If you took our advice yesterday to grab a copy of Uncommon Friends by Jim Newton, you’ll probably also want to add a visit to the beautiful waterfront memorial fountain that stands as tribute to these famous winter residents of Fort Myers, as well.
Located on the scenic banks of the Caloosahatchee River in the northwest corner of the downtown Fort Myers River District is Centennial Park, a beautiful ten-acre community plaza that commemorates the first one hundred years of the City of Fort Myers. The centerpiece of the park is the Uncommon Friends sculpture, depicting a seated Henry Ford, kneeling Harvey Firestone and reclining Thomas Edison gathered around a campfire on a 20-foot island set in the center of a 40-foot diameter pool.
Sculptor D.J. Wilkins spent a year researching the relationship shared by Edison, Ford and Firestone. An article from ArtSWFL.com explains:
In 1914, the threesome began making camping trips into the Florida Everglades. Calling themselves The Vagabonds, over the next decade they pioneered recreational travel. “Although we don’t know exactly how the idea for the first camping journey into Florida’s wild country came about,” stated the Edison Ford Winter Estates, “it seems likely that Edison saw the trip as an adventure and an opportunity to share his beloved Eden with his friends.” Besides The Vagabonds, other campers included naturalist John Burroughs and James D. Newton.
Each camper had a pre-designated role. Edison arranged a storage battery set-up that provided light and electricity for the camp. Firestone stocked Ford’s cars with the finest provisions and hired cooks to prepare their food. Ford supplied the cars, served as the caravan’s mechanic, scouted out the camp sites and chopped all the wood for their campfires. He even rigged two trucks with drinking water tanks and work tables.
On the strength of Edison’s 1,093 and Ford’s 165 patents, both inventors were famous and highly popular, but Edison and Ford were adept at self-promotion and rarely missed an opportunity to publicize their activities. Thus, they invited the press to come along on their camping trips, and Ford even brought along the Ford Motor Company newsreel cameras. Each destination became a publicity stop mobbed by their adoring public. In this way, the City of Fort Myers became the birth place of recreational travel.
To make Uncommon Friends, Wilkins needed to combine the skills of sculptor, landscape architect, swimming pool contractor, plumber and electrician.
He started, of course, with sculptures of Edison, Ford and Firestone. Edison is depicted reclining next to the campfire, possibly listening to something Ford and Firestone are discussing, but his far-off gaze probably belies that he’s working out the parameters of some new invention in his head, as he was known to do from time to time.
Wilkins seated Henry Ford on a chunk of rock at the water’s edge. He’s looking at Firestone, listening intently, a cigar between the fore and middle fingers of his right hand. Firestone is depicted kneeling, saying something to Ford as he lights the campfire with an outstretched right hand.
Today, three men out camping would probably be dressed in T-shirts, shorts and boat shoes or flip flops, but Wilkins has attired Ford, Firestone and Edison in three-piece suits, ties and dress shoes undoubtedly because that’s how men dressed in the 1920s, even in the heat and humidity that typifies this region of the south.
Edison, Ford and Firestone may be the leading men of Uncommon Friends, but Wilkins included a large supporting cast. He designed, cast and produced a host of plants and animals indigenous to southwest Florida including a manatee and her calf, an alligator and five of her offspring, otters, fish and frogs and even a number of lily pads.
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