FDR

Today we visited the Franklin D Roosevelt home and presidential library/museum in Hyde Park, NY. This presidential museum and library was the first of 13 in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).  It was FDR's idea to create a presidential museum and library to share with the American people.

First we had a guided tour of his home. It is all original furnishings and remains the same as when the President was here last just before his death in 1945.  After FDR's death, Eleanor never came back to live here.

This is the family room.

This is the family dining room.  FDR's chair is the one at the end of the table slightly turned away from the table.  It always sat like this allowing him easier access from his wheelchair into the dining chair.

This is an oversize dumb waiter that FDR used to go to and from the first and second floor of the house since he could not use the stairs. Two things I found interesting regarding this picture.  One was that he used a kitchen chair with bicycle wheels attached as a wheelchair within the house.  He used this because of the narrow doorways ad hallways in the house.  The second thing was that he never had an elevator put into the house because he was afraid of fire and thought that he would be trapped if the house ever had a fire.

This was the bedroom of Franklin and Eleanor until they added the south wing of the house.  Then it was used as a guest bedroom.    Queen Elizabeth has stayed in this room.

 Once the south wing was added, this became the bedroom of Franklin and Eleanor until his attack of polio.  This telephone on the wall was a direct line to the White House during WWII.

This is what the house looked like after a wing was added on both ends and what it has looked like since 1945.

Both President and Mrs. Roosevelt are buried in FDR's mother's rose garden on the property.

 Fala, was the President's Scottish Terrier.  Fala was called "the informer" by Secret Service because if you saw him, the President wasn't far behind.

Other sights on the grounds.

One of my favorite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt that I spotted in the library:  "... it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try...Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, It can't be done."

This was one of my favorite presidential museums.