Hyde bound

A few years ago the Man and I made a trip together to Franklin D. Roosevelt's home and Presidential Library at Hyde Park.  Today we decided to take the kids there - they are plenty old enough, and the Girl has recently studied the Depression era and World War II at school, so it seemed a suitable destination.

 

The house is exactly as it was last time we visited, but the Rangers do an excellent job presenting and I was happy to take the tour again.  The layout in the Presidential Library was a surprise though - it has changed completely.  It's now all laid out as an extensive, accessible walk-through-time sort of exhibit, with many interactive options.  You would need several hours there to do it justice - there is so much to read about, fascinating documents to view, video presentations to watch and audio recordings to listen to.  It covers a great deal of history: FDR was elected President four times, at a tumultuous period for America and the world.

I think it made an impression on the children - we might not find out how much until days, weeks or even years later.  That's sometimes the way with them.

For myself, I remain as impressed as ever with FDR, and in awe as ever of Eleanor - they were two quite extraordinary people, and I feel like I can never know enough about them.

We also, briefly, dropped by Eleanor's own house, Val-Kill.  It was not open, but we strolled around the outside, and could understand why Eleanor preferred it to her husband's family home - the setting is very pretty and informal, and the scale much more cosy.