Roosevelt Homes

 Today was our day to visit FDR's Hyde Park house as well as Eleanor's Val-Kill cottage.  

We arrived at FDR's house before 10 am, but the first available tour was at 11:30.   So we bought tickets to the FDR Presidential Library and walked through it.  This was a very good experience as it covered his entire life with mixed media presentations.  Everything from his early life,  to marriage to Eleanor,  polio, his early political years, the New Deal, and WWII, was included.  On the top right is a picture of the study in this Library that is the only room in any Presidential Library that was actually used by a President. 

Mary also took pictures of the huge Bible he used at his inaugurations, and his presidential desk (on the left).

On our way to the house tour, we spotted Eleanor and Franklin's graves. If you look closely, you'll see two strips with different ground cover - those are the graves of two of Franklin's dogs.  

Our next stop was the FDR house, also known as Springwood.  We learned a lot during this 45 minute tour that covered the two main floors plus the servants hall in the basement.

I've included three interior pictures.

Top right is the dining room

Bottom left is the parlor

Bottom right is the living room

We also took pictures of the second floor bedrooms where Franklin, Eleanor, and various celebrities slept when visiting, including King George VI. One interesting tale was how Franklin and Eleanor served the king and queen of England hot dogs at a picnic lunch. 

Our last stop was Val-Kil, the cottage where Eleanor lived after Franklin died. Both Franklin and Eleanor entertained here in the 1930's as it was a very relaxing place, away from the pressures of office.  Eleanor started Val-Kill Industries here to teach craftsmanship to locals during the Great Depression, but it folded in 1936.  

The dining room is pictured on the right.

Tomorrow we have a tour of West Point in the morning followed by a boat ride on the Hudson in the afternoon.