie-jeebies.

There was a sizable flock of white pelicans, birds which I have not yet seen anywhere else along the Gulf coast -- in other places it's always been the brown or grey varieties.

Crowds of egrets perched in the trees.

The real beauties of the day, a small flock of roseate spoonbills.

Back in Fort Myers proper, I fitted in a walk in the Bell Tower Shops, an outdoor mall with a distinct Spanish flavour.  It's a peaceful place when you're early enough in the day.

My first-time visit for this stage of the trip (amazing, when I've been to Fort Myers four or five times previously) was to the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  These two famous entrepreneurs and inventors became friends and business associates.  This set up the opportunity, when the home next to Edison's came on the market, for Ford to purchase it.  The two adjoining properties operate as a single visitor attraction, which includes a substantial museum and gift shop, across the road on what was originally the "back 40" (to quote an old expression) of Edison's land.

Like many creative minds, Edison had a study built separately from the main house.  This is a recent replica (the original is in Henry Ford's Greenfield Village museum community in Michigan).

Behind the study is Mina Edison's "Moonlight Garden."  I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot for the guide to say, "You really ought to see it by moonlight" when the property closes daily at 5:00pm!

The swimming pool and adjoining sun room appears modest in size by modern standards, but it was the first private swimming pool ever built in Florida.

Inside the house, the dining room includes an interesting set of chimes used to call family and guests for dinner.  Much more civilized sound than the old British tradition of a giant gong.

A full length shot of the multi-section house, with portions for bedrooms, living rooms, guest quarters, and servants' quarters, all in separate buildings joined by breezeways.  The building layout, broad shady porches, and profusion of large French windows all testify to how Florida's heat and humidity were best controlled before the advent of air conditioning.

Stroll through a gate in a picket fence to the Henry Ford property, which is also beautiful although more modest in both size and décor.  But here there is a beautiful display of vintage vehicles.

Forget about upstairs/downstairs.  In the rear part of this house it was servants left side/family right side (the front of the house was all family space).

Henry Ford's secretary had a private room, a bathroom shared with Mrs. Ford's maid, and a very early model typewriter on which to work.

Among the many displays in the museum, this beautifully preserved early Cadillac caught my eye.  Wait... what?  A Cadillac at a museum about Henry Ford?  And that's how I found out that Ford had actually joined the Cadillac motor company for a short time, before launching out on his own, with historic results.

Outside the museum, this banyan tree was planted by Edison in 1927, making it 90 years old this year.  It was one of a number of trees of the ficus family which he cultivated as part of his research into producing a reliable local supply of rubber for the tires used at his friend's car factory.  By the way, this entire impressive forest of greenery is one single banyan tree.  The lengthy branches drop supporting branches down to the ground, which then take root and become additional tree trunks.  No wonder it's known in folklore as "the walking tree"!

On my last night in Fort Myers, I had a hilarious dinner with an old friend, a former student whom I had not seen for more years than either of us could count.

And finally, lest you be deceived by all the brilliant sunshine, the highest temperature I experienced in Fort Myers was a windy 15 degrees Celsius.  Definitely not beach or pool weather!  The next leg of the trip holds out hope of better things to come.