Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park

What a surprise! My husband was so excited and I thought oh okay, I'll go. A real joy to spend a couple of hours here on the property and with the very educated docents. Loved the whole experience!

Hooray, the museum/visitor center had a grand re-opening last year! Not the actual tower, mind you, only that tiny yellow stucco building that looks like a large ticket booth.

I have lived in Edison for the better part of my life, and as far back as I can remember the Edison Memorial Tower has always been closed for renovation. To add insult to injury, the museum has exactly four parking spaces, one of which is a handicapped space. Curbside parking is possible, but there are always cars whizzing by since Christie Street is a popular way of bypassing traffic to get to Metropark and the GSP.

The museum does have some interesting Thomas Edison memorabilia--but really only enough to fill 10 minutes of your time (more if you're a slow reader, I guess). In any case, I would only recommend visiting if you're already in the area. Unlike the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, there's really nothing here to warrant a road trip, even if you are a Thomas Edison enthusiast.

I love history, so for me this was a nice experience. I didn't get to see the center itself, just the giant light bulb tower. I enjoyed reading all about this historic spot, as well as seeing the very foundation where Thomas Edison's workshop once was.

For most people, they may want a little more pomp and circumstance to the museum. For me, I can't help but marvel at the sheer size of the structure, and daydream about the events that took place right where we stood!

Nice sight to see if you are driving through, not to make a day out of.

This is a great supplement to the Thomas Edison Museum in West Orange. I would suggest that you go there first! Come here second, as there is a lot more to see there than there is here at this location.

We were lucky enough to come at the right time just as they had started a tour. The tour guide was really animated and it looked like he enjoyed what he was doing. This was better because there is so much to read there and I probably would not have absorbed as much information. It is more intimate in this location than the location in West Orange, they do not do tours there, except at his mansion. After going to the museum in West Orange, I felt that I still learned new things here! Which was awesome.

It is a bit tight in the museum so you may not have a full view of the exhibits while on the tour because it can get crowded. I was amazed that people just kept joining our tour and this museum seemed to be pretty popular on a Saturday afternoon!

We will have to go on the trail when the weather becomes warmer! And for $5 we spent around an hour and a half here, which I thought was well worth the visit. So cool that his inventions are still working to this day!

Well, if you are expecting a standard sized museum and a lot to see, this isn't it. When I first got to it, I thought the small house on the side was like a gift shop and drove around looking for a museum. Well what I thought was the gift shop was actually a museum AND a gift shop. There is a charge for $5 for a guided tour. Our docent was amazing. He gave us history of Edison's life and his times at Menlo Park. Edison was in Menlo Park for 6 years making most of his inventions at the factory where the tower is standing. The museum holds a few products that Edison's comoany produced. The docent also took us to the tower where it has a light that never goes out made by his employees dedicated to Edison. The tour lasts about half an hour and also the museum itself is like a size of a big living room so it's really small. I had a great time but if people expect a lot then they will be disappointed. There's another museum in West Orange wherr Edison lives for 40 years that's more like a legit museum that most people may be looking for.

Fascinating and interesting museum. Edison was so much more than just an inventor. He was involved in the first movie making experiences, botany experiments, children's furniture, and a great businessman.

I recently read an article about an autistic boy they saw no hope for speaking let alone any independence. Mother pulled him out of school to homeschool and expose him to anything of interest (connecting shadows to the light source and where it was coming from). He ended up having an IQ higher than Einstein! He attends college at age 11 and is the first astrophysicist for his age. And is in also has minimal formal education which allowed his creativity to thrive. He did a TED talk that focused on removing learning and instead creating. Thought provoking really.

This is an excellent stop for children and adults alike. You can walk through his workshops fitted with multiple belt setuos that run the machines off of one motor. His personal library is beautiful. Even the informational video next to the store was ask me you and I usually want to bypass those. The video talks about his home which you can also view a few miles away. Also worth a visit from what I hear, but didn't get around to it today.

What a great tour! We went to the Thomas Edison Museum with our 3rd grade Cub Scouts. Our tour guide, Chuck, did an outstanding job giving the kids (and us parents) a fun and engaging background into all the incredible inventions Edison and his team were able to invent or improve. From the phonograph from which they heard a nearly 100-year-old recoding to tapping out the first letter of their name on the telegraph, they boys stayed captivated. Thank you Chuck for a fun and educational day!!

This is an excellent place because it covers over 37 acres in the heart of Edison that includes a secluded wooded park and a stream with beautifully updated trails. After I hiked the two new trails I stumbled upon the newly restored memorial tower that was plays Music. It was as if I traveled back in time to when the tower was built. I took the neat tour outside of the tower and after a few photographs I walked to the museum entrance. All around were different types of plants of many variations which gave me a sense of what I was to expect inside. As I entered I was greeted by the museum staff. From the moment I arrived they treated me not as guest but as a part of their family. I started my tour with 4 other people. The museum is small, but packed with items from the Menlo Park era, I felt as if I was walking in Thomas Edison and his workers footsteps. Every invention let to a grander one. The details that our guide gave to our group were not of a typical museum where they give the facts, show a photo and move on, but they were detailed and filled with important information about the late 1800's in Menlo Park. I was blown away by the fact that this was the first place in the world to have so many groundbreaking inventions, and they didn't even have inside running water! So after 45 minutes my tour was coming to an end and I couldn't have been happier. Everyone in the group was filled with excitement and awe including myself
My highlight from this experience was the original phonograph that was playing right in front of my group in the back of the museum. To be honest I wasn't expecting anything like this. The layout of the museum to me was done as a living timeline with hands on experiments which incorporated a modern design that made all of the artifacts pop out one by one. Suffice to say this is on my top five list of place to visits because it is close to so many great restaurants of many varieties and the highway. Thank you for the wonderful time travel back in time. I will visit very soon again with my friends and family.

Lightbulb wasn't on. Not really much here. I did see some deer, and that was pretty cool.

Loved it! We stopped by here on our way from PA to NY there's a suggested $5 donation and you get a 30min+ tour of this little room filled with Edison's inventions. Chuck gave us the tour -it was very informative with lots of fun facts!