Franklin D. Roosevelt

Monday June 4th was AGAIN  cloudy, but at least the rain from overnight stopped and Captain Keith and I were off again to explore.  We began the day at the Eveready Diner.  This place was just like an old time diner.  We had a great breakfast so our tummies were fueled for a big day.

Eveready Diner (Too Fun)

After breakfast we drove to the grounds of the Franklin D. Roosevelt estate.  It is a National Park and has several buildings to visit on site.  Our first stop was the home where FDR was born and spent much of his adult life, when not in the White House.  FDR was born in January, 1882 into a privileged life.  His parents, James and Sara Roosevelt, were well off and he wanted for nothing.  He entered politics in 1910 when he became a New York State Senator.  He served two terms as a senator and was also named Assistant Secretary of the Navy by then President Woodrow Wilson.  He was stricken with polio in 1921 and would never again walk without assistance.  Several years of recovery kept him out of politics for a period, but in 1928 he ran a successful campaign and became Governor of New York.  Following this he ran and was elected President of the United States in 1933.  FDR was elected to an unprecedented 4 terms as president.  While in the executive office he designed such programs as Social Security, the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, minimum wage, and unemployment insurance.  He was the Democrat of all Democrats.  He led the nation during the Great Depression and WW II.  FDR would die April,12, 1945 during his 4th term in the White House of a cerebral hemorrhage.  As per his wishes, he was buried in the rose garden of his home in Hyde Park, NY.

FDR Home

Inside the FDR Home

His wheelchair in the study

FDR bedroom (the phone on the wall by the bed had a direct line to the White House

Hand operated dumbwaiter used by FDR to go up and down from first to second floor of the home

Stables

Stables visible over the rose garden

Rose Garden and Grave of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR also built and used America's first Presidential Library.  It is also the only one used by a sitting president.  He designed the building himself in the Dutch colonial style which was typical of the Hudson Valley region (having been settled primarily by the Dutch).  It opened in 1941 on the grounds of the Roosevelt estate here in Hyde Park, NY.  His library became the model for the nation's presidential library system, now part of the National Archives.  FDR established the precedent for public ownership of presidential papers.  The FDR library contains over 17 million pages of documents.  The library and museum also contain exhibits, videos, photos, and artifacts from the life of FDR and his wife Eleanor.

After this educational experience,  I talked the Captain into indulging me in some fun.  Just north of Hyde Park I had found a sheep farm that processes its own yarn.  So off we went to yarn shop.  I found something for two different crochet projects and made some new friends along the way.

This is Blackie (3 year old ram)

This was one of the unnamed sheep

All in all another successful day.  Only two more days before we will be moving on toward the Erie Canal.  Next up, West Point Military Academy and the Culinary Institute of America.