Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site — Local services in Town of Hyde Park

We visited on a late Friday afternoon in late June 2025. We arrived right around 5PM so everything had just closed and we missed doing the tour and the exhibits in the visitor center etc. We did see folks leaving from the last tour.

There were about 15 spaces in the parking lot and majority of the spots were filled. The parking lot is a bit of a walk to the visitor center. You have to walk over a bridge to actually get to the property.

There were a couple of outdoor exhibits that we looked at and also read the kiosk signs and walk around the property in general. We were sad we didn't make it in time for the last tour at 4PM. We were delayed from the house tour at Franklin D. Roosevelts House just up the road.

We were able to walk around and take a bunch of pictures. The lighting at the time of day was just getting good. We walked through the gardens and you could see through some of the windows of the houses.

The bathrooms were still open when we visited after the visitor center was closed. It looks like they converted the garage into public restrooms.

I think I heard one of the rangers saying that there is no gift shop here and it is all located at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Historic Site. Luckily for us we had already bought everything we wanted while we were there.

Overall it was a nice property and I wish we had arrived sooner to walk through the visitor center and look...

While fewer people make the effort to visit Val Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s widowhood home, I found this a far more satisfying experience than FDR’s home and definitely worth the short drive from there. It feels a much warmer and more homely place, unlike the large and cold Springwood, and has plenty of historical associations of its own; this was where JFK met ER to seek her endorsement in 1960. Visit is by guided tour only, the tickets picked up when you arrive at the small visitor centre. Our NPS guide was fantastic, and there is nothing off limits in terms of Eleanor’s rich and fascinating life. In many ways, her strong support for social justice was far stronger than her husband’s, and her life after his death was amazing. Being here brought something of that alive, but also gave a small insight into the home life of a...

Planned a visit, but the site was unexpectedly closed without notice. At first, it was just listed on the website as delayed opening for one hour, but there were no updates. We returned mid-day, at 1:30p, on a day that it was listed as being open 11:00a to 4:00p, and nothing was open, and no staff were around. No updates on the website, and calling the phone number only yielded an outgoing recorded message stating the hours today were 11:00a to 4:00p. I understand short-staffing, but we travelled from the West Coast, so it’s difficult that there is not some better way to reserve tickets or get updated communication about opening hours. I would say that we’ll try again some other time, but this was so disappointing...