The Roosevelts of Hyde Park

Time to move on to the Roosevelts.

Any Greatest Presidential List will always include Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He is the only president to have been elected four times. His leadership got us out of the Great Depression. He gave us Social Security. He established a national minimum wage. He played a major role in establishing the United Nations. He took the first federal action to prohibit employment discrimination. In my travels I am personally enjoying all of the works that the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) created during the Great Depression to put young men to work. Yes, he was responsible for all that. I could go on, but as great as FDR was, my heart belongs to his wife Eleanor.  She was an amazing woman.  I highly suggest that you read up on Eleanor.  You will be fascinated.  Myself,  I try to live by one of her quotes - 'Do Something Every Day That Scares You'.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Just go for it.

I visited Val-Kill, a cottage ( a real cottage, not a Vanderbilt cottage) that FDR built for Eleanor in 1924. Eleanor wanted a place of her own to get away from it all. Can we say Sarah, FDR's mother who might have been a little overbearing. Eleanor moved into Val-Kill with two other women friends. They established Val-Kill Industries, a furniture making business which helped with the unemployment issues during the Depression. After FDR's death, she split her time between Val-Kill and NYC. Many famous people came to pay homage to Eleanor at Val-Kill including JFK. JFK came seeking Eleanor's endorsement when he was running for president. 

This was the room where she would receive her famous guests.

She wasn't much of a cook, so when the King and Queen of England visited, she fed them hot dogs.

As part of my Junior Ranger tasks, I had to identify a maple leaf.  

Thank God for the Canadian flag.  Because of that flag I was able to identify the maple leaf.

FDR came from old money. He lived in a Big house which they called Springwood. The household included his mother Sarah and the Roosevelt's six children. FDR fancied himself an amateur architect and designed and built two huge wings onto the existing house. 

The view off of the south lawn overlooking the Hudson River.

FDR was an avid tree planter.  All these trees eventually blocked his view of the Hudson.

Springwood

Eleanor and Franklin's grave.  Also buried here is one of their sons who died in infancy and their dog Fala.

There is also FDR's Presidential Library and Museum located on the grounds. FDR establishedthe precedent for public ownership of presidential papers. His library became the model for the nation's presidential library system.  It was a mighty fine museum.