Franklin Delano Roosevelt ~ January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945

32nd President 1933-1945

Franklin Delano Roosevelt sites visited:
Hyde Park, New York
We toured the home first and it's one of the few Presidential homes which has original furniture, art, and other artifacts from the President's life. Called Springwood, it has the original hand-pulled lift and stair railing that he used to move throughout the house.
This is the room in which Franklin was born.
His boyhood room
The Chintz Room
The Pink Room
The Dresden Room
Eleanor's Bedroom
Sara's Bedroom
Here's the lift and the handrail (the ramp was removed) to Franklin's office.
Here are some other interior photos including an early TV.
Franklin's Bedroom with a View
The Stables
These are some highlights from the Presidential Library/Museum, established in 1941, and it's one of our favorites.
The graves of Eleanor and Franklin are located on the property.
Val-Kill, a few miles from Springwood, became Eleanor's primary residence after Franklin's death. It was previously used as Val-Kill industries and the Roosevelts did some entertaining here as well. The day we visited, nothing was open so here are exterior photos of this beautiful spot. There are two buildings here: the Stone Cottage and the Val-Kill Industries structure that became Eleanor's home.
Our last Roosevelt stop in Hyde Park was Top Cottage, designed by FDR and built in 1938-1939 as a private residence, although notable guests were also entertained here. The pretty house is not open but you can walk up from the blocked off driveway. What a gorgeous spot, high on this hill.
FDR has lots of 'firsts' and here are a few.
He was the first president whose mother was eligible to vote for him and he was the first president to be inaugurated on January 20. FDR was the first to appoint a woman to a cabinet post (Frances Perkins), the first to appear on TV, the first to fly in an airplane while in office, and he was the first (and last) president to serve more than two terms.
His plane can be found in the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
On a White House tour, we found part of his State Service, made in Corning, New York.
This house in New York City was given to Franklin and Eleanor as a wedding present from Franklin's mother, Sara. Sara lived there from 1908 until her death in 1941, after which it was put up for sale. Franklin and Eleanor lived there intermittently before Sara's death (47-49 East 65th St).
A souvenir pin.
There's an FDR bust in the JFK Museum in Boston.
This portrait hangs as part of a larger mural in the LBJ Presidential Museum in Austin, Texas.
Four Freedoms Park is a four acre memorial to FDR and is located on Roosevelt Island in New York City, in the East River. The park was originally designed in 1974 by Louis Kahn but was not completed until 2012. We visited in 2021.
The four freedoms were laid out by FDR in his 1941 State of the Union address.
It's a beautiful tribute on the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island and offers some great views.
Roosevelt spent many summers on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada, both as a child and an adult. Eleanor kept this house until 1952. We didn't get to visit what is now an International Park owned by the U.S. and Canada but sailed past the island on a whale watching trip out of New Brunswick. If you get to the island, tours of the Roosevelt "cottage" are available. This is the light station on the tip of Campobello Island.
FDR's "Sunshine Special", a 1939 Lincoln limousine, is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Rapid City, South Dakota, City of Presidents statue:
FDR has a large memorial in Washington D.C.
In 1939, FDR laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in D.C.

"Be sincere; be brief; be seated."

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