Vanderbilt Mansion and Val-Kill

Today the folks toured Vanderbilt Mansion and Val-Kill (Eleanor Roosevelt's home).

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.

Reception Hall

Reception Hall

Dining Room

One of the upstairs bedrooms

Owners bedroom.  His wife had her own room.

Wife's bedroom

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.

Eleanor's Home

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.  

Spare room

This is her bedroom.

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.

Front door

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.

See the chair behind the lamp?  JFK sat there asking her to back him for President.

 The President spent a lot of time entertaining here, but never spent the night.  The bedrooms were upstairs and  his wheelchair was a problem. She stayed here when he was out of town.  When he died, she moved here.  However, she was a woman on the go and never stayed home more than ten days in a row.

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.  

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
 

FDR Library/Museum and Home

Today the folks visited the FDR Library/Museum and his home.  He was the 32nd President.  He was elected four times, but died during his fourth term.

The house that he lived in with Eleanor was his childhood home.  It was actually his Mother's home and they moved in with her.  It seems that his Mother was very close to him.  When he was away at school, she moved a block away from the school so that she could be close to him.

The house started out with just the middle part and then the third floor and wings on each side were added as Franklin's family grew.  The middle part of the 3rd floor was the children's playroom. They could ride bikes in there.

Back of the house.

View from back of the house.

Entry way

Living room

This is the bed he was born in.  He weighed 10 pounds.

His bedroom. Eleanor had her own room.

His favorite dog was a Scottish Terrier

This is where his dog slept.

Garden

His tombstone is the size of the desk that he used.   He is buried next to it and not under it.

See the two raised areas?  That is him next to the flag and the other is Eleanor.

His favorite dogs; Scottish Terrier and German Shepherd are buried next to the sundial.

After the tour, the folks ate lunch at the cafe in the visitor's center.  They then turned the museum.

FDR was the first President to have a library. Hoover was a President before FDR, but his library was not constructed until 1962.  FDR's library was constructed while he was still in office!  It opened in 1941.  He did it because he wanted to make sure that none of his papers were lost.  He actually had an office in the library that he used. It was open to the public.  Mom remembers when we visited the George H. W. Bush Library and one of our readers commented that she thought it was odd that he was still alive and had a library.  We figured she wasn't a Republican and it bothered her because it was Bush that we were talking about (BOL!) but Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and both Bushes all had their libraries built while they were alive, but they were not still in office like FDR.

FDR Library

Hat that FDR wore in all four Presidential campaigns.

Campaign buttons

Bible and glasses

Rocking horse that belonged to FDR as a child.

Fala, FDR's favorite dog.

The is is the office that FDR used in the library.

Painting of his mother.

Fala

Items belonging to Fala.

Photo of Fala

Desk that FDR used in the White House.

He had a lot of stuff on his desk.

FDR painting.

 FDR was stricken with polio in 1921.  He worked hard to make it look like he could walk.  He usually had a person on one side of him and he used a cane for the other side.  There are only four known photos of him in a wheelchair.  There is one video that shows him in the wheelchair.  It was thought that a person who was disabled did not have a full mind and that is why he worked so hard not to be shown in the chair.  It definitely was a different time because now the press would definitely be publishing pictures of him.

He really did a lot for the country.  He took over during the depression. He started the CCC, social security, FDIC and other things.  He was in office when Pearl Harbor was attacked. 

Eleanor was his fifth cousin.  Mom thought it was funny that her last name was already Roosevelt.  Her middle name is actually Eleanor.  Her first name is Anna.

Mom loved that he was a dog lover.  She was really thinking he was a great guy. She then learned that he had a mistress.  It was Eleanor's secretary. The affair started in 1916 and in 1918, Eleanor found the love letters. She told him they could divorce if he wanted that.  His Mother told him there would be no divorce.  Eleanor then told him the affair had to end. He said it would.   Do you know what though?  His mistress was with him on the day that he died in 1945!  She wasn't with him when he actually died, but she had been with him earlier in the day.  Grrrr!  On April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

I think the folks are going to visit Val-Kill which is Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage.  It was built while FDR was still alive.  It was her get away.  I guess she needed it to get away from him and his Mother. The woman needed some privacy. She had her own bedroom in the house she shared with FDR, but her mother-in-law's room connected to hers. That seems odd.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Had A Nice Long Nap Today