Off I Go On My Hyde Park Adventure

It's been a couple of days since I came back home: a time given to processing and remembering my wonderful three-day visit to Hyde Park, New York.   The main reason I came there was to meet up with a friend I met last November, during my two-week trip to England: Allen Packwood, the Director of the Winston Churchill Archives at Churchill College, Cambridge University.   We would be going over the photos and other material I've collected, for inclusion in an upcoming exhibition on Churchill at The Morgan Library in New York City.   The exhibition will be from 7 June to 23 September, 2012.

I was really looking forward to this visit.   Allen was spending several days in New York, going over the logistics of the exhibition with the Morgan Library staff, and meeting with educators who were interested in including Churchill in their school curricula.   We'd wanted to meet and go over what I'd found in my research, but airfare and hotel accommodations in New York City would be expensive for me.

So an idea occurred to both of us: why don't we meet somewhere half-way instead?   I could drive down from Syracuse for a day or so, and Allen could take the train up from the City.   After the emails flew back and forth for most of October, I made hotel reservations for myself at a nice place in Hyde Park.   Turns out the hotel I chose--the Roosevelt Inn @ Hyde Park--was where I stayed in September 2004, when my brother-in-law graduated from the Culinary Institute of America--which is in Hyde Park.

The drive itself was fairly uneventful.   I left Syracuse at 6 am, and drove east on Route 31, to the Thruway exit in the village of Canastota.   I don't normally take the New York State Thruway.   It's rather boring, and I don't like dodging 18-wheel tractor-trailers at 70 mph or more.   But if one has to be somewhere quickly, it's the only way to go via automobile.   Traffic was pretty steady overall.   But it got pretty heavy the closer I got to Albany: the capital of New York State.   I arrived as morning rush-hour was at its height, with cars backing up on the off-ramp.   Needless to say, I got out of their way as fast as I could....   I did stop for some breakfast at a Service Area outside the city of Amsterdam.   It was also a way to stretch my legs and back, after sitting for awhile.   Long car drives are literally a pain.


I got off the Thruway just north of the village of Rhinebeck, in the Hudson River Valley.   After crossing the Hudson River via the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, I turned south on US Route 9, towards Hyde Park.   The Hudson River Valley is one of the most beautiful areas in New York State.   And even in early November, there were still a lot of colorful leaves on the trees: mostly russet and the occasional gold.

I was surprised to see so many trees with leaves on them: a nasty early winter nor'easter struck the Hudson Valley, and much of New England and the Mid-Atlantic Region over Halloween weekend.   The heavy, wet snow brought down hundreds of trees still in leaf onto power lines, plunging these areas into blackout.   And still: nearly two weeks' later, parts of Connecticut and New Jersey still didn't have power.

I thought the village of Rhinebeck to be one of the prettiest places around.   It's an old, historic village, founded in 1686 by Dutch settlers.    Rhinebeck really didn't begin to grow, however, until 1703, when the New York colonial Assembly approved funds for the building of the King's Highway--later known as the Albany Post Road, which incorporates much of today's US Route 9.   One of the best-known of Rhinebeck's buildings is the oldest inn in the United States: the Beekman Arms, which dates from around 1700 (photo right).   And there are a lot of lovely small homes along US Route 9; I bet many of them date back to before the American Revolution.   It's a photo-taker's paradise!

In Rhinebeck, I noticed my fuel gauge was approaching 1/4-full, so I started looking for a gas station in earnest.   But I noticed that gas prices were around 20 cents higher than back home in Syracuse: on average, around $3.75/gallon for Regular.   I didn't find a gas station until I arrived in Hyde Park around 11 am: a Shell station selling regular for $3.75.   I swallowed hard, and filled up the tank.

It was too early to check into the Roosevelt Inn (check-in time was 2 pm), so I thought I would do a 'trial run' to the train station in nearby Poughkeepsie: a larger city just south of Hyde Park.   I had promised Allen that I would pick him up at the rail station on Wednesday, 9 November, and take him back when it was time for him to leave.   I figured I'd better get some idea of where to turn off Route 9, closest to the station; so I braved the rather heavy traffic heading into Poughkeepsie, and found the right exit to turn off.   The train station came into view, and I felt satisfied I knew where I was going.   But I would definitely give it enough time to get there on Wednesday, just in case I got lost....

When I returned to Hyde Park, I passed by the Culinary Institute of America: one of the premier culinary colleges in the United States (photo left).   It was founded in 1946, and has campuses in San Antonio, TX, St Helena, CA, and in Singapore.   The school was originally located in New Haven, CT, as a vocational school for returning Second World War veterans.   In 1972, it moved to Hyde Park, and into a former Jesuit novitiate campus.   My brother-in-law won a scholarship to the Institute in 2004, and took a one-year-long course.   He graduated in September 2004; the commencement ceremony was held in the former Jesuit chapel.   There's a former novitiate abbot who is still buried in that chapel!

The students refer to the Culinary Institute of America as 'the other CIA"--in a mocking contrast to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Poughkeepsie, by the way, is the home of Marist College, a Catholic liberal arts school founded by the Marist Brothers order in 1929.   It's a pretty sizable campus.   And it looked as if a lot of building has been done in the last few years.

When I returned to Hyde Park, I decided to spend some time at the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, on the south side of town.   Within the park sits a Gilded Age 'country mansion' once owned by Frederick William Vanderbilt and his wife, Louise Holmes Anthony Torrance.   The house (photo left) has 45 rooms, and was designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White.   Construction took place between 1896 and 1899.

Frederick Vanderbilt was Director of the New York Central Railroad for 61 years.   He and Louise, sadly, were unable to have children of their own, and the house was deeded to a Vanderbilt niece, Margaret "Daisy" Van Alen, after Frederick Vanderbilt died in 1938.   Encouraged by her Hyde Park neighbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mrs. Van Alen donated a portion of the estate (which originally covered both sides of US Route 9), the house, and most of the original furnishings to the National Park Service, which took ownership in 1940.

Interesting historical tidbit: between 1941 and 1943, President Roosevelt's Secret Service detail lived in the basement and third-floor service areas of the house.  And some of his personal friends and guests were put up in the house, and even used the bedrooms of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt!

I did not take a tour of the house itself, but contented myself with wandering about the spacious grounds.  The weather was so beautiful for early November: a hazy, golden autumn sun shone, and a slight breeze ruffled the many trees.   I wandered all round the house, taking photos of each side.   And I also found a little bit of a surprise: a snow bank, left over from the Halloween weekend nor'easter (photo right)!   I guess it wasn't melting fast, due to cold overnight temperatures.

At the back of the mansion, one could get spectacular views of the Hudson River, and the various buildings on the western bank.   Most of them were private homes (and some were of pretty good size).  But one very large property caught my eye.    According to a National Park Service ranger, who was giving a tour nearby, this large series of buildings was an Anglican Benedictine monastery, called "Holy Cross" (photo right).   For some reason, the Hudson Valley was once home to many Catholic seminaries and convents.   Most of them have closed, or been turned to secular use (like the Culinary Institute of America).    Don't know if there are any other Anglican religious houses like Holy Cross Monastery, that are still open.

The view also included glimpses of the beautiful Catskill Mountains, especially as one looked south and west from the river.   It is a very peaceful place to sit, and just enjoy the view (photo right).  

I wonder what Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt would have thought, seeing the many 'peasants' who come and walk around their former property, and visit their home?   Somehow, I don't think they would have minded.   This Vanderbilt couple shied away from the frenetic social world of Gilded Age New York and Newport, RI, and preferred living a quiet life, involved with local charitable efforts.   They were quite unlike their more famous relatives, Alva Smith Vanderbilt (later Belmont) and Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt.  These two women lived in two of the more famous Newport summer 'cottages': Marble House, and The Breakers, respectively.

Alva Smith Vanderbilt has a connection with Winston Churchill.   She forced her daughter, Consuelo (photo right, with the 9th Duke of Marlborough and their children), to marry Churchill's cousin Charles Spencer-Churchill, the Ninth Duke of Marlborough, in November 1895.   The Duke, nicknamed "Sunny", was a nephew of Winston's father, Lord Randolph Churchill.   Sunny was land-rich, but cash-poor, when he married Consuelo.   It was her Vanderbilt millions that helped him restore his ancestral home, Blenheim Palace.   But after giving the duke two sons--which Consuelo termed 'the heir and the spare'--the couple soon drifted apart.   They separated in 1906, divorced in 1921, and had the marriage annulled in August 1926.

Soon, the time came for me to check into my room at the Roosevelt Inn.   I left the Vanderbilt house around 1:30, and arrived at the inn soon afterwards.   I checked in with no problems, and went to my snug little room, dropping off my baggage and cleaning up a bit.   I took my clothes for Wednesday out of the suitcase, and hung them up in the closet.   After doing that, I decided to try and use the free Wi-Fi provided by the inn.   After a couple of attempts, I was successful, and did a little Web-surfing before supper.   And what a supper it was...!

I went out again around 4 pm--just before rush-hour--and stopped at a Hyde Park landmark for supper: The Eveready Diner.   It's a restored 1950s-era roadside diner, with all the chrome fixtures inside and out, a cool neon sign, and seating at tables and booths, and a counter with stools (photo left).  Music from the 1950s and early 1960s played quietly in the background, as I was led to a small table on the side, and ordered supper: a roast turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and cranberry sauce.   I thought I'd get an early start on Thanksgiving.   And it was awesomely delicious--and huge!!!    I barely managed to finish most of it; I think I waddled out of the Eveready a few pounds heavier.   But was it ever good.   


The Eveready Diner is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.   And all their food is prepared on the premises.   If you love homemade food, and lots of it--the Eveready's the place to go.

So--stuffed to the gills, I returned to my room to relax.   I also hoped to contact Allen via phone, but I left a voice-mail message instead.   I decided I'd try and contact him again in the morning, while he was in transit from New York.   So with that thought, I took a shower and went to bed, and wondered what the next day would bring.