FDR PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY EXPEDITION!

 A while back, I attended a week-long Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org) program, on the life of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The classroom parts of the program were held at the FDR Library, in Hyde Park, New York.  In the photo below, I am the one in pink, sitting between Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

The statue of the Roosevelt couple sits near the entrance to the FDR Library, and probably has a steady stream of visitors using it as a photo opportunity to remember the occasion.  

This banner with a photograph of FDR is on the exterior of the building, and is very unpretentious, compared to the signage at some of the other presidential libraries I have visited.  The other presidential libraries I have visited include those of Clinton, Ford, Reagan, Truman, and the older George Bush.  I hope to visit the new presidential library for President Theodore Roosevelt, scheduled to open in the summer of 2026, in North Dakota.

Likewise, the exterior of the building is not impressive in terms of modernistic, futuristic architecture.  Instead, the stone and roof design are reminiscent of the early settlements of upstate New York, which is where the original Roosevelt family immigrants lived.

 The Roosevelts had a Protestant Christian background, and when FDR was sworn in as President of the United States of America, the Bible that was used was turned to I Corinthians 13, that has the passages on faith, hope, and charity.    Although we were not allowed to photograph it, the actual Bible used, is part of the permanent collection at the Franklin D Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park (www.fdrlibrary.org ).  It is a 1686 Dutch family Bible, printed in Amsterdam.  It is the oldest Bible used in a presidential inauguration and the only one in a foreign language.  The Bible was passed down through the Roosevelt family, and contained records from the early 185h century.  It was also used when FDR was sworn in as Governor of New York in 1928 and 1930.  

God's Word was always important to the president, and the USA President wrote a personal message (dated January 25, 1941), that was placed on the first page of the Servicemen's Bible, given to soldiers involved in World War II.  

The photo below shows Springwood House, which was the lifelong home and birthplace of Franklin D. Roosevelt, in Hyde Park, New York.  It is part of a National Historic Site, located on the same grounds as the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.  Our group was able to take a complete tour inside the . , but we were not allowed to take photos.  The thing I remember most about the interior was seeing the stairs to the second floor.  Our guide told us that after FDR contracted polio, an elevator was installed because he had lost the use of his legs.  However, according to the guide, FDR usually refused to use the lift, and instead, used his upper body strength to crawl up the stairs, saying it helped him stay strong.  The other thing I remember about the house is seeing where he worked on his stamp collection.  Although the hobby has lost popularity now, it was the perfect activity for a person with limited mobility and a keen interest in travel and history.  Although my collection of stamps is not organized as was FDR's, I am still fascinated by the designs of postage stamps and have hundreds of them !  Some people collect stickers, and postage stamps are just a type of sticker!  The 300 acre Springwood Estate includes the Rose Garden, where both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are buried.   

The Roosevelt dime is pictured below:

It is that fighting spirit that FDR had in overcoming polio, that led to his support of the March of Dimes program, and the reason for the FDR likeness on the US ten cent piece.    I told more details about that situation in a blog I published about visiting the FDR Little White House, in Warm Springs, Georgia.  It is available in the archives of this blog, dated April 12, 2018.  

The photo below shows what the folder looked like that I used in elementary school, to collect dimes for the March of Dimes program to fight polio.  

Our group also visited Val-Kil Historic Site, the cottage built for Eleanor Roosevelt.  Its native stone exterior is an example of the vernacular architecture of that area, and possibly the inspiration for the stone exterior used decades later for the FDR Presidential Library.  The same photography rules applied here as did at the Springwood House, so I do not have any photos of the interior of Val-Kil.  (By the way, many places I visited in upstate New York, had a suffix or prefix of "kil".  It was widely used in areas settled by the Dutch in New York.  It is derived from the Dutch word kille, meaning a riverbed, water channel, creek, or tidal inlet.)  The one image I can remember from the interior, however, was a photograph of President John F. Kennedy and Eleanor inside the cottage, when he came to visit the elderly widow, during his presidential era.  

There was a plaque on the exterior of the grounds, with a motto attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, that probably would be helpful for all of us to strive for!

 

In recent years, the US Mint Quarters program, came out with a quarter with a design honoring Eleanor Roosevelt, and it is pictured below:  (It is ironic that her likeness is on a coin worth 25 cents, while her husband's likeness is on a coin worth ten cents!)

There is a hiking trail that goes from the Springwood House, along the Hudson River, up to the Vanderbuilt Historic Site, also above the Hudson River.  However, this warning by the Duchess County Health Department, about ticks made me rethink the possibility of investigating that trail.  Perhaps if I had done what the Eleanor motto recommended, I would have some more photos to show you of the trail!

However, I settled for a photo of the start of the trail, and that was enough to give me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

 

WARM SPRINGS EXPEDITION!

Warm Springs, Georgia, is a tiny town (population around 500) about an hour southwest of Atlanta.  If you have never heard of it, don't feel bad, as neither had I until I attended a week long Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org ) program in Hyde Park, New York, that was an in-depth study of the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.   This placard outside the visitor center gives a synopsis of the historical importance of The Little White House and Warm Springs. 

The Little White House was the personal retreat of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, and is located in the National Historic District of Warm Springs, Georgia ( www.warmspringsga.com ).   Because FDR liked the area ever since he started visiting in the 1920's, he had a home built on nearby Pine Mountain, when he was Governor of New York.  The house was finished in 1932.  Roosevelt kept the house after he became president, using it as his presidential retreat.  During FDR's presidency and the Great Depression, he developed many New Deal Programs (such as Rural Electrification Administration) based on his experiences in the small town of Warm Springs.  (This fact makes me daydream about a powerful president building a presidential retreat near where I live, so that the POTUS could see what    S  l  o  w      I  n  t  e  r  n  e  t   is available in the rural area where I live, and take action to correct the situation!!)

One of the young visitors at The Little House was intrigued by the rotating gate that stretched across the driveway in front of the house.  I have seen revolving doors before, but this was my first experience with a revolving gate!

To describe the house as "little" is quite accurate!  It only has six rooms, and three of these are bedrooms: one for FDR, one for Eleanor, and one for his secretary.  Other rooms were an entrance hall, living room, and kitchen  The garage and servants quarters were added later, followed by a single story guest cottage in 1933.  Then in 1934, a cottage for Georgia Wilkins was added  (The Wilkins family was the original owner of the property)

The museum that is adjacent to the house has the specially-designed convertible automobile, with hand controls, that FDR enjoyed driving. 

 The photo above shows Roosevelt sitting in a convertible automobile, in front of the Little White House, and shows that the place looked the same then as it does now. 

Roosevelt did not mind being photographed with acquaintances and visitors, if the photo gave no indication of his lower body paralysis.  An example, is this photo with youngsters on the car's running boards:

The Little White House is now a part of the Georgia State Parks ( www.gastateparks.org/LittleWhiteHouse ) This is because most of Roosevelt property was willed to Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, which gained control of the properties in 1948. The photo below shows that the kitchen at the Little White House was what we today would call "Minimalist"!

The photo below shows Roosevelt's chair, just as it was on the day he died, sitting in front of the living room fireplace.  In total, FDR made 16 trips to The Little White House during his presidency, usually spending 2-3 weeks at a time, as it took a day to reach Warm Springs from Washington, D.C., by train.  Locals said he would often host Thanksgiving dinners for the people of Warm Springs.  (This reminded me that a friend of mine who had been part of the communications transition team for President Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia, said President Carter invited the communications team members to share in a Thanksgiving celebration in Plains, Georgia!)

Being a  U.S. President and Governor of New York with "mobility challenges", it is not surprising that Roosevelt would have many different canes and walking sticks given to him over the years.  Since he was diagnosed with polio when he was only 39 years old, the collection was extensive, and they are on display in the museum. 

The museum has this reminder that both John F. Kennedy (in 1960) and Jimmy Carter (in 1976) used the property for their campaigns to become president.  In fact, Jimmy Carter launched his campaign there.

 The photo above with the ship models, illustrates FDR's love of boating, and is a reminder that at one time, he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.  Besides putting together ship models, another hobby popular in those days for  a person who was unable to walk or run normally, was postage stamp collecting.  The photo  below is a reminder that FDR was an avid stamp collector:

The Little White House has an elevated back porch that looks out over the woods of Pine Mountain.  During World War II, soldiers from Fort Benning were stationed at the Little White House to patrol the woods surrounding the farm. 

The photo below shows how steep and rocky the property is.

This tiny guard house seems very unimpressive, in terms of the security that is used now to protect U.S. Presidents!  It is good that the sign indicates it was the "Marine Corps Sentry Post", because it is similar in size to an "outhouse", that would have been common in rural Georgia at the time!

  One of the last exhibits at The Little White House is the one that has the unfinished portrait of FDR.  It was this portrait that was being painted, at the time of his death.  On April 12, 1945, FDR was sitting for a portrait at The Little White House, when he suffered a stroke.  He died two hours later of cerebral hemorrhage. (In remembrance of the April 12 day of his death, this blog has a publication date of April 12)   The artist that day was Elizabeth Shoumatoff.  Ms. Shoumatoff later finished a different portrait (based on sketches and memory), that hangs nearby.  I was intrigued by the cane wheelchair underneath the portrait, because I have one just like it!  I bought it when a nursing home I used to work for, was getting rid of their old-style wheel chairs, and replacing them with new vinyl-seat models.  Seeing this one on display makes me have a greater appreciation for my antique model!

A short drive from The Little White House, you can visit the Warm Springs Treatment Pools.  The thermal hot springs of this area are what originally brought FDR to visit, for polio treatments, in 1924.  He was not the first to see curative powers from the waters.   Wounded Native American warriors gathered at the springs before Europeans colonized the New World.  In the late 1700's the springs were discovered by yellow fever victims, and by 1832, Warm Springs had become a popular summer health resort.  The resort flourished in the 1880's-1890's, and was incorporated in 1893.  A factor in the success of that period was that visitors could come to Warm Springs via train, from the larger cities of Atlanta and Savannah  However, after the invention of automobiles, and subsequent growth of automobile travel, tourists began to go elsewhere. 

A few years after FDR's first visit to Warm Springs, he established the Warm Springs Foundation, for the care and treatment of fellow polio victims who could not afford such medical help.  He founded the institution after hearing about a boy who had regained the use of his legs through a treatment known as hydrotherapy, which involves the use of water for soothing pain and treating diseases.  (Notice the title "March of Dimes" on the placard. As a kid, I remember going around town with a small cardboard wallet, made to hold dimes,  I would collect dimes until the wallet slots were filled, then turn in the wallet to a school official, who then mailed all those dimes via the postal service, so that they could be counted at foundation headquarters.  The March of Dimes (Founded in 1928) funded Jonas Salk's polio vaccine. Since polio has subsequently become almost eradicated, The March of Dimes changed its primary focus in 2005, to the prevention of preterm births, because preterm births emerged as the leading cause of death for children worldwide.   History shows us now, that  Roosevelt's "March of Dimes" organization became the prototype for dozens of similar foundations.  Since Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes, a redesign of the dime was chosen to honor him after his death.  The Roosevelt dime was issued in 1946, on what would have been his 64th birthday.   .The photo below shows one of the original posters used by The National Foundation For Infantile Paralysis. 

The building beside the former hydrotherapy pools is full of exhibits designed to show the visitor the type of medical treatments that were given to polio patients during that time period.  Tables like the one in this photo were placed in the treatment pools.  While the patient lay on the table in the warm, soothing waters, their therapist stood in the water beside them and exercised the patient's paralyzed legs.  

The historic pools are now empty, but placards located throughout the historic property help the visitor interpret what they are seeing. I would highly recommend the recent HBO movie, Warm Springs, to give you a better image of the status of polio treatment in FDR's time.  The movie shows these same treatment pools, full of water, with the patients and therapists doing their exercises.  You can order the movie on line, or (as I did) check it out for free from your local library. 

The pools were massive, almost the size of a football field, and this photo shows a connecting walk through area of the pools, as well as an overhead bridge. When FDR first started going to the Warm Springs pools, he was not allowed to enter the water until after the regular, "healthy" resort guests were gone for the day.  Likewise, he was not allowed to eat with the regular, "healthy" resort guests, due to the stigma polio had of being highly contagious.  My husband told the story about when he was a youngster, he contracted a very mild case of polio that paralyzed his esophagus for a short time.  Because of this "contagious" fear, his younger brother was required to take a painful medical injection that would  supposedly reduce the risk of the younger brother contracting polio.  My husband said his younger brother had trouble understanding the situation and asked, "Since the BIG brother was the sick one, why is it the LITTLE brother has to take this awful shot??!!!)

Although the historic pools no longer have water in them, there is a small area down inside the pools, where one can actually stick their hands into the thermal waters,

 Young folks may not recognize the contraption shown below, but because my mother had one of these attached to her washing machine when I was growing up, I knew it was a "wringer", used to PRESS the water out of clothing, towels, linens , etc, so that they would dry quicker.  The hydrotherapy pools would have resulted in dozens of wet towels, and without the benefit of our modern, heavy-duty commercial dryers, alternative solutions were needed.  Drying time for towels is greatly reduced if as much moisture as possible is PRESSED out of them before they are hung up to dry.  This phenomena of using pressure to get a desired result,  is why I am using the image of a wringer as the visual aid for my First Place 4 Health ( www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) memory verse, that has the word "press" in it.  "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I PRESS on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."  Philippians 3:12

The museum exhibits include examples of braces that many polio victims wore, to facilitate movement of their paralyzed legs.  FDR wore such braces, although they are seldom seen when you look at photographs of him.  He did not like being thought of as "a cripple", and thus usually forbade the news reporters from taking photographs that showed his braces.  In the Warm Springs movie, FDR makes the comment that he would need to have a blacksmith as part of the rehab team, so they could staff a "Brace Shop" for the patients.  The physical therapist would monitor a young patient's growth, and have new braces made for them, as they grew taller.  In the Warm Springs movie, Kathy Bates plays the physical therapist who is a key character in advancing the hydrotherapy treatment of polio, and her role reminded me of the father of one of my college friends.  He was a graduate of Baylor University and a Licensed Physical Therapist.  He said he went into that field because of the tremendous help he received from physical therapists who helped him overcome polio. 

The photo below shows what was called an "iron lung".  When a patient's paralysis got so bad that their chest muscles and lungs could no longer contract and expand, the machine forced air in and out of their lungs.  I think the phrase "Iron Lung" is etched vividly in my mind because as a youngster, I was told one of my classmates who had polio had to go away and be put into an Iron Lung.  Shortly thereafter, we were told that the classmate had died.  In those days, the disease of polio made it a sad and scary time, for both parents and children.   Today, in health care, a much smaller version of a breathing machine is used, and it is called a ventilator. 

One of the reasons the health care profession has made so much progress in the treatment of polio and other similar maladies, is through the research and development that was implemented by FDR.  This exhibit hales it as Roosevelt's greatest legacy:

The institute

 provides vocational rehabilitation , long term acute care, and inpatient rehabilitation for amputees and people recovering from spinal cord injuries. 

I am very thankful for the perseverance FDR displayed as he worked to overcome the difficulties associated with the terrible disease of polio---as he PRESSED ON, to be our country's only four-term president .   One can still donate to the charitable foundation he started, by going to www.MarchOfDimes.org   .  Likewise, if you would like to visit this and a multitude of other fascinating sights in Georgia, check out the website, www.ExploreGeorgia.org

A trip to this state will give you "MILES OF SMILES"!!

HISTORIC HUGUENOT STREET EXPEDITION!

I have to be honest and tell you that I had never heard of Historic Huguenot Street, until I started researching activities to do in conjunction with an automobile trip I was taking to the Hudson River Valley, to attend a week-long Road Scholar ( www.roadscholar.org ) program at Mount Saint Mary's College in Newburgh, New York.  Since I was going to be in the area on the Fourth of July, I googled "Hudson River Valley Fourth of July activities", and Historic Huguenot Street ( www.huguenotstreet.org ) came up, because they were having special, FREE historical demonstrations/re-enactments that day.  Being a frugal traveler, I put it on my list of possible activities for that day. 

I read on the event listing that this National Historic Landmark was located in the town of New Paltz, which I also had never heard of!  (However, after returning from my trip, I re-watched the movie Dirty Dancing---which was written to reflect this Catskill Mountain area of New York---and the town of New Paltz is mentioned as the location to take a resort staff member to the doctor.  Needless to say, I did not catch the reference, the first time I saw the movie, back in the 1980's!)

The first stop for any visitor to Historic Huguenot Street is the DuBois Fort, which serves as the Visitor Center, exhibit area, gift shop, and ticket sales office.  (They also have a second-story restroom with an old-fashioned claw-foot bathtub in it!)

As part of the Independence Day festivities, a staff member was giving a demonstration inside the Visitor Center, on how to churn butter, using the kitchen implements available during colonial days. 

On the grounds outside the visitor center, the demonstrations had been set up as promised, and were attracting several visitors, in spite of the fine mist of precipitation that was falling. 

The re-enactors in this area were giving a demonstration of Dutch-oven cooking, with promises of samples to taste, as the day progressed!

A black-smith was getting his hot coals ready for a demonstration on how knives were made by the colonists.

These younger-looking re-enactors look different, not only because of their clothing suitable to the colonial days, but also because they are not staring down at a cell phone, the way their peer in the burgundy shirt is doing!

The powerful-looking stance of this blacksmith, as he hammered away on the hot metal, show one reason the colonists burned lots more calories in their work, than we do in present-day activities.  If we want a new knife, all it takes is a few clicks on the Internet, and one will arrive at our door within hours!

New Paltz has been a college town for 150 years, and is now the location of SUNY/New Paltz ( State University of New York ).  An option of ANY college student who is beyond their freshman year, is to apply for an internship at Historic Huguenot Street.  The internships are part-time work, and the intern has the opportunity to earn college credits for the experience they will gain. 

The 10-acre National Landmark Historic District was built in the 1700's and consists of seven stone houses.  The Bevier House shown in this photo has a unique stone cellar, that was used to house African slaves.  The historical record of slavery in New Paltz begins in 1674, 3 years before its founding, when Louis DuBois purchased two African slaves at public auction held in Kingston, New York.  By 1790, 77 slave holders owned 302 slaves, or 13% of the population. 

There have been four sanctuaries built on Historic Huguenot Street.  French speaking Protestants who settled New Paltz built the first church in 1683, which was a simple log building; it was eventually replaced by a stone church.  Note that the language spoken in the church was French, until 1753.  At that point, due to the influx of Dutch settlers, the language spoken at the church changed to Dutch, which was used until 1800. 

The Adam Hasbrouck  House reflects the defining elements  of Dutch Architecture.  One of these is that the gable ends of the structure face the street, which conserves street frontage.  Another is a jambless fireplace.  (This means the fireplace does not have the side "jambs" or vertical supports, one normally sees in a fireplace).

The Freer House has been continuously occupied for 250 years.  That means someone had done continuous preventive maintenance on this abode for generations!  I salute them!

Notice the wooden shutters on the house are not just "for looks", as they actually open and close as needed, to protect the occupants from adverse weather conditions.  Also, notice the rain barrels positioned on the ends of the house to collect fresh water from the roof run-off. 

The fieldstone used to construct the houses, is often seen in the architecture of homes built in the prevailing style of the low countries of Northern Europe, that the early settlers would have been familiar with. 

  This reconstructed stone church built in 1717, reflected REFORM thinking, with the pulpit in the central location and pews  placed so everyone could see and hear more clearly.  This expressed the concept that each person had a direct relationship with God, rather than one mediated through a church hierarchy.

  The Jean Hasbrouck stone house serves as the headquarters for the Huguenot Historical Society, which was founded in 1894!  I find it amazing that these founding fathers had the foresight to preserve this significant religious heritage of our nation's history over 120 years ago!!  I am very thankful that they took it to heart, and put into action the advise given in the Bible in I Chronicles 6:5-9 that says, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

The main topic of the Road Scholar program I was to start later that same week, was on the subject of the Roosevelt family.  Therefore, I was fascinated to learn that the Crispell Church is named after Antoine Crispell, one of 12 founders (patentees) of New Paltz, and a direct ancestor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Since he had ancestors from this region full of Dutch Christians, it is more understandable to me why FDR wanted his family's Bible to be used, each time he was sworn in as President of the United States of America.  The Bible was turned to I Corinthians 13, which is the chapter on Love.  However, unless the onlookers were fluent in foreign languages, they could not have read the chapter, because FDR's family Bible was written in the Dutch language, and had been passed down through the generations of his family!  I was thankful to get to see that Bible later in the week, when I visited the FDR library in Hyde Park, New York.

This ancient stone wall serves as a boundary marker for the gravestones that denote the lives of the early settlers of this region of New York State.  As an example of the on-going mission of this National Historic Landmark, they are offering a "Gravestone Preservation Workshop" on September 19-20, of this year.  There is a fee for the workshop, and you can check out their website for more information.  Another example of its mission to help the current generation learn about their religious heritage, is the fact that each college student enrolled at SUNY in New Paltz receive a free, one year membership to the Historic Huguenot Site!  Their student ID cards have an imprint on the back, reminding them to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity for free guided tours, free admission to special events, and member discounts.  I think if these students use that membership, they will learn about their history, and it will give them "MILES OF SMILES", as it did for me!  Tricia