New York National Historic Sites

3/30/1996 ... drove to Eleanor Roosevelt NHS to view her home Val-Kill cottage - much more a comfy home on beautiful property. Lots of famous people met and stayed with her there.

The park sign

Val-Kill Cottage

Maureen at the doll house

A nice view of the grounds and cottage

7/14/1991 ... drove to Hyde Park ... and toured FDR house [Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt NHS], grave, museum - very interesting.

Roosevelt's home ...

... and grave

7/11/2011 ... so we moved on north to Hyde Park and the FDR complex. For this trip we were only interested in the Museum/Library so we got tickets at the VC and headed over. The museum was very interesting but not extraordinary. It did have good vignettes of the oval office, fireside chat room and the secret map room during the war.

The park sign

Me and the Roosevelts

Library and Museum under construction

Oval Office

The room for fireside chats

10/20/2018 Back to FDR and spent some time walking through the FDR Library and Museum, which had been redone since our last visit. Ken and I were also able to get our official passport book stamps. We had to move along faster than we might otherwise have in order to get back to the VC to catch our 3:10 tour. We boarded a shuttle bus and drove a ways to Top Cottage, part of the NHS but also an NHL. The stone structure is a 1938 private retreat designed by and for Franklin D. Roosevelt, in particular to accommodate his need for wheelchair accessibility. There were no original items in the Cottage, but we did get a very good talk from our guide about FDR, the people he met with there and the different women that influenced his life.

The Library and Museum

Ken Wins!

Me and Oval Office Desk

Waiting to board the shuttle

Top Cottage

Ken, me and NHL plaque

5/10/1997 Drove 20/9/9H to Martin Van Buren NHS [Lindenwald NHL] [Kinderhook][in the Hudson River Valley NHA]. We arrived 15 minutes after opening and were the first (and only) guests on the first tour of the season. Nice restored home with beautiful wallpaper.

Van Buren's home

Me out front

A cool staircase inside

8/20/1995 Visited Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Cold Spring Harbor fish hatchery.

A nice view of Roosevelt's home

6/19/2022 A quick day trip in absolutely gorgeous and unseasonable cool weather. Picked up Mom at 8:15 and drove to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. We walked past the farm fields and orchards, past the Old Orchard House and picked up the nature trail down to Cold Spring Harbor, a nice clear path through the woods. Unfortunately, the steepness, especially knowing we’d have to repeat it uphill later, proved too much for Mom and she opted to hang sitting on a large log at trailside while I complete the trail don to a boardwalk over a swampy area, and out onto the beach for a nice view of the harbor. In the clear crisp air, Connecticut was easily visible north, and I could see where we sometimes did water skiing years ago. Back up the trail to retrieve Mom, and up to the parking lot where we enjoyed our usual muffins and iced coffee snack before returning to Mom’s house and me home.

The park sign

Heading for the trail ...

... past the old fields

Old Orchard House

A sign about ...

... the nature trail

Starting the boardwalk ...

... and looking back

Nice panorama of the harbor

One of our old skiing areas

Back on the trail with Mom

3/30/1996 Jogged down 22 to the absolutely worst part of town in Mt. Vernon to see St. Paul's Church NHS. Nice stone church and graveyard back to pre-Revolutionary war days (the NHS and church closed on Saturday).

A nice shot of the church

The front and part of the graveyard

4/10/2008 ... then to Mount Vernon and St. Paul’s Church NHS [in the Hudson River Valley NHA] from the Revolutionary war period. Saw a film and a little museum in the visitor center, and got a private tour of the church by the park lady. Walked around the graveyard ...

The park sign

The church and graveyard

A closeup of the stone work

A view of the interior

Ken and me by the organ

8/6/1995 Walked all the way down to 20th St. to Teddy Roosevelt’s reconstructed birthplace home (Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS).

2/28/2018 We walked down through Madison Square Park, spotting NHLs from past visits, and over to the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS. We confirmed we’d be good for a 10:00 tour, then stepped out to find some water and snack for me, followed by a look around the exhibits in the NHS museum. Took the tour at 10:00 with two other guys. The original birthplace building had been demolished in 1916, but then totally reconstructed after Roosevelt’s death to faithfully match the original, with many Roosevelt family furnishings.

The park sign

The birthplace and museum

Sign out front

Ken in the museum

Bedroom

Parlor

Study with original TR chair

7/19/1997 Back into town to the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural NHS that just opened at noon. Saw part of a slide show (not working right), then a tour of the Greek Revival home where TR took the oath of office after McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo.

The park sign in front of the home

A view showing the Greek Revival architecture

An interior view

7/20/2020 We started by waiting behind another car to pay for parking at a kiosk, only to realize it was a bank ATM. After parking (for free), we checked out the site. We knew that the home was closed due to COVID, but sadly for Ken (I’ve been here before) all the massive columns out front were removed for renovation.

Park plaque

Me photoing ...

... the park sign

The side of the house

Me and Teddy

The front under construction

3/30/1996 Drove a short distance to the Vanderbilt Mansion NHS. Walked the grounds a bit, waiting for the visitor center to open. Magnificent views of the Hudson valley all the way to the Catskills. Took an enjoyable tour of the mansion - more like an ornate hotel than a home. Walked the grounds a bit more ...

The impressive Vandernilt mansion

Architectural details

A great view to the Hudson

Me out on the grounds

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