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Augusta Author Shines Light on Edison's Maine Ties

November 19, 2008 -

AUGUSTA -- Who would have thought Thomas Edison relied on Maine lumber to build a winter home in Florida?

He did. Augusta native Michele Wehrwein Albion has written about it in her new book, "The Florida Life of Thomas Edison," that chronicles the life of Thomas Edison while in Fort Myers, Fla.

Wehrwein Albion will discuss her book at Lithgow Library at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The book is both a portrait of Edison and record of the vast changes to the region of Fort Myers, as it grew from a remote area into a popular modern resort area.

When Edison decided in 1885 to build a winter retreat and laboratory in Fort Myers, the region was regarded as a frontier outpost.

His new second wife, young Ohio-born Mina Miller, arrived in Fort Myers in 1886 and initially found the lack of running water and abundance of bugs miserable. But she grew to love the place and became a strong advocate for the people and the environment.

Wehrwein Albion, a Cony High School graduate who now lives in Dover, N.H., said she became interested in Thomas Edison's life in Fort Myers when she became the first professional curator of his home on the Gulf Coast in 1989.

"The lumber for the house is entirely cut by the Kennebec Framing Company in Fairfield, Maine, and shipped from Maine all the way down to Florida by barge," she said Thursday. "I guess at the time, they had good cypress wood in Florida so it was kind of a mystery to vendors there. But he had been dealing with vendors in Maine all along when he was working in New Jersey.

"At the time, Maine was a producer of a lot of raw materials. That was the connection. He had been using vendors from Maine for years for his lab and work, so those were the vendors he felt comfortable with."

She said that, at the time, Edison's primary residence and laboratory were in Menlo Park, N.J.

Some of the other Maine materials used in the construction of the Florida house were lumber, coal and horse hair for plaster.

She said Edison's home was a large-scale, comfortable, two-story wooden structure with wide porches and lattice work. But compared to other homes going up then, it was very understated, she said.

Wehrwein Albion said she worked at the Old Fort Western museum and the Maine State Museum as a youth. Those experiences were the spark that ignited a career in museums and as a history writer.

"I was privileged to grow up surrounded by so much history," she said. "Working at the region's museums helped me to understand the relationship between our past and who we ultimately become."

The 41-year-old mother of four attended the University of Maine, where she earned a degree in history, and obtained her master's degree at George Washington University. She worked at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., before living in Florida.

Wehrwein Albion's mother, Marjorie Marcotte, lives in Augusta and her father, Gregory Wehrwein, in Farmingdale.

Her book, published by the University Press of Florida, received favorable reviews in Publishers Weekly.

The book is available at Barnes & Noble, where she also is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Nov. 29.

Sue Clain, member of Lithgow's programming committee, said Wehrwein Albion is one of many cultural events scheduled each month at the library. For more information, call 626-2415 or visit www.lithgow.lib. me.us.

BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer, Kennebec Journal, 11/14/2008


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