Thomas Edison National Historical Park, courtesy NPS
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
West Orange, New Jersey
A visit to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park offers a step back into the laboratories of America’s most famous inventor and a glimpse into his remarkable mind.
“You can almost imagine Thomas Edison in his lab coat sitting in the back of the chemistry laboratory with experimenters at each of the lab tables or sitting at his desk in the library keeping up with the latest research,” said Theresa Jung, assistant superintendent for the Thomas Edison National Historical Park and park employee for more than 25 years. “Few historic sites can offer such a glimpse in history. We are unique not only because of the tremendous number of artifacts in our collection but because they still remain where they were originally used by Edison and his team of muckers. There is really something for everyone to see, whether you are interested in history, in science, in music or movies.”
The historical park gives groups the chance to see behind the scenes of America’s greatest inventor’s laboratory and office, with more than 14 historic structures, almost half built in 1887. The main laboratory building alone has so many different rooms to explore that groups could spend a full day just wandering through the halls; among the rooms are Edison’s ornate office and library, massive machine shops, the photography department and the music room. Although Edison’s archives are housed in the institution, it is not a museum limited to display-case artifacts: Most of the rooms at the site remain furnished as they were when Thomas Edison was there, helping to re-create the environment where Edison and his team worked.
www.nps.gov/edis
