The Springwood estate in Hyde Park was the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. The estate was originally part of a land grant which covered the area between the Hudson River in the west and the border of Connecticut in the East, which was given to a group of nine businessmen from New York City by the English Crown in 1697.
To ensure equal access to the river for all partners, the land on the river shore was divided into nine Water Lots. The Springwood estate is located on such a Water Lot, which was granted to a partner in the grant named William Creed. While the early history of the house on the Springwood estate remains unclear, it is believed that the central portion of the present day house is formed by a large farmhouse which was constructed around the year 1800 in the Federal style.
In 1845, the estate was purchased by Josiah Wheeler, a merchant from New York City. Wheeler undertook a remodeling of the house, giving it a then fashionable Italianate style with a three-story tower at the south end as well as front and rear piazzas spanning the entire length of the house. After this remodeling, the house comprised a total of 15 rooms. The estate was bought by Franklin D. Roosevelt's father, James Roosevelt, in 1866.
In 1915, Franklin D. Roosevelt, together with his mother Sara, undertook a final major enlargement and remodeling of the home. The size of the house was more than doubled by adding two large fieldstone wings (designed by Roosevelt), a tower, and a third story with a flat roof. These alterations gave the exterior of the house the look of a mansion in Colonial Revival Style. The interior retained much of the layout of the old family home and was designed primarily with housing Roosevelt's growing collections of books, paintings, stamps, and coins.
Roosevelt also changed the appearance of the surrounding land by extensive planting of trees. Between 1911 and Roosevelt's death in 1945 more than 400,000 trees were planted on the estate. In 1943, Roosevelt donated the estate to the American people under the condition that his family maintained a lifetime right to usage of the property. On November 21, 1945, after the family had relinquished their rights, the estate was transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
About the stamps
The first two stamps are part of the series Summer Harvest, about which I wrote here. The third stamp, depicting Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) and Rose (Rosa), the bird and the flower of the state of New York, is part of the series State Birds and Flowers, about which I wrote here. About the last stamp, which pays tribute to the majestic emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), I wrote here.
References
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site - Wikipedia
Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 25.01.2016
No comments:
Post a Comment