First lady, president , whatever your title was, you came in as a friend. And coming into somebodys home as a friend is much different than walking into their place of business as a colleague. So going into the white house with fdr and talking about major world events would be much different than coming up to this very secluded porch where there were no bank of photographers waiting to take a picture of the handshake. It was a place he could be open with his guests. And showing him sitting in his wheelchair laid it all out there. Hes there showing off the fact that im not hiding anything from you. And i think his guests received that in such a way that they were willing to open up and not hide anything from him. And i think the way they used this place really facilitated some wonderful conversation. And they were able to really delve into some of the major issues and i think come up with some Incredible Solutions that may not have been possible at the white house or more formal places. This building was constructed in 1938. Fdr brings an architect to the site by the name of henry tombs from the state of georgia who was no stranger to fdr. They had worked together on several projects in the past, including the hyde park town library, Stone Cottage at valk hill as well as a couple of the buildings down in warm strings springs in georgia. So he knew what he wanted in a building. But he was not brought up here to design this building himself. Fdr had had every intention of doing that. He was going to design the building. Tombs was going to be the guy standing behind him making sure that everything was going to work. But he designed it not only to meet his personal interests in the dutch influence of this building but also his physical needs. He was in a wheelchair. And so he designs this in such a way that he can use this place. That he doesnt need assistance. There was an earthen ramp on to the porch which he would have been helped up on. But once he gt into the building he would enter through a sliding door which for somebody in a wheelchair was important. Because sliding doors didnt matter what side you were on. You slid the door open. Most modern sliding doors though have that track at the bottom. This particular door, that track was recessed down into the floor so it create the one small bump. When you entered into the building, the hallways were a little wider. It was one flat surface all the way through, all hardwood floor, no obstacles in the way. Even going into the tish enwas one of the double swung doors, so didnt matter which side you were on, you pushed the door away you from you. So he got to use this building more than he could use spring wood himself. So he got to be the host up herement he got to host his guests which he took a lot of pride in. He loved to show this place off. He loved to be able to serve his guests. And pictures of him up here always smiling, enjoying himself. He had a toaster where he would set up and make his guests tea and toast. Serve that toast to his guests. And buttered it himself with a flourish of his wrist, and by all accounts it was the best toast anyone had ever had. But by afternoons he probably would have offered you a martini and you would have been smart to say no thank you, mr. President , because they were mixed dreadful with too much ver mouth which is how fdr liked them. It was a place to escape the mob. People that would try to visit spring wood when he was president , it was a much different period back then where the public would often come to the president s house trying to meet, greet, ask questions, voice opinions, and this was a place that was removed far enough away from spring wood that he could get away from all of the activity going on down below. We have a recorded number of visits of top cottage of fdr by 95. Those we can document. Were there others that were not documented . Probably. Some of the guests included madam of china, norway, queen anne prin sell of the netherlands. Mckenzie king. Prime minister of canada. From britain. Winston churchill on this porch several times. Many times when they arrived here, they are in need of help or assistance. And i think they were willing to sit in a place probably far removed from their comfort zone. And i think it may have been quite refreshing for them to get away from everything happening below as well. And to see fdr for the man that he really was rather than the fact that he was the president of the United States. Probably the one people are most familiar with is the infamous hot dog picnic the week that the king and queen arrived from hyde park. The visit was very historic visit first time seated monarch had been to the United States. And that visit was capped off with a picnic on the porch here at top cottage. That hot dog picnic. And when this place opened up to the public in 2001, the queen mum was still alive. And sent some remarks to be read at the opening. Really had nothing to do with the hot dogs or top cottage as a building, but she talked about fdrs driving and the roads we mentioned earlier, these bumpy roads, she said i was holding on for dear life. She said s i thought for sure i was going to die. And in her own words said fdr drove like a bat out of hell. They arrived up here for that picnic. And she quickly exited the car. It was a very steep section and it was probably happy to make it up here in one piece. But she exited the car. They had the picnic. Hand came time to leave at the end of the day and fdr said why dont you get back in the car and well go back down the hill. She said not with you. Apparently risk her life that day wasnt going to do it second time. So she went down tt hill with his secret detail. Im sure he embellished it over the year the day the queen would not ride with him. But while they were up here the roosevelts treated the royals to an all american public. Now we always hear about the hot dogs that were served. But the menu was much more vast than that. They had virginia ham. Smoked turk. Hot sausages. Hot dogs. Mixed green sal i had. Strawberry shortcake for desert. But it was the hot dogs that stole the show. And i dont believe the queen had seen a hot dog before. Because she asked fdr what they were. Fdr said its a hot dog. She shade how would i eat such a thing . He said you take one in your hand you put it in your mouth, and you push and you chew. Which was a very descriptive way to teach stb how to eat a hot dog. But she did not have one. And the king went back and enjoyed his and went back for seconds but the queen did not have one. This visit by many in the press was deemed a social visit. But the visit was much more important than that. You know, you are looking at the middle of june of 1939, two and a half months before september 1st and invasion of poland beginning of world war ii and they were sent over by nerve ill to make sure the United States would make sure to be with the british. This was a very important visit. I think it lends itself to some of the earliest involvement of the United States into the war effort at that time. Winston churchill did come here four times but on june 20th, 1942 was probably the most important visit. We know that earlier in the day that he and fdr and Averill Harriman were talking about the two baloways, the british code word for the Atomic Research program. The research was taking place in london, and it was difficult because of the constant bombardment of the city. They were not making the progress they were hoping to. Word was coming down the germans were rather close to developing an atomic weapon. Churchill is asking fdr to bring the program and the scientists over to the United States and fdr agrees to that. Within two months time, two ballaways is gone, and the Manhattan Project was born out of that. We know that they are discussing this down at springwood from churchills memoirs and from Margaret Daisy sukleys diary entries of that day. She sets the mood at the top cottage and while she does not necessarily spell out the words that were said, she talks about the visit which occurred at about 4 00 that afternoon at top cottage and she said they seemed very distracted, like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders. We all waited for them to speak. We may never know the exact words that were said up here, but if there was anyplace to have a conversation of that magnitude, this was the place to do it. The press was not allowed up here. There was no telephone, there was no outside communication whatsoever. This was a place to keep a secret. This is the place where dealing with the stresses of the presidency and everything going on in washington, and you know, the only president to this date who has really gone through two major events, the Great Depression and world war ii and i think the stresses of the presidency were pretty hard on him, and i think sitting up here, as quiet and as peaceful as this place was, was a chance for him to, as he put it, recharge my batteries
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