Ruth and Alan's Excellent Adventure: 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.