Hanging out with the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts

One of the reasons we are spending some time in the Hudson Valley of New York is to see a couple National Historic Sites. Since we have a national park pass, these are good and cheap entertainment for us--and we always learn something too. For instance, we learned that this Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park, New York, is the only home of this size that is owned and managed by the national park system.

Even the tours inside the house are free with a national park pass, we just needed to make a reservation. We were delighted that they still had weekend openings for the tours, so we got to see the inside--as well as the outside--of this very ornate home.

The Vanderbilts are known for their money, and the heirs of all that money built several homes that are now show pieces. This home belonged to Cornelius Vanderbilt's grandson Frederick, who happened to get the least amount of money in the family will. That was probably because Frederick was quiet and not voted "most likely to succeed." He also married a divorced woman--who just happened to be divorced from a Vanderbilt cousin. So he and his wife, Louise, were rather black sheep in the Vanderbilt family. They spent most of the inherited money on this house in the Hudson Valley, far from the rest of the family and the New York City society page. The ranger that led our tour said that Frederick's favorite room was his study.

They didn't entertain large groups or host balls like some of the Vanderbilts. Their dining room was quite small when compared to other family properties.

Our ranger gave a very colorful tour, explaining that before dinner was served, the women would meet in this room to sit on gilded chairs and stare at the painted ceiling.

Meanwhile, the men would have cocktails and smoke cigars before the servants served a lavish meal.

We also got to go upstairs, where Mr. Vanderbilt's massive bed was the center-piece of his private quarters.

As was usual among the rich, Mrs. Vanderbilt had a separate bedroom. It was interesting that her bed had an ornate fence around it.

They were some of the first in this valley to have indoor plumbing, central heating, and electricity.

We even got to go to the servant's quarters. While not as ornate as the family dining room, they still had a nice place for their meals. They had around 60 servants when they were living in the Hyde Park mansion.

The breezes from the Hudson River made this area a nice place to live in the spring and fall. So they would move back into this grand house two different times each year. Some servants stayed with the house year round, and their job was to keep it lovely. Every piece of furniture had its specific cloth cover, specially sown to protect it when the Vanderbilts were away. It would take the housekeeping staff around two weeks to uncover and clean and get the house ready for the family to return, and another two weeks to put it to sleep when they left..

A full-time gardening staff was needed to care for the large acreage, which included a formal flower garden. The green houses are no longer here, and the grounds are now tended by a group of volunteers instead of gardeners that lived on the property.

Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt had no children, so this lavish house was left to a niece. When she couldn't find a buyer for the house, a neighbor suggested that it could be donated to the national park system, and that's exactly what she did. That's why we were able to visit the Vanderbilt Hyde Park mansion today.

Several people in our tour were nervous because they saw a snake slithering through the grass behind the Vanderbilt mansion. We were a little surprised to snap a wildlife picture while we were hanging out with the Vanderbilts.

The neighbors just down the street that suggested that the mansion be donated, were making a donation of their own. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt also donated their Hyde Park home to the national park service so visitors like us could spend some time visiting it.

This is Springwood--where Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born, raised, and then returned as an adult.

In fact, Franklin and Eleanor are both buried on the grounds of this national historic site. His presidential library and museum are also here.

We couldn't get a reserved free ticket to the Roosevelt house when we were in the neighborhood visiting the Vanderbilts. So we had to return the next day to see the inside of Springwood. It includes this comfortable living room where the entire family would spend the evenings. If you look carefully, you can see FDR's wheel chair on the left.

Not made for lavish entertaining, this is a home of a real family that ate real meals at a table for eight--not eighteen. Franklin and Eleanor raised their five children at Springwood, and his Mother continued to live here as well. 

After Franklin contracted polio at the age of 39, they turned the trunk lift into an elevator for him. Designed to move heavy luggage from the downstairs to the bedrooms, it would now transport the country's president to the upstairs bedrooms.

Our tour included the second floor, where the bedroom where Franklin was born was still outfitted in the furniture from 1882.

Down the hall, his boyhood bedroom still included his twin bed, and some of the pictures that were important to his early life.

Even though we couldn't enter the rooms, we could see the clothes still hanging in the closets. That would include the suit and top hat that Franklin wore at his presidential inauguration. Even though they were living in the white house during those presidential years, they still loved returning to Springwood for a break from Washington DC.

After polio took away his ability to walk, Franklin had to have a nurse to help put him to bed and to help him turn over. So Eleanor moved into the tiny bedroom next door. Being the president of the United States means that Franklin had a telephone by his bed with a direct line to the white house staff when he was in Hyde Park.

Eleanor slept in a tiny twin-sized bed so she could be nearby, but not in the way.

Franklin loved this view from the back yard, where he could see the Hudson River--before he planted so many trees around their property.

At another garden on the property, Denisa couldn't help but take some flower pictures. The purple balloon flowers first form into a balloon-like bloom like the one in the upper left. Then they burst open into bright purple flowers.

The lilies were at their peak bloom in the garden.

Denisa loved walking in the flower garden while we were hanging out at the Roosevelt house.

Springwood was actually owned by Franklin's Mother, who lived there with them. She was the one who ran the household and made decisions about how it was decorated. When they lived in the White house, once again Eleanor didn't get to make decisions about the house where she lived. They had a summer house that was also owned by his Mother, and was already fully furnished. Eleanor was an adult who had never had a home of her own that she was free to design and run as she wished. When she was 40, they built this house on some property across the road and two miles away. They named the house Val-Kill, and Eleanor finally had a place of her own!

After Franklin died in 1945, Eleanor moved out of Springwood and moved into Val-Kill. That's when the national park system first started giving tours at Springwood, and tourists were also visiting the Presidential Library and Museum. Eleanor was now across the road, surrounded by the forest and living in her own comfortable style.

It was here that she hosted intimate dinners that would include some of the most powerful people in the world. She sat at this table with John F. Kennedy when he came by to ask her blessings on his decision to run for the presidency.

They used the house and grounds at Val-Kill for weekend pool parties while Franklin was still alive. It was fun to watch old family movies that were filmed here at the pool. After Eleanor's death, the Roosevelt family also donated this home to the national park system. So we could hang out with the Roosevelts for free at this Val-Kill home as well.

Denisa doesn't usually take pictures inside public restrooms, but she had to make an exception today. The most beautiful fresh flower bouquet was by the sink in the women's restroom. Note: Mark said that the men's restroom had a nice fresh bouquet, but for some reason he didn't think it was photo-worthy.

Those flowers came from Eleanor's cut flower garden. A groundsman is still on staff to take care of the fresh flowers and the pool.

After visiting three homes of the rich and famous, you think we would be finished. But we still have one more home tour. President Roosevelt loved the woods, and he had a cabin built among the trees on the highest hill on the property. Even after he had polio, he would drive his car at a wicked speed up the narrow lane through the trees. The queen of England was afraid for her life when Franklin drove them up to Top Cottage. The road isn't open to the public, but visitors are still allowed to walk on the forest path to this secluded location.

Along the way, we passed more of the stacked rock fences that we have admired since arriving in the northeast. The terrain is filled with flat rocks that needed to be cleared to plant crops. Those rocks made great fences when stacked together, and they are still standing a hundred years later. 

Franklin loved sitting on this back porch at Top Cottage, overlooking the forest. It was at this cabin that headlines were made when he served the king and queen of England their first hot dog. He loved to bring leaders of the world here to show them his cottage on the hill.

As we looked out over the Hudson Valley that Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved so much, we have to say that we have really enjoyed our time here as well.

It took us two different days to tour all the national historic park properties here in southern New York. Our Boondocker host pointed out that they lived on the west side of the river, while all the rich families lived on the east side. So we had to cross the toll bridge two different times to hang out with the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time on both sides of this river, and especially our day boating on the Hudson River!