Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Stone Cottage.
Location Dutchess County, New York, USA
Nearest city Hyde Park, New York
Area 181 acres (0.73 km2)
Established May 27, 1977
Visitors 52,690 (in 2005)
Governing body National Park Service

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site (Val-Kill) consists of 180 acres (0.73 km2) approximately two miles east of Springwood, the Hyde Park Roosevelt family home.

History

FDR encouraged Eleanor Roosevelt to develop this property as a place that she could develop some of her ideas for work with winter jobs for rural workers and women. She named the spot Val-Kill, loosely translated as waterfall-stream [1] from the Dutch language common to the original settlers of the area. There are two buildings which are adjacent to Fallkill Creek. Stone Cottage, the original cottage which was home to Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook, which they sold back to Eleanor in 1947 and a large two-story stuccoed building that housed Val-Kill Industries and which would become Eleanor's home after Franklin's death. It was the only residence that she personally owned.

Eleanor Roosevelt often hosted workshops for Encampment for Citizenship here.[2]

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a proclamation making it the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. In 1984 the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill negotiated an agreement with the National Park Service and made Stone Cottage its home. In 2008 the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill moved from Stone Cottage to a new facility at Val-Kill.

Notes

  1. ^ "Val-Kill in Hyde Park, NY". National Trust for Historic Preservation. http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/sites/northeast-region/val-kill.html. Retrieved 2011-11-08. 
  2. ^ Encampment for Citizenship at Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site official page.

External links