This is the first in a series of posts on Springwood, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt mansion in Hyde Park, NY.

In a previous post I mentioned that my brother-in-law was staying with us and that we had been looking for places to take him. We had already taken him to Boscobel and decided that we’d try Springwood. Unfortunately, when the day came to go it had started to rain. We debated whether or not we would still go but lacking a better alternative we decided to go ahead with our plans – particularly since my brother-in-law is a big fan of FDR. I’d been to the house before and had seen the interior, but hadn’t really seen the grounds. So my wife and brother-in-law did the house tour I decided to take the dog for walk around the grounds (luckily the rain had more or less abated at that time).

FDR was born at Springwood, frequently visited it during his life and is buried there. He once said: “All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River”. He also designed and built the first US Presidential Library there. It’s still there and is part of the tour. In fact my wife and brother-in-law spent more time there than on the tour. They only left because I got tired of sitting around in the visitor’s center (it had started to rain again by that point) and requested that they do so.

The stables.

Another view of the stables.

Eleanor and Franklin’s grave site. Their dog, Fala is also buried here – right by the column in the background.