Southwest Getaways 2008 - (Page 22) Faces & Edifices: A “Famous Folks” Tour of the Southwest Places to Go: Sarasota; Fort Myers; Everglades City and Sanibel Island Things to See: Some of America’s most creative men – inventors, entrepreneurs, showmen and artists – left their mark on Southwest Florida with homes and retreats that reflect their drive and ingenuity. Left: Bar at the Everglades Rod and Gun Club. Photo by William S. Speer. Above: Edison with lightbulb in Fort Myers. In Naples, the Palm Cottage house museum of newspaper publisher Walter Haldeman offers tours hosted by the Naples Historical Society. The museum, situated at the corner of 12th Avenue South and Gulfshore Boulevard, interprets the early days of the cottage, made with local tabby mortar (a mix of oyster, sand, molasses and lime). Once owned by Florida’s largest landowner, Barron Collier, the Everglades Rod and Gun Club has long hosted presidents, rock stars (Mick Jagger, for one) and Hollywood celebrities as well as avid hunters, fishermen and nature lovers – and yet somehow has remained small, rustic and relatively obscure. Places to Stay: Stay at Captiva’s ‘Tween Waters Inn and John Ringling’s art collection at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art will impress even the snootiest of art connoisseurs. It’s a wide-ranging collection of art; the museum also has pieces of the Vanderbilt mansion that Ringling rescued from Rhode Island. Ringling’s adjacent Cà d’Zan mansion, with classical paintings on its ceilings and a marble terrace on Sarasota Bay, is a testament to all the other fineries the Big Top can buy. Ringling’s next-door neighbor, Powel Crosley Jr., invented everything from popular radios to the first compact economy car. At Seagate, his 11,000-square-foot mansion on Sarasota Bay, see plays such as Romeo and Juliet or get married there for a few thousand more. After a visit to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, you may be inspired to go home and tinker with any crumb of an idea. At Edison’s winter digs, you can see his botanical research laboratory, the cot where he took “cat naps” and his botanical garden. The adjacent home of Edison’s good friend Henry Ford has a collection of early Fords that car collectors might beat you with a tire iron for. join a guest list that included Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh and cartoonist J.N. “Ding” Darling. And although the property has been renovated and expanded over the years, you can still rent the original cottages. Do Stop In: There may not be any historic edifices in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, but its natural state has drawn the memorialized cartoonist (as well as thousands of visitors since). – Lynn Waddell When you go: John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 941-359-5700, www.ringling.org The Powel Crosley Estate, 941-722-3244, www.crosleymuseum.com Edison & Ford Winter Estates, 239-334-7419, www.efwefla.org Everglades Rod and Gun Club, 239-695-2101, www.evergladesrodandgun.com J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, 239-472-1100, www.fws.gov/dingdarling 22 VISITFLORIDA.com/southwest http://www.ringling.org http://www.crosleymuseum.com http://www.efwefla.org http://www.evergladesrodandgun.com http://www.fws.gov/dingdarling http://VISITFLORIDA.com/southwest
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