fdrlibrary.marist.edu; 511 Albany
Post Rd/Rte 9, admission
museum $7, museum & house
$14; h9am-5pm), which
details achievements in
FDR’s presidency; a visit
usually includes a guided
tour of Springwood
(%800-967-2283; Albany Post
Rd; admission $14; h9am-
5pm), FDR’s lifelong
home. Intimate details
have been preserved,
including his desk – left
as it was the day before
he died – and the hand-
pulled elevator he used
to hoist his polio-stricken
body to the 2nd floor.
Two miles to the east
is First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt’s peaceful
cottage, Val-Kill (%845-
229-9115; http://www.nps.gov/elro;
Albany Post Rd; admission $8;
h9am-5pm daily May-Oct,
Thu-Mon Nov-Apr), her
retreat from Hyde Park
and FDR himself. Many
dignitaries and heads of
state were hosted here.Just north of here is
the 54-room Vanderbilt
Mansion (%877-444-
6777; http://www.nps.gov/vama;
Rte 9; adult/child $8/free;
h9am-5pm), a Gilded
Age spectacle of lavish
beaux-arts design built
by the fabulously wealthy
Frederick Vanderbilt,
grandson of Cornelius,
once a Staten Island
farmer who made
millions buying up
railroads. Nearly all of
the original furnishings
imported from European
castles and villas remain
in this country house- the smallest of any of
the Vanderbilt family’s!
Hudson River views are
best from the gardens
and the Bard Rock trail
on the property.
Further north is
Staatsburg, a hot spot for
antiquing. If you prefer
to look rather than buy,
duck into the 100-year-
old Staatsburg State
Historic Site (%845-889-
8851; http://www.nysparks.state.
ny.us; Old Post Rd, Staatsburg;
admission free; h10am-5pm
Wed-Sat, noon-5pm Sun
Apr-Sep; c), a beaux-arts
mansion boasting 79
luxurious rooms filled
with brocaded Flemish
tapestries, gilded plaster-
work, period paintings
and Oriental art.54 p44
The Drive » It’s only 10 miles
north on Rte 9 to Rhinebeck.8 Rhinebeck
Just 3 miles north of
the charming small
town of Rhinebeck is
the Aerodrome Museum
(%845-752-3200; http://www.
oldrhinebeck.org; 9 Norton Rd;
adult/child Sat & Sun $20/5,
Mon-Fri $10/3; h10am-5pm
mid-Jun–mid-Oct) with a
collection of pre-1930s
planes and automobiles.
There are air shows on
weekends in the summer;
the vintage aircrafts
that take off at 2pm on
Saturday and Sunday
are reserved for a highly
choreographed period
dog-fight. If vicarious
thrills aren’t enough you
can don helmets and
goggles and take an open-
cockpit 15-minute flight
(per person $75) in a 1929
New Standard D-25 four-
passenger biplane.
In a large red barn out
the back of the Beekman
Arms (6387 Mill St), widely
considered the longest
continually operating hotel
in the US, is the Beekman
Arms Antique Market (open
11am-5pm daily), where 30
local antiques dealers offer
up their best Americana.4 p45
Across the river from West Point and Storm King Art
Center, near the town of Cold Spring, the Hudson
Valley Shakespeare Festival (%845-265-9575; http://www.
hvshakespeare.org) takes place between mid-June
and early September, staging impressive open-air
productions at the magnificent Boscobel estate.SUMMERTIME THEATER
TOP TIP:
NEW.YORK.TRIPS.1
(^) HUDSON V
ALLEY