Did you know that the land in front of the FDR Library is active farm land? President Roosevelt used the large hayfield between the Library and Route 9 (the road at the edge of the property) for farming, and he often expressed the hope that the practice would continue after his death. We continue to honor FDR’s wishes.
Every year the fields are used by a local farmer and in the late summer visitors to the Library are able to see hay bales on the front lawn.
It was FDR’s belief that the field had been farmed by the Native Americans long before it was taken over by the Dutch and English colonists. As proof, he pointed to the several large oaks in the field, some of which still exist. Their spreading lower branches, he said, could have developed only in open spaces, and the only open spaces in Dutchess County before the colonial period were the Native American cornfields.
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