Thomas Edison's road trip with his famous friends

It’s time to go road-tripping with some men who ran the world.

This is episode one of Vox Almanac’s new season all about roads — and this is a classic road trip to kick it off with.

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs became famous as “the Vagabonds” — a traveling group that took to the (primitive) roads to see the country and make the occasional business deal. Their exploits captured the imagination of the entire country, and it even involved a few naps.

Along the way, the unique foursome chopped trees, explored, and ate in style (while catering to the film crew they brought with them). The resulting output was a mix of PR and good old-fashioned fun. Even President Warren G. Harding joined along at one point just to see what the Vagabonds were up to.

Further reading:

[tkgsg]

'Edison was walking around calling Harvey Firestone 'dude''.

[cbwavy]

I get that they were camping, but I don't get why Edison was napping on the ground in a 3 piece suit lol

[pradhykotha]

I love Vox. They have random interesting topics that normally would be boring

[MrKholishUmar]

So basically an old version of "me and the bois"?

[austint]

There’s a Hollywood script in this story for sure. Like a bro-comedy road trip period piece. I’m all over it.

[TMWriting]

I love the detail you mentioned about the campfire we’re watching being nearly a century old. It’s so easy to forget sometimes that the footage we see was actual reality at some point. That fire was real all those years ago, not just a grainy imprint on some celluloid. I love old footage for that, the brief slices of perspective that give us a glimpse of what came before. Thanks!

[loganchase]

"Some one as famous Neil degrasse tyson or Bill Nye, but for nature" man just say David Attenborough

[MrKholishUmar]

Nobody :
These 4 dudes : Me and the boys road-tripping in WW I

[zmbrsys]

A FIST GAVEL IN MY HONOR? I shall screenshot this moment and frame it over my desk. Let's go on adventures with Mack!

[MX-Vette]

"Dude, where's my car?"

-Henry Ford

[rfldss]

So like, sir David Attenborough, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates going on roadtrips today. Cool cool.

[saadsalman]

Out of the corner of my eye when you were showing the route they commonly took, I noticed my little town, right there in northeast Tennessee. Cool to know that a century ago, four of the worlds most famous people decided it was worth their while to add it to part of their road trip.

[karmasutra]

I just went to see Edison & Ford’s Winter Estates in Florida and it was fun learning about these road trips. They had the picture of them all,
Pretty cool

[QUARTERMASTEREMI]

Thanks, @Phil Edwards, _for the kind of unique and uncommon content that can't be found anywhere else._
This is why I love Vox Almanac! Never would I hear of the times where _"World War I breaks out, ROADTRIP!"_ between famous friends.

[csiwele]

wow... the closing quote is so telling...

[Monosekist]

It’s so ironic to see Thomas Edison enjoying a campfire!

[Hyperian]

no one:


absolutely no one:


Ford: I bet I can climb that tree

[wilshire]

Inventors: actively making new inventions and getting no credit for it

Edison: napped



Sounds about right...

[ryanbranigan]

the 1900's keeping up with the Kardashian's

[JacobCarlson]

I would *LOVE* to see a movie about these "dudes"
Preferably with Jonathan Pryce as Thomas Edison and Ed Harris as Henry Ford.