Several times per week I walk my dog in the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Park not far from my home in Hyde Park, NY. The site (about 800 acres -- much reduced from the over 1,500 acres when FDR owned it) contains FDR's home (Springwood), Eleanor's home (Valkill), FDR's hilltop retreat Top Cottage (where he famously threw a hot dog cook out for the King and Queen of Great Britain), the FDR Presidential Library and Museum (the first of its kind in the nation and the only one from which a sitting President governed the nation -- it was the "White House North" when FDR was in Hyde Park), and a really nifty visitor's center building (containing one of my favorite stops -- the New Deal Bookstore). Franklin and Eleanor are buried in the gardens of the estate as well. Their famous black Scots Terrier "Fala" is buried in a marked grave near the Roosevelt's grave in the gardens. FDR faced a daunting set of circumstances when assuming the Presidency: facisim and autocracy on the march on multiple fronts worldwide, a decimated economy in a world-wide depression, among many other challenges. Eleanor was a staunch advocate for civil and human rights (she was one of the principal authors of the UN Human Rights Declaration). Given all that has happened in the last year or so, I felt compelled to stop by their graves today while walking my dog and thank them (along with the tenacity of Winston Churchill and the British people, as well as the sacrifices of the Soviet army) for saving the U.S. and the world almost 90 years ago. I feel like we are approaching an "FDR moment" in our current history.
Here's a photo I snapped today in the garden. Eleanor's grave is in the foreground, FDR's behind with the flag marker. As we are deep in winter here, the garden is not as beautiful as it is in season. I have many photos of the garden from this past summer and fall in full bloom.
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