Rhinebeck, NY - June 10 - 18, 2007
The drive from Egg Harbor, NJ to Rhinebeck was another trip from hell. However, this time we have to take some responsibility for our plight. We got on the road about 11:00 am and should have arrived at Interlake RV Park by 4:00 pm. After some bad directions from toll-booth dudes, unhooking Kermit twice so Bill could back-up our 41 ft. motorhome and turn around in places barely large enough for a small car, and some help from a very kind couple that were astounded to see us drive the Beast up their very narrow, wooded lane, we finally limped into our site at 9:00 pm - quite happy that the pilot didn't throttle the navigator.
Interlake RV Park is located about 8 miles from Rhinebeck on a peaceful country road perfect for long strolls. The surrounding rolling hills are dotted with shallow lakes, woods, farms and villages. There is even an Amtrak station nearby at Rhinecliff if one wants to hop a train to NYC. If we return to the area we will definitely stay in this park.
Rhinebeck is in the mid-Hudson River Valley just north of Hyde Park, the location of Franklin D. Roosevelt's home and library, Eleanor's home and the Vanderbilt Mansion - as well as numerous other mansions. This area was ground zero for the filthy rich during the Gilded Age.
We enjoyed a guided tour of Springwood, FDR's lifelong home overlooking the Hudson River. The home tour focused on FDR's personal life, his relationship with his mother, his education, marriage and family.
We paused for a light lunch at the on-site café then spent several hours at the Roosevelt Library. This was the first presidential library and was designed and commissioned by FDR when he thought he would only serve two terms. By donating his papers to the Library, Roosevelt established the precedent for public ownership of presidential papers and his library became the model for the nation's presidential library system.
Since FDR was elected four times to the highest office of the land, and he served during the Great Depression and World War II, we thought the library would overwhelm. Not so. The library contains over 13,000 digitized documents, but the display items focusing on the major challenges of the era are very accessible. It uses press conferences, public speeches and Fireside Chats to illustrate how FDR and the First Lady courageously and compassionately guided the nation through economic disaster and global war.
We returned to Hyde Park a couple of days later to visit the Vanderbilt Mansion. The Vanderbilt Mansion and Springwood are part of the National Park System and both reflect the cut in funding the park system has suffered over the past several years - peeling paint, missing shingles, dingy windows, etc. Last spring we visited another Vanderbilt home, the much larger Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. We were taken aback by the difference in care - and resources available. The Biltmore Estate is privately operated and extremely well maintained. Of course, the Biltmore tickets start at $50/person and the Vanderbilt Mansion was free with the National Park Pass.
Susan was very excited about being in the Hudson Valley because it has been such an attraction for artist since the mid-19th Century. She wanted to see the special, spiritual light that is depicted by artist of the Hudson River School. So on a perfectly sunny day she ignored Bill's prediction of bad weather and took off on her own to see Olana, Frederick Church's home in Hudson, about 30 miles north of our home base. About halfway there the heavens exploded in a violent and frightening thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain. She would have pulled off the road to wait out the storm if she could have seen a pull out.
Happily, Olana was worth the effort and the drenching. Frederick Church designed his home in the Moorish style after traveling through the Middle East. It is situated on a hill 600 feet above the Hudson River; which during Church's time provided beautiful views of the river and valley. After Church's death in 1900 the landscape was neglected and the trees grew to block the beautiful vistas. Efforts are currently underway to restore the landscape to its 19th Century splendor.
Because the sky was so gray Susan didn't see the 'spiritual light' for which the area is noted. Consequently, several days later she dragged Bill to Olana for the view and the architecture. Oh the way we stopped to see the beautiful views of the river from Bard College.
Storms continued to pass through the valley, but we able to find another sunny day to hike a bit of the Appalachian Trail. It was a lovely hike that skirted a mountain lake and climbed through dense woods. We were surprised to find rock walls built by early farmers to mark their land. These folks had to be mighty ambitious to clear this mountainous, heavily wooded and rocky terrain for farming.
One week is simply not enough to do and see all this area has to offer - so we must return. Perhaps we will make time for a stop in fall when we start heading west. But for now we will move up the Mohawk River Valley to Verona in New York's Leatherstocking Region.
