We got off our train in Poughkeepsie and met the National Parks Service shuttle for the Roosevelt Ride to Hyde Park and the homes we were to tour. Hyde Park is a very charming city with a lot to offer. The Culinary Institute, Vassar College, Marist College a Catholic College and of course The Roosevelt’s homes. Here we are in Top Cottage named because it is on the top of a hill where FDR entertained many of the dignitary’s. The home he lived in was his mother, Sara’s home. This was his place to get away from the mobs as he put it. The furniture are replicas of the originals but the building is the same.
FDR never spent a night here nor did his guests. They stayed at Springwood which you will see later in the post. He had picnics and important meetings. One thing I thought was quite interesting was that he would always serve toast and martini’s in the afternoon. This was something that he could do on his own even with his polio. If you look to the right of the couch there is a toaster. This cottage was also made handicap accessible before it’s time. It had wider doorways and and the faucet handles were lower among other things.
Here is my Tom, looking serious about making a presidential decision.
Another look at the toaster and from real pictures the furniture is a very close reproduction. I understand that the pieces are castoffs from Spingwood.
A hooked rug with Fala, FDR’s dog.
Actual pictures of visitors at Top Cottage.
FDR with a little girl who had polio on the front porch with FDR.
We got to sit in the chairs on this porch. It was a wonderful porch to sit and talk about what visitors had been sitting on this porch just like we were. Winston Churchill-4 times….probably talking about the war and the atomic bomb. The king and queen of England (Elizabeth’s parents) and Chiang Kai-shek to name a few. We felt this was one of our favorites sites.
This was the view from the porch and the most wonderful breeze came through those trees.
There were no steps around the porch just a mound where I was standing in the previous picture.
On to Val-Kill which was Eleanor’s cottage. She had this as her office and living room.
Eleanor’s wall of favorite family members.
Her chair where she would knit, read or write letters. She was a tall woman and this chair has a high back that made her comfortable.
Her favorite uncle-Theodore Roosevelt. Her father Elliot and Theodore were brothers.
The first presidential library. FDR had plans to only serve two terms and he had this built in the early 1940’s. He changed history by serving four terms.
This is the view from Springwood. In FDR’s day you could look straight down to the Hudson River.
The side view of Springwood. A nice screened in porth and the balcony is from FDR’S bedroom.
Springwood house, very regal
The graves of FDR and Eleanor, it is a beautiful area.
A part of the garden around the graves.
The other stunning side.
A picture of Winston Churchill laying a wreath on his grave.
Pieces of the Berlin Wall in a freedom area outside of the Presidential Library.
A bust of Winston Churchill. This was a day well spent, we enjoyed it thoroughly. I love history .