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(Editor's note: This column is part one of a two-part series.)
To celebrate Mother's Day, my children began the tradition of all pitching in to fund an adventure that my daughter, Joy, and I take together. I cannot put into words how much this gift means to me. To spend quality time with an adult child is nothing short of priceless.
Last year we traveled to the Hudson Valley to explore Nyack and Sleepy Hollow. This past weekend we returned to the region to visit Springwood, the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt's retreat; the Vanderbilt Mansion; the Mills Mansion in Staatsburg; the charming village of Rhinebeck; and Kingston, New York's first capital.
I returned home with a mind filled with thoughts, realizations, entertaining stories, and a renewed appreciation for our nation's history. Bear with me as I attempt to place them in some sort of order and offer you a glimpse into both our country's past and my own reflections.
Our trip from Philadelphia, where Joy lives, to New York was filled with traffic and conversation, our chance to catch up on each other's lives. Upon arriving, our first stop was Kingston. We wandered its historic streets and learned that Kingston served as New York's capital during the late 1700s before Albany became the permanent capital in 1797.
While the town still retains much of its historic character, it is also experiencing growing pains. Its iconic covered walkways, installed in the 1970s, have recently been removed, leaving visible scars along many of the downtown buildings while restoration work continues. The business owners I spoke with admitted they were discouraged by the inconvenience. As I listened, I couldn't help but think about our own downtowns here in the Juniata River Valley. Every community goes through seasons of change. Buildings are restored, streets are rebuilt, businesses come and go. What ultimately defines a town isn't the challenges it faces, but how its people choose to respond and move forward.
Our next stop was Rhinebeck, one of the most charming villages I've visited. Among its claims to fame is the Beekman Arms, America's oldest continuously operating inn, welcoming guests since 1766. Another is its famous Four Corners, the only intersection in America where all four corner buildings were constructed before the Revolutionary War. One of those beautiful stone buildings now houses a quaint coffee shop and bookstore where we happily sipped and browsed.
The next morning we donned our comfortable shoes, knowing we had a full day ahead of us. Before touring the Vanderbilt Mansion, Springwood, and the Mills Mansion, we fueled up at the Eveready Diner.
It was a quintessential American diner, complete with a soda fountain, lots of shiny chrome, and colorful neon signs. Even Guy Fieri stopped there to film an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Nearly everything is made from scratch, including a signature apple pie featuring apples grown in the diner's own orchard.
With full stomachs, we were ready to begin exploring.
Our first stop was the Vanderbilt Mansion, a stunning reminder of America's Gilded Age. The 54-room, six-story mansion, once owned by Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, borders the Roosevelt estate and is a great example of the extraordinary wealth enjoyed by a select few during that era. Although the family occupied it only a few months each year, every room impressed with its breathtaking opulence.
When Frederick and Louise died without children, the estate passed to their niece, Margaret "Daisy" Van Alen. Since she was already busy managing her own lavish homes, she chose not to keep the property. After receiving only one disappointing offer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, their neighbor, encouraged Daisy to donate the estate to the federal government so it could be preserved for future generations. Thankfully, she agreed, and today visitors can still experience this remarkable home through the National Park Service.
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Rhonda Kelley is the executive director of the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce.