Hyde Park, home of the Roosevelts!

Eric in front of Springwood
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Hyde Park houses the original homes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as FDR’s Presidential Library (the very first presidential library, and the only library actually used by a sitting president!).

Very cool to see in person -- they had everything from the bed that FDR was born in to childhood toys to presidential memorabilia. My favorite place, typical of me, was the gravesites of Franklin and Eleanor. (I know it can seem cryptic to be excited about a gravesite -- but to me it is so much more incredible to know that I’m only a few feet away from such amazing historic figures than to simply look at possessions that they owned during their lifetimes. Anyway…)

Me in front of Eleanor's ValKill home
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Tip for others: Take the combo Springwood (FDR’s childhood home), Val Kill (Eleanor’s home), and Top Cottage (the President’s retreat) tour. You probably want to see all these sites anyway, and it will be easier to do it with the combo tour than on your own, as we did.

(I’m sure you’ll all be taking this advice very, very soon ;))

We also saw the Vanderbuilt estate and the Mills mansion. HUMONGOUS homes...just HUGE. They’re both falling into disrepair though. Very weird that just 50 years ago those places were the height of social activity, and today commoners like me can walk right up to the broken windows and look around. As Eric mused, perhaps in 80 years or so we will all be touring the homes of Angelina and Brad. I guess we’ll see!