I had such a great day in Hyde Park, NY! What a beautiful area.
Alex texted me and said, “I want pics from the mansion!” And I was like, “The only pics I took were of this statue fondling herself and the railing around Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bed because she was a fan of Marie Antionette.” Oops.
I have to admit, I was just a little judge-y during the tour. It was just so extravagant- 60 vases of fresh flowers every day (and a whole room just to store vases), a three-room wine cellar (red, white, and champagne), all the furniture had to be from Europe (Medici fireplaces from Rome)... Just seemed like such a waste to me! But my opinion of Vanderbilt changed at the end of the tour. He left all of his money to charities and his servants. The smallest amount of money someone got was $1000, which was still enough money to buy an nice house back then. When Vanderbilt had the opportunity to buy a refrigerator instead of an ice box, he didn’t, because that would mean firing two employees who were in charge of the ice box. Every Christmas, Mr. Vanderbilt would line up all the servants and wish them a Merry Christmas and slip a $50 gold piece to each person. He’d say, “Don’t tell Mrs. Vanderbilt!” A few hours later, Mrs. Vanderbilt would do the same thing and say, “Don’t tell Mr. Vanderbilt!”
Several different versions of his inaugural speech, which included revisions with his famous fear quote. They had a podium with his speech on it so you could pretend to be him, and you know I took full advantage of that.
I was also fascinated by the correspondence they had on display.
They had his office and his desk from the Oval Office.
I also enjoyed learning about The Four Freedoms:
This was such a cool place and I want to go back with my dad! Sometimes I feel guilty visiting these places because I go in with very little background knowledge, and I don’t appreciate it as much as I would if I knew more about the topic. My dad knows so much about history; he could fully appreciate this place and explain a lot of it to me. We’ll have to make a plan to go back!
We had the most amazing ranger doing the tour at the Vanderbilt Mansion. These rangers can really make or break a park site. I know my family will always remember Ranger Erin, who gave us a tour of Dinosaur. Ranger Sharon was an expert on the Vanderbilts; I can’t believe she had that whole tour memorized. It included so many details! I have been on some pretty bad tours. For example, I went on a tour at the Maggie Walker Historical Site and walked away not knowing anything about her! (I hadn’t done any research before visiting and happened to arrive just in time for the tour.) The guide was just like, “This is the bedroom... this is the kitchen...” Terrible! Ranger Sharon was able to tell us about every piece of furniture- “The fireplaces are from the Medici family in Rome... that vase is from the Ming dynasty... those are 16th century tapestries...”
The statues on this fireplace were SO. AWKWARD.
Alex texted me and said, “I want pics from the mansion!” And I was like, “The only pics I took were of this statue fondling herself and the railing around Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bed because she was a fan of Marie Antionette.” Oops.
I have to admit, I was just a little judge-y during the tour. It was just so extravagant- 60 vases of fresh flowers every day (and a whole room just to store vases), a three-room wine cellar (red, white, and champagne), all the furniture had to be from Europe (Medici fireplaces from Rome)... Just seemed like such a waste to me! But my opinion of Vanderbilt changed at the end of the tour. He left all of his money to charities and his servants. The smallest amount of money someone got was $1000, which was still enough money to buy an nice house back then. When Vanderbilt had the opportunity to buy a refrigerator instead of an ice box, he didn’t, because that would mean firing two employees who were in charge of the ice box. Every Christmas, Mr. Vanderbilt would line up all the servants and wish them a Merry Christmas and slip a $50 gold piece to each person. He’d say, “Don’t tell Mrs. Vanderbilt!” A few hours later, Mrs. Vanderbilt would do the same thing and say, “Don’t tell Mr. Vanderbilt!”
Ranger Sharon said she chose to work here because the Vanderbilts were good people; she didn’t want to give tours about greedy, evil people. Love, love love Ranger Sharon!
My next stop was Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home. I guess she found out pretty early on in the marriage that FDR was cheating, so she moved here. (He lived with his mother for most of his life!) I mean, I always knew she was a badass feminist, but visiting her home helped me realize just how awesome she was. I hadn’t realized how involved she was in Civil Rights! She just seems like a nice lady who wanted to help. She was determined to get out there and see how people were living and do whatever she could to help. In the future, if someone asks me that icebreaker question, “If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?” My answer will be, “Eleanor Roosevelt.”
Here are some of the fun facts I learned:
-She was the First Lady of the Civil Rights movement. When she was in her 70’s, the KKK put a $25,000 bounty on her head, but she still showed up for a civil rights rally in Tennessee.
- She wouldn’t endorse JFK until he took a public stand on civil rights. He showed up to ask for her public support. She asked him about civil rights, and he acted like the typical politician and wouldn’t give a direct answer. She endorsed someone else. When the next election came around, he did his best to get on her good side and took a stand on civil rights!
- Her name is misspelled on her desk because a local boy made the sign in shop class
- Her son sold off all her stuff when she died. She never thought she was important, and apparently he agreed. (This is in direct contrast to FDR, who started planning for his presidential library when he was still alive. He was looking forward to his home becoming a tourist attraction; he knew how important he was.) Many of the current owners (of Eleanor’s things) have left items to the NPS in their wills, which means that the park service is basically just waiting for people to die.
- In 1953 she bragged to McCalls magazine that she loved paper plates.
-She had her license revoked for reckless driving. She was buck toothed, but pics of her later in life show her with straight teeth. This is because she lost her front teeth in a car accident.
- She could only cook scrambled eggs, toast, and hot dogs.
- She loved folding laundry (but not actually doing laundry).
Once again, what made this tour particularly awesome was our ranger. She spoke like she actually knew Eleanor; she had so many interesting anecdotes. I am now a huge fan of Eleanor’s, and I’ve decided my students are going to read a book about her this year so they will be fans, too.
Last stop: the FDR presidential museum and library. Confession- I was a little irritated with FDR for cheating on my Eleanor, so I didn’t want to go for a tour of his house. I opted to just visit the museum, which I was so impressed with. I didn’t want to like it, but I did!
I couldn’t believe the amazing artifacts they had! His spectacles and felt hat:
Several different versions of his inaugural speech, which included revisions with his famous fear quote. They had a podium with his speech on it so you could pretend to be him, and you know I took full advantage of that.
I am not very good at being presidential... too giggly.
There were copies of his speeches. So crazy to look at these words and think about how the world changed after he spoke them.
I was also fascinated by the correspondence they had on display.
They had his office and his desk from the Oval Office.
I also enjoyed learning about The Four Freedoms:
This was such a cool place and I want to go back with my dad! Sometimes I feel guilty visiting these places because I go in with very little background knowledge, and I don’t appreciate it as much as I would if I knew more about the topic. My dad knows so much about history; he could fully appreciate this place and explain a lot of it to me. We’ll have to make a plan to go back!
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