The Hudson River Valley: Home of FDR and Gateway to the Heartland.

Congratulations Grads~!

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Home and Presidential Library lie on the east bank of the Hudson River, a few miles north of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the little village of Hyde Park. It is an exclusive area of mansions and wealth.

The home is only accessible with a ticket. You may wish to book in advance, especially in the summer. There were 18 on our 9:30 tour.

Almost all of the furniture, paintings and decoration are original. The entry walls are covered with naval paintings, recalling his love of the sea and his role as Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the age of 31 during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the same post that his fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt had held. Like his distant cousin, FDR loved birds and the outdoors.

I was a bit disturbed by the display of birds that Roosevelt had shot. He was given a pellet gun for his 11th birthday and immediately began to shoot, as would any young man. The birds were mounted and are on display.

He and Eleanor entertained the King and Queen of England here in 1939, the first visit of British Royalty to the U.S. The Royals slept here and were entertained on the lawn with a hot dog picnic. Later Churchill would spend a month living at this mansion while working with FDR on WWII issues.

Roosevelt had the Library constructed while he was still President, and it is a fitting tribute to his legacy.

The site opens at nine and the first tour of the home is at 9:30.

The Museum/Library is excellent. Graphic displays highlighted with short videos relive the times, from the Great Depression and the end of Prohibition to WWII and the development of nuclear weapons.

FDR’s legacy isn’t perfect. He largely failed to address racism, and when he cut back on spending the economy took a big turn for the worse. But he lead the country through two of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced: the severe economic crisis that followed WWI and WWII.

After touring the site we headed to Poughkeepsie, where the MidHudson Bridge (opening photo) spans the Hudson.

You can take the train from here to NYC, almost 100 miles south, in 1 1/2 hours. Henry Hudson, the first European explorer for whom the river is named, sailed well up the river in his ship, Half Moon in 1609 in search of the Northwest Passage.

Credit: CreativeCommons

Hudson never returned from his 1611 expedition, as his crew mutinied and set him adrift in the Bay which bears his name today.

We watched the river flow by, then noticed driftwood was moving north, not south! Even though the Atlantic Ocean is 100 miles away, the Hudson River is still influenced by the tide, changing directions four times a day. It is still a bit salty here, and gets saltier in times of drought.

We enjoyed tasty crab cakes at Erin O’Neill’s Pub & Grill which overlooks the river, located just north of an old railway bridge that is today a pedestrian walkway high over the Hudson. A stream of people have passed this way, from Native Americans to the first steam boat passengers.

The Dutch were some of the first Europeans to venture here, trading with the Indians for furs. Our earliest Dutch ancestors left Manhattan and settled 50 miles north of here along the Hudson, as I mentioned in The Dutch: Chapter 7.

Later ancestors traveled from Germany to Ohio through here, avoiding the Appalachian mountains. They steamed up the Hudson by boat, took the Erie Canal to Buffalo, then again boarded a steamboat on Lake Erie to Sandusky, arriving by train in Tiffin, Ohio. This was in the 1840’s, before the Civil War.

We could easily have spent another day in the area and also visited Val-Kill, the home of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site. A good reason to return!

Today is graduation day for our oldest grandchildren. I thought about writing an advice column, but there are plenty of those. Instead I will list my hopes for them.

I hope they follow their dreams, explore the world, and keep a sense of curiosity.

I hope they take time to enjoy life, read widely, and maintain an open mind.

I hope they gain a broad view of Earth, its people, and its history.

I hope their life is solid, like the three-legged stool: ethos, pathos and logos: ethics, passion and logic.

And I hope they have fun!

Congratulations Grads~!