July 2-3, 2017 Sunday & Monday
The last two days we enjoyed a drive thru beautiful Connecticut and the sites around Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park, New York. At Poughkeepsie we had an inspiring walk at Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, the walk included a walkway spanning the Hudson River. At 212 feet tall and 1.28 miles long, it is the longest, elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.
Next, we visited Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site which includes Springwood, the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, our only four -term president. The two-mile walk down Roosevelt Farm Lane to Val-Kill certainly gave us a strong sense of Eleanor Roosevelt’s love of nature and simplicity. Val-Kill was Eleanor Roosevelt’s main home from 1945 until her death in 1962. This site originated as Val-Kill Industries, a social experiment designed to provide local farmers and their families with necessary crafting skills to supplement their income. Mrs. Roosevelt championed social welfare and civil rights and her Val-Kill Industries experiment was a prototype for the New Deal programs of President Roosevelt. It was to Val-Kill that John F. Kennedy went to seek Eleanor Roosevelt’s support as the 1960 Democratic nominee, she consented only after he agreed to make civil rights part of his platform.
Unfortunately, the Vanderbilt Mansion is undergoing exterior reconstruction which took away part of the grandeur but still is an excellent example of a gilded-age country place, illustrating the political, social, and cultural changes that occurred after the Civil War. The Italian Garden is stunning.
A note about the word kill, which we see everywhere; Val-Kill, Fishkill, Peerskill. It comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning “riverbed” or “water channel”. The term is used in areas of Dutch influence in the Delaware and Hudson Valleys.
After all this touring we needed a bit of nourishment, so we stopped at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) which has four restaurants where students learn by doing. We were headed for Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici, regrettably it was closed due to the holiday weekend. We refocused our pallets and enjoyed the wonderful meal at Apple Pie Bakery Café which serves excellent soups and sandwiches. Some famous chefs that went to the CIA: Anthony Bourdain, Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Richard Blais, Grant Achatz, Michael Symon, and Marcel Vigneron.
At the end of the day, the gorgeous setting and architecture of Marist College drew us in. Built in 1929, Marist College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college. We had a great time talking with students fishing off the pier and watching the large gaggle of geese playing along the rock edges of the Hudson.
