Visiting the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park in Edison, NJ

Earlier this week, while looking for a car (mine is currently in rough shape), I just happened on Menlo Park, best known as the place where Thomas Edison came up with many of his greatest inventions. In fact, for a long time, he was known as the "Wizard of Menlo Park."

When I was younger, I was somewhat fascinated by New Jersey's strange history. I had heard the Garden State referred to as the "Crossroads of the Revolution," and that a third of the battles of the Revolutionary War had been fought right in this state. George Washington wintered in Morristown, while his troops were in nearby Jockey Hollow. New Jersey ultimately became the third state in the Union. There was also an early experiment in New Jersey with universal suffrage in 1776, when the state became the first to give women the right to vote (clearly, it did not last long). There was Thomas Edison, there was the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, the infamous Zeppelin fire, and the first Hollywood before Hollywood, when Fort Lee was the capital of the American film industry. More recently, New Jersey was very closely attached to the September 11th attacks, and it also seemed to be front and center during the Covid-19 pandemic here in the United States. 

Quite a unique and fascinating history. 

Yet, I had not seen all of the sites where prominent chapters in the state's history played out. One of the glaring omissions was Menlo Park. And it so happened that, after seeing a car that, frankly, proved not to be too promising, I had some downtime, waiting on the word of two other car owners. So I used the time to finally get a good glimpse of Menlo Park.

It is a bit unusual. As a kid growing up in New Jersey, we were told to be proud of Thomas Edison. Indeed, it seemed incredible that he came from the little old Garden State. Once I grew older, it seemed that Edison was a great inventor, but that Tesla may have been greater, and Edison's selfishness and pettiness may have robbed us of Tesla's superior inventions and discoveries. Yet, walking around Menlo Park, I was reminded of just how incredible it was that Edison should have managed to invent so much, including the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera. According to Wikipedia, he also improved the telegraph and telephone. So he played as big a role as anyone in helping to develop our modern world, and he did it right in New Jersey. That's not a bad resume at all, and it seems to me that Edison is, indeed, someone who New Jerseyans can take pride in, and everyone else can be thankful for. 

The museum was closed, at least on this day. Yet, there was plenty to visit nevertheless just on the outside. And I was excited, because this was my first real visit to Menlo Park, one way or another.

Obviously, the Edison Menlo Tower dominated these grounds. It is as described, a large tower, with a makeshift lightbulb perched atop, seemingly made of glass, as far as I could tell (but my eyes are not what they used to be). 

Naturally, I took some pictures, which it seemed fitting to share here on this blog.

Enjoy!