HYDE PARK, NY AND THE VIRGINIAS

HYDE PARK, NEW YORK and THE CATSKILL MTS.

On our travel south, we are trying to hit some of the high points on our route.  Hyde Park, NY on the Hudson River has a vast historic site cared for by the National Park system which includes (yes, another) Vanderbilt mansion and the Franklin D. Roosevelt home and library.

We took a day to travel around the Catskill Mts., but actually I enjoyed the freshness of Vermont/New Hampshire mountains.  This is about 90 miles from NYC and consequently hosts many visitors.

FREDRICK AND LOUISE VANDERBILT HOME

It is opulent, but the most conservative of the many Vanderbilt family mansions in the northeast.  Many of this 3rd generation Vanderbilts took grandfathers inheritance and spent it on homes, hobbies, and parties effectively using up all of Cornelius's millions.  They never worked to keep the money growing, except for Frederick who continued to run the businesses.  Many of the Vanderbilts simply depleted the fortune and now the current generation actually have jobs.  CNN reporter Anderson Cooper is one of them who is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, the fashion designer.

The estate employed many servants and farm workers, giving them high wages and health care.  Since the couple was childless, their fortune was given to various children's charities and employees of 10 years or more upon Frederick's death.  Since no buyer could be found for the house, it was sold to the US government for $1.00 and opened to the public in 1940.

Decorating was influenced by Italy and France

The home was furnished with 1 million dollars of antiques.

Compared to other Vanderbilt mansions, this one is considered "conservative".

The location on the Hudson is beautiful and the NYC commute easy on your own train!

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT HOME

The National Park Service also operates the Roosevelt Home and Library.  We took the tour of the home, saw the Library, but decided to skip Eleanor's home simply because we were worn out.  She lived there when her husband took on a mistress.  The Franklin home is an inviting place, however it was owned by his mother, and Eleanor, Franklin's wife and 5th cousin, never felt it was hers.  She and  Franklin are buried in the gardens.

The Library focuses on the social and economical times of Roosevelt just prior to the Depression through W.W. II.  There is so much information to take in and appreciate.  We have noticed that the National Park Service tour leaders are experts in their subjects and were history majors in college.

The front of the house is far from the road, but is on the Hudson like his neighbor Vanderbilt.

This is the rear of the house.  Children and grandchildren spent their lives here.

The home is very large, but with cozy rooms.  

The library.

Franklin's modest bedroom.  The King and Queen of England had a similar bedroom when they visited.

This man keeps following me and jumps into my pictures.

Our trip south routed us to Hershey, PA simply because neither of us have been there.  The amusement park was closed but there was a HUGE antique auto show which we had no interest in seeing.  After an hour, we were on our way to West Virginia.

We took the tour, did some carbohydrate loading and got back into the truck.  Actually the treats were great and reasonably priced.

HARPERS FERRY, WV

Red dot marks Harpers Ferry

The area of southern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia are so full of history, we could have stayed a month.  This fall we are on a time table so we are stoping at famous or recommended places.

This husband and wife team are the interpreters in the dry goods store.  She made her own costume with a sewing machine from that era.

Since I like to sew, this machine is intriguing.  It only creates a chain stitch.

The National Park has only a small part of Harpers Ferry.  The remaining is a functioning town.

We happened to arrive fairly early.  In an hour, the streets were full of people, hikers, bikers and dogs.

This mountain overlook is across the Potomac River and is a 2.5 mile  hike to the top.  The mountain is in the state of Maryland.

View from the mountain pictured in the above photo.

Most of the town has been destroyed many times by floods, but has always come back.  However, at its peak, the population was 6,000 people and included a much larger area.

What made this piece of land so important, before and after the Civil War, was location.  The Shenandoah  and Potomac Rivers meet here as well as many railroad lines.

This is another National Park.  We love visiting National Parks because they are so well run, have great rangers who know what they are talking about and, because of our age, we have a senior access pass.  Nearly everything is free or at reduced cost.

 This is John Brown and Civil War territory.  I knew the two subjects were linked together but it was fascinating to hear in detail how this tiny town started the Civil War.  Because of little twists and turns of the events, John Brown's intentions as an abolitionist have been questioned.

MONTICELLO, THOMAS JEFFERSON'S PLANTATION, Charlottesville, VA

This is actually the back of the house where the shuttle bus drops visitors off.

This is the picture that everyone recognizes of the home.  His 11 grandchildren played in the front yard.

We had a tour of the first floor of the home, but a tour of the upper stories may be arranged.  It is booked out for many weeks.  The tour was a bit disappointing, because we only learned about the individual rooms, not the man who built it.  Perhaps that was because once the home was finished, he only resided there about half his remaining life.  The most fascinating tour was entitled Slavery at Monticello.  Even though Jefferson was a 2 term president, he owned 120 to 140 slaves at any given time, but only freed 5 male slaves in his will.
The most interesting story was about Joseph Fossett, one of the five freed slaves.   Edith, his wife, was trained in French cooking and traveled with Jefferson when he served 2 terms in Washington, D.C. to cook at the White House. On Jefferson's death, Edith and the 6 children were not freed, but were sold along with the rest of the property and slaves, to pay Jefferson's debts. Joseph worked for 10 years to purchase his family and reunite them.

Sally Hemmings was the controversial slave who had children with Jefferson.  Actually, she was a step sister to Jefferson's wife and is another branch of this entangled family.  To this day, some of the Jefferson clan do not accept the Hemmings.  Much is written about the Jeffersons and Hemmings and worth devoting months of reading to.

These gardens were planted just below the slave quarters and fed the family and all the people who worked at the plantation.

Mulberry Road was just up the rise on the left.  All the slaves lived in the many small cabins which lined one side of the front lawn.

This escavation is still being carried out at this building site on Mulberry Road.

Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 with over a $100,000 (1826 dollars) in debt.  All land, home, furnishings, and slaves were sold except for a small family cemetery plot of which is at Monticello.


On to Charlotte, NC to see family and have some good times.  Also on the schedule is our first Airstream rally in Cleveland, SC

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK & THE STATES OF NH AND VT

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Can you see these people enjoying a vacation in the 1880s, hiking up mountains and  stomping through the woods to the Atlantic sea shore in dress suits and long gathered skirts?  I really can't, but they did come to Mt. Desert Island and were known as Rusticators.  The aim was to retreat to a simple existence (rustic) to relax and enjoy the views.  (It was at this time Mackinaw Island also evolved as a vacation destination.)

Current visitors can be much more active around Acadia by biking, kayaking, hiking, rock climbing,  horse back riding, and indulging in lobster and popovers.

Actually, we loved the popovers served with wild blueberry jam at this outdoor restaurant  in the Park.

Acadia Park has miles of these carriage roads which are used by only bikers or hikers.

However, the scenery is why everyone comes.  This is the view from from Cadillac Mt. at 1500 ft above sea level.

One of many lakes on the island.  This one supplies the water to Bar Harbor, ME.

 In 1947, a fire ravaged a large part of the island's forest and burned many of the homes of famous and wealthy vacationers.  Since then the trees have returned but only a few of the wealthy inhabitants.Rebuilding by these families was cost prohibitive.  

But in the early 1900's, the Rockefeller family established this area as a National Park to be enjoyed by any who wished to come.  And many people do just that swelling the Bar Harbor population from 3,000 to 25,000 in the summer.

Even in late September, ships arrived daily as well as tour buses.

The village of Bar Harbor sits adjacent to Acadia.

We could have stayed for another week biking on these fantastic trails but,.... the road calls.

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, NEW HAMPSHIRE

October 1

We had the most exciting day visiting the top of Mt. Washington, VT which boasts having the worst weather in the United States.  It is 6,200 feet above sea level, with a weather station perched on the treeless and rocky top.  

We are above the clouds.

Specially equipped vans drive up a steep winding road in 30 minutes where the temperature drops from 60F to 20F wind chill.  Any given day it could snow at the top and when it does, weather people will know.  Weather observations have been issued every hour, every day since 1928 from this location by people stationed at the observatory.

Weather tower

A chilled tourist holds one of six chains that keeps this building anchored to the summit.

Before this was a weather station, the road was originally built as a vacation destination in the early 1800's!!  I really need to research vacationing in this time period, because I have assumed that life was sufficiently challenging without visiting a place like this.  However, the hotel accommodations have been recreated at the summit as you see below.

The stone building looks a little cave-like,

but the interior was actually inviting.

Mt. Washington, NH .. recording the worst weather in the country.

VERMONT

A few hours on the road westward, and we find ourselves in northern Vermont at Little River State Park.  State parks in Vermont are for hardy souls because they lack electricity hook ups.  We were back to real camping for the 2 nights we were there.

Everywhere you look, you see mountains with color.  We took a gondola up a 4200 ft. ski mountain, however today, people were not transporting skis, but had mountain bikes.  

The view from 4200 ft.

Another turn in the road, another colorful mountain.

The two main attractions at the top of RT. 100 are Stowe and Waterbury.  Stowe is a small town which grows in population on beautiful fall weekends.  The one place I really wanted to see in this area was the Von Trapp Family Lodge.  If any of you remember The Sound of Music, it is based on the experiences of the Von Trapp family in Salzburg, Austria just prior to WW ll.  We viewed a 45 minute film where the real Maria Von Trapp told her story.  The movie is about 90% accurate, but the story continues when the family escaped the Nazis and ended up in the United States to continue their singing and establish a livelihood.

Along with the lodge, the family added a brewery to the property.  I found this young gent enjoying a sampler.

The Von Trapp Family Lodge

All the family members physically worked to build this wonderful lodge and grow the business.  The original 7 children are buried here but 3 additional were born in the US and many grandchildren are working today at the Lodge.  They received no money from the film, however their name alone is famous.

Waterbuty's fame is due most to Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.  We took the tour, ate the sample and crossed it off our bucket list.

We continued south on Rt. 100, seeing wonderful color, ski mountains, and farms.  The big surprise was finding Vermont Country Store in the small town of Weston.  Some might know of their catalog of hard to find and old, but practical products.  But we were shocked see what this place looked like.

The front of  Vermont Country Store, but don't be deceived...it is huge.

The interior looks much the same as when in was started in 1947.  We were there early, but by the time we left, it was very crowded.

Our last day in Vermont, October 5, was spent hiking in the area.  We are heading in a southernly direction, especially since campgrounds are closing for the season.

Hiking on Mt. Bald, 1500 ft. but we never saw the top.  Maybe next time.