Franklin D. Roosevelt Childhood Home, Lifetime Home

There was so much to see on the historic grounds belonging the Roosevelts, we had to divide our visit over a couple of days to take it all in. Following the tour of FDR’s presidential library, we took a guided tour of his family home, Springwood, where he was born and raised, and which became a beloved lifelong home to him. In 1943 he began the process of deeding his home to the National Park Service, ensuring that it would be available to future generations.

Franklin’s father, James Roosevelt, purchased the 110-acre estate in 1867 for $40,000. The property included a house overlooking the Hudson River and a working farm. FDR was born in this house on January 30, 1882 and was the only child of James and Sara. During Franklin’s growing up years, he developed a love of the land and the trees, and in later years expanded the land holdings to nearly 1,500 acres and planted over half a million trees. 

When Franklin and Eleanor married in 1905, they resided in both this house and their New York townhouse. After having six children, Franklin supervised the expansion and redesign of the house to accommodate his growing family, as well as his political ambitions. After contracting polio in 1921, paralyzed from the waist down, the multi-level home was adapted to his needs with ramps, and the trunk lift became his transportation to the second floor. During his 12 years as president, Roosevelt continually returned to this home seeking strength and relaxation.

Our tour was limited to the first floor only, and we weren’t allowed to take flash pictures, making it difficult to capture all the detail in the darker areas of some of the rooms. I found the interior both ornate, yet simply furnished, crowded, but friendly, and overflowing with family photographs. It was fun to imagine how the family spent their time in the house, based on what we saw in the rooms – no television, of course, but there was radio; Eleanor was known to be a ceaseless knitter; there were innumerable books, filling entire walls, stacked on shelves, piled on end tables; and chairs set up circular fashion to encourage visitation.