Thomas Edison National Historical Park

Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey preserves the laboratory complex where Thomas Edison worked from 1887 until his death in 1931 and the adjacent Glenmont estate where he lived. The laboratory campus — the world's first industrial research facility — includes the main laboratory building with Edison's original chemistry laboratory, the machine shop, glass blowing house, and experimental rooms largely intact and staffed by National Park Service rangers. Visitors tour the Black Maria, a recreation of the world's first motion picture studio built on the campus grounds, and can view authentic phonographs, early film cameras, and light-bulb prototypes from Edison's working collection. Ranger-led tours of the main laboratory run at timed intervals and provide context for the approximately 10,000 experiments Edison's team conducted here. Glenmont, the Victorian Queen Anne mansion Edison purchased in 1886, sits in a private gated community 1.5 miles from the lab and is accessible only on an NPS guided house tour included with park admission. The park holds one of the most intact collections of early industrial-era scientific apparatus in the United States. A typical visit covering the main lab and exhibits takes 1.5–2 hours; adding the Glenmont house tour extends the experience to a half-day. The park is closed Monday and Tuesday, and timed-entry tickets should be purchased in advance at recreation.gov during busy summer and fall periods.