Low tide. Ross made many attempts with a net duct taped onto the boat hook, but no luck.
The dock master had a magnet with a cable attached to it. I had no clue what it was. I was told it’s a Stator, which is a magnetic ring in an outboard motor. Works great for picking up anything metal, except Roscoe’s watch.
The guys picked up a rental car from Enterprise and we were off for our day of touring. First stop was the Vanderbilt Mansion. One of the many homes that Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt owned. And they were only here a few months out of the year. Mostly around this time of the year to enjoy the cool weather and the beauty of the Hudson.
We weren’t allowed to take photos inside. This place was unreal in its extravagance. Didn’t have a homey feeling but it certainly did impress. Which was the intent. There are tapestries on the walls from the 1400's, gravity fed central heat, indoor plumbing and they had their own hydroelectric plant to generate electricity. We're talking the 1890's here! At only 50,000 square feet it pales in comparison to Frederick’s brother’s estate, The Biltmore, at 175,000 square feet!
Frederick loved gardening and participated in annual flower shows and won many awards. He and his wife were very generous and one thing they did was providing cut flowers for local churches and hospitals.
Touring the gardens.
A little back-story on the Vanderbilts. The grandpa of Frederick was Cornelius. At the age of 16, Cornelius borrowed $100 from his mom and bought a boat he ferried goods and people on. Eventually it became the Staten Island Ferry. Then he began buying struggling railroads. He lived modestly and by the time he died was worth 105 million dollars. In today’s dollars that would be 105 billion! When he died he left the fortune to his oldest son, William.
William died 9 years later, but had doubled the fortune by then. Not wanting his eldest son to have the same pressure he did, he divided the fortune between his 8 children. And they spent it!!!! Frederick was the wisest with the money.
Frederick and Louise never had any children. They were known to be very generous and courteous to people and their staff. They were ahead of their time in the way they treated staff. The staff had their own dining room and ate from china and drank from crystal goblets. There were many other estates where these people could work, but they worked year after year for the Vanderbilts. Frederick and Louise respected their staff. They understood there was no way they could lead the lavish life they did without these people to do the work.
When Frederick and Louise died, they willed much money to many who had worked for them.
La Foote decided to buy Ross this watch so he would quite asking him what time it was! It wouldn’t fit around his wrist but it worked on a belt loop. Quite patriotic, don’t you think?
A bit further down the same road is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt home and Presidential Library. It is the first Presidential Library and helped design it.
This is the house he was born in, weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds. The only child of Sara and James Roosevelt. He was very spoiled and his mother was unusually attached to him. Mumsie strongly opposed his marriage to Eleanor. Or most likely marriage to anyone. I don’t think she wanted to share him. They did marry but moved into her house. We toured the house and saw Franklin’s, bedroom that is large and nicely furnished. Eleanor’s bedroom was next to his. Hers was small and quite spartan. Not even wall papered like every other room. On the other side of Eleanor’s room was her mother-in-law’s room. Which was very ornate. I could understand the door between Eleanor and Franklin’s rooms, but not the one between Sara and Eleanor’s room. Sara wouldn’t allow Eleanor to change one thing in the house.
We walked through the museum and library after the tour. His mom dressed Franklin in dresses and didn’t cut his hair till he was like seven! I guess boys wearing dresses was normal for the time but I don’t think it usually lasted till age 7. This was a photo of him (in a dress) riding a mule. The saddle was made from wicker and was “s” shaped for two riders.
Lots of memorabilia in the museum. This was FDR’s famous car. A 1939 Ford Phaton. It had special hand controls so he could drive it himself. He had polio as an adult so his legs were paralyzed. What I found most interesting was the silver box on top of the steering column. FDR smoked like a chimney and this metal box would dispense lit cigarettes! He had congestive heart failure and blood pressure of 290/190. I don’t think smoking helped! There weren’t medications back then to treat those issues.
We were all a bit toured out at this point, but still had one stop left. The Culinary Institute of America. Better know around these parts as The C.I.A.
The school is in what use to be a Jesuit Monastery. Talk about a view for the students.
Once again, no photography indoors. We were shown around the institute by one of the students. We learned about all the different classes each student is required to take. They take a single class for 5 hours a day for 3 weeks straight. Such classes as baking, candies, cake decorating, wine identification and pairing, sauces, chocolates, etc. The place smelled incredible!!!!! We really lucked out when our group stopped at the pastry class. The instructor sent a student out with a tray of apple tartlets. Oh man!!! Even Foote, who doesn’t eat fruit, thought it was delicious.
There are restaurants on the campus where the public can eat. Unfortunately for us, only one of them was open this day and the reservations were full.
We stopped at a Wal-Mart on our way back to the boat. Ross bought a new “Rolex.” Here he is displaying it at the Irish Pub we walked up to once we got back to Kingston.
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