Hyde Park- A visit with FDR

We left Manhattan right after the matinee performance of Priscilla, and grabbed a train to Poughkeepsie, which is the train stop closest to Hyde Park, Franklin Roosevelt's childhood home and location of the FDR Presidential Museum and Library along with other buildings and memorials to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.  While the main reason for our trip to New York was to celebrate Ruth's birthday in Manhattan, Hyde Park is a 2 hour train ride away and it made sense to combine a visit to Hyde Park with Ruth's festivities.

FDR is probably Alan's favorite president.  He came to the presidency while the country was in deep, deep crises, and provided the leadership, political genius, and creativity necessary to calm the rough waters and stabilize the economy while giving the country hope.  He provided a roadmap for a progressive agenda and despite his upper class upbringing, championed the cause of the working man and the downtrodden. Historian H.W. Brands wrote a biography entitled "Traitor to his Class"; in many senses FDR was indeed a traitor to the privileged.  In modern vernacular, he was the 1% who sided with and made life better for the 99%.  On top of all of that, he saved the world from tyranny and preserved democracy.  All of this after he contracted polio and never walked again. And on top of even all that, Eleanor redefined the role of the First Lady; she was his "eyes and legs" in making trips to all types of constituencies and advocating for  the underdogs. They made quite a team.

FDR was born in a mansion in Hyde Park known as "Springwood"; it was a family estate and he lived there his entire life although not full time. During his presidency he built a building on the grounds to serve as a "third White House" for when he spent time in Hyde Park (the "second White House" was in Warm Springs, Georgia); this building serves as his presdiential museum and library. He also built a cottage for Eleanor a couple miles from Springwood knows as "Val-Kill";  he also built a cottage for himself (to get away from both Eleanor and his mother, Sara, who also lived in Springwood until her death).  All of these are open to the pubilc, except that the FDR cottage is closed in the winter.

While Springwood is a very large home, it's not a "mansion" in the sense of Builtmore, or the Ford Fairlane estate, or other mansions of the rich that you may have visited. It was a home that was lived in and used often. FDR visited Springwood more than 200 times during his presidency.

The Presidential Flag is unique; it is the only one with four stars representing his four terms 

No pictures are allowed inside of Springwood, so with the help of Google, here are a few views of the interior:

This porch overlooks the Hudson Valley; note the ship's wheel; FDR was Assistant Secretary of the Navy and boats were a large part of his life 

The Buildings are undergoing a renovation right now, so we couldn't tour the second floor, but as a "consolation prize", because we were a small group, our tour guide took us to Roosevelt's study on the first floor that is not normally open to tours. which was a small room where Roosevelt met with many VIPs, including Winston Churchill and King George.  While we couldn't take pictures, apparently Martha Stewart was allowed to, since she has a full post about her visit to Hyde Park that includes this picture:

The estate is situated in the Hudson Valley close to the Hudson River; there were many great views from around Springwood.

We went to a few of the other buildings near the main house, including the stable, which still has his horses' names by their stalls, including this one:

We then toured the actual Presidential Museum and Library; he was the first to come up with the idea of making his papers available to the public and he designed and arranged to have the building built during his third term.

He kept an office in the building which he used as his official office while visiting in Hyde Park; the office was left exactly as he left it during his last visit, about two months before he passed away, except that at Christmas time the staff decorates the office as he had done during his last Christmas at Hyde Park.  There were a lot of cool artifacts in the office:

Roosevelt preferred regular chairs adapted as wheelchairs; this one had a built in ashtray

That's a portrait of Sara, FDR's mother, in the background

The actual museum is much more modest than the other Presidential Museums we have visited; there is a room that contains artifacts and information boards about his youth and his life leading up to his first presidential election, and then there are a few exhibits discussing his presidency, but nothing near the scope of museums like the LBJ, Clinton, or JFK museums, or even, for that matter, the Truman museum.

From his first presidential election 

Fala, his constant companion from 1940 until his death 

Original Draft of his first inaugural address with the "Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself" highlighted 

Timeline of the First Hundred Days 

Replica of the Map Room- a top secret room at the White House where FDR would plot war strategy 

The Torah was a gift in honor of his commitment to the Jewish People.  There is a looseleaf that discusses whether FDR could have or should have done more to save European Jewry during the Holocaust and it doesn't sugar coat FDR's shortcomings in this area. 

In the basement of the Library they have one of FDR's cars with its hand controls.

Finally, unlike the other Presidential museums we toured, this one does not have a mockup of the Oval Office.  There is a replica of his desk, which includes a key for all of the tchochkas (see early posts for a definition) he kept on the desk.

Interesting tidbit- when FDR died, they had to clear out the office immediately for Truman and four soldiers were given the task of doing so. The administrator told the four  soldiers that they could take anything they wanted off of the desk for themselves; one of them returned what he had taken when he read that the desk was being replicated.


Actually, while the Oval Office concept was originally designed by Taft, FDR expanded the West Wing and moved the Oval Office to a new location, so he was the first president to sit in the existing location of the Oval Office.

We paid respects at the graves of Franklin and Eleanor (and also their dogs Fala and Chief).

Franklin's grave is marked by the American Flag 

Dogs' graves 

After we left Springwood, we took a quick trip over to Val-Kill to see Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage.  We didn't get to tour it, but it is located on a very peaceful setting:

Exhibit of all the roles played by Eleanor 

As we were leaving Hyde Park, we made a quick stop at the Culinary Institute of America, where our friends Alan and Karen Lowen's son, Aaron, spent a couple of years becoming an expert Chef (having tasted his cooking on more than one occasion, we can vouch for how good it is!).  The CIA is a beautiful campus and has seven restaurants where the public can sample the student's work. 

We then took the train back to Grand Central Station, and then home for an end to Ruth's Birthday Weekend. 

Next Stop:  Nashville, Memphis and Little Rock as our six month adventure winds down.  

Ruth's Birthday Weekend-New York (and Hyde Park for Alan)

It's hard to believe that it's been a month since we posted; it's been a whirlwind.  In any event, for everyone who knows Ruth, you know that she believes in celebrating birthdays; we have spent a lot of our birthdays in great places doing a lot of fun things.  Ruth's birthday this year fell towards the end our our six month adventure, and Alan took her to New York City since: (a) Ruth loves Broadway shows; (b) Ruth loves the City during Holiday Season; and (c) it was a way for Alan to get Ruth to come to Hyde Park and visit the FDR Presidential Museum and Library, checking another one off the list.

We have been fortunate to spend a lot of time in New York, so we didn't feel the need to do a lot of the more "tourist attraction" types of things. We spent our days walking around different parts of Manhattan, and our nights at Broadway shows.

We "changed it up" a little by staying in the Roosevelt, which is in an area a little way from where we normally stay; it's a grand old hotel with a great lobby, a lot of character, and a sense of history.

Even if you have been to Manhattan many times, there is something magical about it during the Holiday Season:

The lights:

The store windows:

Saks

Bergdorf Goodman 

Macy's 

The stores themselves:

Tiffany 

Anthropologie 

The Apple Store on 5th, which is a large glass cube on street level going down to the real store 

Ice skating

We revisited some of our favorite parts of the City.  We started Ruth's birthday morning with a visit to the "Today" show, where we were lucky to see Al Roker, Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie

We grabbed a subway to China Town, and walked through China Town and Little Italy, winding up in Greenwhich Village, where we had lunch with Ruth's cousin Jeffrey.

Unfortunately the top one did not say "Steven" 

Walking through Little Italy; it was warm enough to dine "Al Fresco" 

Washington Square Park 

After lunch we strolled through Greenwich Village and stopped at The Bitter End, where Alan had spent    many nights the years he worked on deals in New York.  The Bitter End has been around since 1961, and almost any folk singer you can think of has played there at one time or another.  Here's a list of who has played there: http://www.bitterend.com/played.html

On Sunday we strolled through Central Park and had lunch with Ruth's cousin Sammy before we saw a matinee.

We also did some things we had never done before.  Ruth went on line beforehand and was able to get a couple of tickets to visit the new 9/11 Memorial, which is built on the site of the original Twin Towers.
Only so many people are allowed in an hour, which is why tickets are required. We got tickets for the last hour it was opened on the day we were there, so the sun had already set although it was only 5:00.
The Memorial is very moving; it consists of two huge pools, one on each of the footprints of the Twin Towers, with what will be a museum in the background, and lots of open space and benches.

The new towers going up 

Names of victims surround each pool 

Names are not alphabetical but in groups; here are names of Secret Service members and of the Jericho Fire Department  who perished in the tragedy 

Water flows down the fountain walls with great force

spans from one of the Towers are inside the museum 

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and had lunch at the South Street Seaport, and then walked over to Battery Park: 

view from the center of the bridge 

South Street Seaport put up temporary booths for Christmas shopping 

The Sphere, a sculpture symbolizing world peace that stood at the Twin Towers, was damaged in the attack, and now is in Battery Park as a memorial.

Statue of Liberty from Battery Park when you forget your telephoto lens 

And we spent a lot of time in Bryant Park 

Temporary Booths are installed for the season 

Lots of people relaxing around the park 

Ice Skating in Bryant Park 

But the main reason we were in New York was for the shows. We saw four, including: 

The main character was the actor who originated "Roger" in "Rent". 

Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette made a great team -Larroquette is probably twice the size of Radcliffe and they played off of that in the dance numbers 

Book of Mormon was very funny, but the best line came after the show when the star was hawking a signed poster for $200 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, and he said "it's a bargain- less than 10% of what your ticket cost you!"  

We saw Priscilla, not Chicago; the costumes and sets were  over the top! 

All were excellent, and it was fun seeing Daniel Radcliffe outside of Harry Potter (the boy can dance!) but both of our favorites was Memphis. Memphis is loosely based on the life of Dewey Phillips, a DJ in Memphis in the 50's who introduced white audiences to R&B and also "broke" Elvis by playing "That's All Right" over and over again.  If a traveling company of Memphis comes to your town, see it! 

We had a few minutes before Memphis, so we tried to get a drink at Sardi's, also a place with a lot of history. We got into the door but couldn't get to the bar. We did manage to take a picture of the walls, covered with caricatures.  A neat place to wait for a show to start. 

New York, New York, a heck of a town.  We always have a great time there and marvel at the talent on Broadway; it's even more fun in December. But it's also very expensive and crowded; three or four days is our usual time limit there.  So after we saw Priscilla Sunday, we left for Hyde Park; that will be our next post (which won't take a month to put up!)  

And happy, happy birthday to Ruth!!!!