HUDSON VALLEY .. HYDE PARK & WEST POINT

10/7/12 - 10/8/12 - HUDSON VALLEY

Driving around this area is a real treat, even if it’s steely grey and wet!  The country roads leading to the Village of Rhinebeck are sooooo pretty!

Rhinebeck, in Duchess County, is about 100 miles north of NYC.  It was settled in 1686 by the Dutch crossing the river from Kingston and the purchase of 2200 acres from a Iroquois tribe.  In 1703 the King’s Highway, known as Albany Post Road (today’s Route 9) was constructed.  In 1706 Traphagan bought a tract of land, building a tavern and house on the trail a short distance from King’s Highway which was the start of Rhinebeck.

The village grew and in 1733 the Reformed Dutch Church was built.  After the Revolutionary War the village continued to grow and the Town of Rhinebeck was incorporated in 1834. 

By the 1850’s it grew further with a reputation as a woodworking center.  It was also becoming a location for the country estates of the Guilded Age wealthy.  

By the end of the 1800’s it became an industry center in the cultivation of violets.  During the “Gay Nineties” approximately 20% of the village’s population was in the violet business with crops estimated to have exceeded a million dollars in value some years.

The historic district hasn’t changed much from the 1890 map of the village.  It is just charming and pretty.

HYDE PARK & FDR

We decided to head to Hyde Park, also located in Duchess County, to visit the FDR National Historic Site.  Before going, however, we stopped at the local brewery for lunch!  Couldn’t get our passport stamped, though!

The FDR library was in the process of renovation so we were only able to view a small portion with family and political photographs.  “Public Figures, Private Lives” is a photo immersion through the lives and times of FDR.

FDR was the first president to give his papers to the American people.  The library has since acquired additional collections and is the busiest research operations in the entire Presidential Library system.   This is the first Presidential Library ever established.  Previously  presidents took their papers with them or donated them to existing libraries. 

 Roosevelt was involved in the project.  The building is built in the Dutch Colonial stone.  After FDR was elected for a third and fourth term, the study was used as his office away from the White House, used for his fireside chats and meetings with world leaders. 

Family Wing (Sara Delano not far away!)

Wings added on each side to accommodate the enlarged family.

Springwood was his childhood home.  He was born and raised here, a family of privilege, and strongly influenced by his fifth cousin Teddy Roosevelt.  When he graduated from Harvard, Teddy was elected President.

He continued to come back to Springwood after marrying Eleanor and having his family.  The original house was much smaller, he added wings on both sides to make room for his family and all their servants.    

Even at that, it is a modest, homey place; not as elaborate or ostentatious as many of the “Guilded Age” mansions (e.g., Biltmore House in Asheville). Apparently that was because they were "old money" and didn't need to "show off".  When Sara Delano married FDR's father, he told her not to associate with "those Vanderbilts"!  They were "new money".  

Money is money is money!  At least with "new money" you worked for it as opposed to "old money" that just came to you because you were born into the family!  Any of us could have been born into "old money"...... couldn't we?

Eleanor had a place called Val Kill in the area which was her retreat (probably got her away from M-I-L Sara) and they had the home on Campobello Island off of Maine and then FDR’s mineral springs in Warm Springs, GA.

About four years before he died, he signed the house over to the National Park Service and left it with all the furnishings as well as his clothes.  He didn't want it to look like a museum but rather to look as though he would be arriving for a weekend.

It was fascinating to see his clothes hanging in the closets and shoes on the racks.  Of course, his mother Sara also lived in this house along with Eleanor and their five children.

Property goes back to the Hudson River

There were a lot of interesting quips and stories.  I guess I never put it together that his face on the Dime was related to the March of Dimes which was related to his establishing Warm Springs as a rehabilitation center for polio victims.

Who knew?!  I’m sure everyone!

Whether you agree with the politics or not, you have to admire the man.  He lived with tremendous physical hardships, was tenacious and determined and despite his lofty life of privilege he recognized the need to help the less fortunate through public service and put it into action.  

He wanted to be buried in his mother’s rose garden at Hyde Park.  The monument was executed to the president’s design by the Vermont Marble Company in Proctor, Vermont.   FDR specified that a plain white marble monument without carving or decoration be placed at his grave.  Eleanor Roosevelt is interred here also.

WEST POINT

Our last day in New York before heading down to Gettysburg was a visit to West Point.  It was a lot farther away than we thought!  We got there around 1PM and the next tour was at 2:30 but would get us back late in the afternoon and we still needed to get back (before rush hour) so took our own tour of the West Point Museum.

It was interesting but somewhat disappointing.  There are several floors of exhibits tracing the history of American military.  However, it stopped short! 

The last exhibit was Vietnam and not much beyond that.  Even at that, the Vietnam and Korean War exhibits were very small with only a few artifacts in comparison to the other exhibits; however if you wanted to know about the War of 1812, it took up practically an entire room!  Maybe it coincides with the 200th anniversary.

 

The museum covered the War of Independence through the World War II, then it  just kind of petered out!  I was happy to see a nice exhibit about women in the armed services; nurses who served during the wars and it was actually larger than the Vietnam War and Korean War exhibits. 

Not sure what that was all about.   I worked with many West Point graduates and they served long and hard in the Vietnam War, Gulf Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. Juss sayin!

In the weapons room there was the model for the bomb dropped on Japan.  Who would think something this benign looking would create such devastation!

Then the nuclear rocket launcher.  Dave thinks Fred H. maintained this equipment in the Korean War.  I'll have to ask him!

One of the last exhibits was in a room devoted to the battle of Fort Sumter, Charleston SC which is celebrating 150 years.  Our trip started in Charleston touring Fort Sumter.  In Vermont there were Civil War exhibits commemorating the sacrifices of the Green Mountain Boys and now as we approach Gettysburg, we see a special exhibit in the West Point Museum commemorating Fort Sumter.  When we get to Gettysburg we’ll tour the battlefield of that last bloody battle of a very bloody war.  We didn’t start out with this theme in mind (other than bourbon and beer), but it was the thread that seemed to follow us through the summer.  Interesting……

BEAT AIR FORCE WRITTEN ON TOP OF THE BUILDING

West Point is an impressive place.  As we climbed up Route 9G we came to an overlook which had a great view of the campus.  You can see the Army on the football field!

Getting ready to Beat Air Force!  Maybe!

We enjoyed our stay here.  New York continues to impress; it is really a beautiful state.  We’re heading south in the morning.  Going to meet up with Barb and John Alden who are waiting for us at Artillery Ridge CG.  Can’t wait to see them. 

LIFE IS GOOD!!!  ARF! ARF!