Hyde Park, where visitors can trace the life of FDR
Located in the heart of the Hudson River Valley, Hyde Park, N.Y., is a small town, but with a high profile far beyond its size.
This was the birthplace and home town of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Here visitors can tour historic sites that give a detailed look at the place both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt called home throughout their lives.
Springwood, the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, is a handsome mansion on beautiful grounds just one mile from the Hudson River.
Here, on guided tours, visitors can see the bed where FDR was born, the wheelchair he used for navigation in the home, and other details of his everyday life.
On our tour, we first stood outside the mansion as our guide explained that FDR was born here Jan. 30, 1882, and lived here until age 14, when he went off to prep school and then Harvard.
Then he spent considerable time back home when he began his political career and even during his Presidency.
With its 35 rooms and nine baths, Springwood certainly qualifies as a mansion. On our tour, we peeked into bedrooms (including the one where FDR was born), and saw period furnishings and portraits on the walls.
We also saw the manually operated elevator, which Roosevelt used after he contracted polio. He operated it by lifting heavy ropes used as pulleys. Inside the elevator, we also see the wooden wheelchair he designed for narrow openings.
The tour gave us a new understanding of FDR’s disability and his determination. He spent seven years in intensive rehabilitation, gaining impressive upper body strength. But, his legs were totally paralyzed,and he wore 15 pounds of steel braces on them.
“He could give the illusion of walking by holding onto a cane on one side and hold onto someone’s arm on the other side,” explained our guide.
“But he needed assistance every day of his life. A man who could not walk led us through a war and an economic depression.”
We saw evidence of that leadership in the nearby FDR Presidential Library and Museum. Like Springwood, this is part of the FDR Historic Site. The museum’s exhibits cover FDR’s four terms as our 32nd US President, including an exhibit titled the War Room which focuses on his secret World War II strategies.
After visiting the museum, we enjoyed strolling around the spacious grounds, and we paused to see the simple white tombstones of FDR and Eleanor in a tranquil rose garden surrounded by trees.
Our next Roosevelt-related site was the hilltop site known as Top Cottage. Starting from the visitors center, we rode along winding country roads, then climbed a steep hill. Almost at the top, we came to a simple cottage surrounded by trees.
Appropriately named Top Cottage, this was FDR’s special retreat, which he built in 1938. As he put it in his own words, it was a place “to escape the mob.”
This spare cottage was quite a contrast to the elegant family mansion. The front porch featured a sweeping view of the Catskill and Shawangunk Mountains to the west. Nothing in sight but trees and mountain and sky.
As we sat on rocking chairs on the front porch, our guide told us how FDR had always loved this site and decided to build his retreat here.
He designed the house himself, making sure it was wheelchair accessible. “He sketched out the design on a napkin, and this was essentially the final design,” said our guide.
After it was completed, he used it regularly from 1938 until his death in l945.
“This was where he could be himself, “said our guide, describing how he’d sit on a sofa and take off his leg braces to be more comfortable.
FDR wasn’t alone here. The world leaders he hosted at this simple cottage included Winston Churchill (he was a guest four times) as well as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. They visited in June, 1939, and were even treated to a picnic where the fare was ham and hot dogs. The franks were a first for the royals. (reportedly, the King had seconds, but the Queen didn’t touch them)
Top Cottage was dedicated as a historic site in June, 2001, and tourists have been coming ever since, with the tours limited to small groups.
Often, said our guide, the highlight for visitors is the experience of sitting on rocking chairs on the same front porch where FDR once sat, enjoying the same scenery he did.
In fact, the chance to trace Roosevelt history in this concrete way is a highlight of these historic sites. They give visitors a close-up look at the lives that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt enjoyed here in the Hudson Valley.