Thomas Edison statue returns home to Edison Ford Winter Estates

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A 3,300 pound statue at the Edison Restaurant was wrapped up, dismounted, and taken down the street to an old home.

“It looked like a giant Egyptian mummified figure,” said Chris Pendleton, president of the Edison Ford Winter Estates.

The statue of Thomas Edison, carved out of a tree the inventor planted himself, was taken back home Wednesday morning to the estates.

“The wood that it is made out of, is from a tree that was planted in 1916,” said Mike Cosden, a curator at the Edison Ford Winter Estates.

He says the tree was damaged in 1996. The city then sold pieces of it, and one of those pieces, is now the 10-foot-tall statue which is back at the estate, nearly 100 years after the inventor placed it in the ground.

“The statue was created 20 years ago, so it’s back home now,” said Pendleton. “It was certainly a big undertaking for us to move something that was almost 2 tons.”

Moving the iconic Fort Myers piece of history took a lot of man power.

“We used 10 men to move it,” said Jeffrey Guminiak, president of Modern Movers.

The statue was first placed in front of the Edison Mall and then moved to the Edison Restaurant.  You can see it for yourself starting this Sunday afternoon from 2 p.m.- 5 p.m.