Vanderbilt Mansion was built in 1895. Here is a link if you want to learn the history. Vanderbilt Mansion
Following are pictures of the mansion. The outside is undergoing renovations.
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| Reception Hall |
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| Reception Hall |
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| Dining Room |
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| One of the upstairs bedrooms |
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| Owners bedroom. His wife had her own room. |
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| Wife's bedroom |
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| Guest room |
The men and women in upper class had separate rooms. The ones who were not of the highest status, shared a room but had separate beds.
The house does not have air conditioning, so it was hot today at 10 a.m. It was a hot day, so it probably got a lot worse as the day went on. The tour is $10 a person.
Mom said the house has beautiful woodwork, but the furnishings were definitely not to her liking.
After the tour, they drove to Val-Kill which was Eleanor's Roosevelt's home.
The tour for Val-Kill is $10 but if you pay for two of the three National Park Service homes here, you get one free, so this one was free for them since they toured FDR's home and Vanderbilt Mansion.
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| Eleanor's Home |
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| Stone Cottage was the first building here. Two of Eleanor's friends and business partners lived here. Eleanor stayed here as a getaway until her home was built. |
Val-Kill Industries was also here. It was a business that Eleanor and her friends created. It trained out of work rural residents in traditional crafts such as furniture.
After Eleanor died, the place was turned into apartments. Her children took what they wanted of the furnishings and then auctioned off the rest. Eventually, the National Park Service took over the property. They then sent out word that they would like the pieces back that were sold. The family returned many of the items and people continue to bring back items so that the house can be as she left it. There are pictures that have not been returned yet, so instead of just putting anything on the wall, there are blank spots where the missing photos belong.
This group of photos was her secretary's apartment.
Since the tour group was only five people, they were allowed to go up to the second floor and see the bedrooms.
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| Spare room |
This is her bedroom.
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| She liked the housekeeper to put the clean linens on her bed so that she knew what she had for guests. |
She loved using her screened in porch as her bedroom.
Now, we are going back to the main floor.
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| Front door |
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| Dining room. Casual dishes were her style. Card tables were brought out for family gatherings so that everyone had a place to eat. |
This was her living room.
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| See the chair behind the lamp? JFK sat there asking her to back him for President. |
She was quite an inspiring woman. She had a bad childhood and was very shy. She went away to school and that shaped her into a confident woman. She was a dutiful wife until she found out FDR had a mistress. She then became her own person. She worked hard for civil rights. It is said that the Ku Klux Klan put a hit out on her and the secret service told her not to attend a rally. They said they could not protect her. She chose to drive up a mountain road in the dark without protection to attend the rally. She definitely was not that scared little girl anymore.
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| Creek by the house. This is where her family spent a lot of time. |
There are tennis courts which need repair and a pool that FDR used quite often for therapy. This is where he went to relax.
The park ranger said he has met several of the grandchildren who have come back to visit. They said it was a place that the family really enjoyed.
If you want to learn more about this inspiring woman, here is a link: Eleanor Roosevelt.
Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Resting For His Next Leg Of The Trip
