Two main wings of Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Tours of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill Cottage are typically held multiple times each day from Memorial Day weekend through December. There is no charge to attend, but the number of participants is limited, so be sure to stop at the Stone Cottage Visitor Center to get a ticket as soon as you arrive. All tickets are taken on a first come, first served basis on the day of the tour. The National Park Service claims the tour lasts 30 minutes, but the one I took was nearly an hour long.

Val-Kill Cottage began as a craft furniture factory that Eleanor Roosevelt and friends Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman, and Caroline O’Day started for the purpose of teaching new skills to local people who worked in the agricultural industry, for these people had no work during the winter. Called Val-Kill Industries, the company originally specialized in producing quality reproductions of early American furniture, but the business eventually branched out into pewtersmithing and weaving.

The first section of the factory was constructed in 1926, and as the business grew, new sections were added in 1928, 1929, and 1932. As a result, the building is a hodgepodge of add-ons, and the overall structure has very little esthetic appeal. And being quite large—34 rooms—it goes way beyond the definition of cottage, though that is how the building is still described.

Northeast-facing side of Val-Kill Cottage at Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Val-Kill Industries did well up until October 1929 when what would become known as the Great Depression began. The furniture made at Val-Kill was very high quality, but it cost way too much for the average person to purchase during the depression. Eleanor ended up buying much of the furniture herself just to keep people employed. The business struggled on for a few more years and eventually closed in 1936.

In 1937, Eleanor exchanged her share in the Stone Cottage (the original home at Val-Kill), where Cook and Dickerman were living, for the Val-Kill Industries factory building. She added another wing (the last) and converted the factory into a guest house for White House visitors and family and friends, as well as for herself whenever she was able to visit Hyde Park. The house has 34 rooms, 8 bathrooms, 4 kitchens, and 4 porches.

Val-Kill remained a guest house until Franklin Roosevelt’s death in 1945. Afterwards, Eleanor began staying at Val-Kill more often and eventually came to call it home until her death in 1962. Even beyond her years as first lady, she continued to have many important guests visit her, including John F. Kennedy in 1960 when he was running for president and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Unlike the Roosevelt’s Springwood estate, which had already been promised to the National Park Service upon Franklin’s death, Eleanor’s Val-Kill property was not immediately turned into a park. Her son John, who was at the time living with his family in the Stone Cottage, offered to sell the property to the National Park Service, but it was declined due to costs. He then subdivided the cottage into four apartments and rented them out. In 1970 he sold the property to investors who planned to tear everything down and build condos. This prompted preservationists to take interest, and the Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill organization was formed. Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her role as Edith Bunker, was one of the group’s supporters, and she spoke before Congress about preserving Val-Kill. Stapleton was later nominated for a Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe for her portrayal of Eleanor in the 1982 made-for-TV movie Eleanor, First Lady of the World.

In 1977, just after Jimmy Carter was elected president, he signed the legislation that created Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, the only national park dedicated to a specific first lady. The park opened to the public in 1984 to little fanfare. As is still the case, every day hundreds of people visit Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site just a few miles away, but very few venture over to Eleanor’s park. In 2024, 24,000 people visited Val-Kill while 123,000 people stopped by to see Springwood. Granted, Val-Kill is not open from January through May, but broken down per month, 3,500 / month visit Val-Kill and 10,250 / month visit Springwood. That means there are a lot of people coming to Hyde Park who do not take the time to see both parks.

Southeast-facing side of Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

The Val-Kill Cottage Tour covers most of the first floors of the building’s two main wings. Roughly half the furniture in the house is original, which is a miracle seeing that all furnishings were sold at auction in the years after Eleanor’s death. John Roosevelt had the house photographed by the National Archives, and once family members took what they wanted, the rest of the furnishings were put up for sale at an auction held at Val-Kill. What was left was sent to New York and sold by an auction house in 1970. However, since the park was created, many original pieces have been brought back. Some were donated by Roosevelt family members and people who somehow got ahold of the pieces, and some were purchased by the National Park Service when they came up for sale. Furnishings that are not original are period pieces selected to best match what was once in the house based on the photographs.

First floor layout of the Val-Kill Cottage

The following are photos and information about the rooms visited on the tour.

TOMMY’S WING

Melvina Thompson’s living room and later Eleanor’s office at Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Melvina “Tommy” Thompson was Eleanor’s secretary from 1936 until her death in 1953. While working for Eleanor, she had an apartment inside Val-Kill Cottage that consisted of a sizable living room / office, a bedroom, and a small kitchen. After Thompson’s death, Eleanor used the living room as an office where she spent time writing her books and newspaper column, My Day.

Melvina Thompson’s bedroom and later a guest room inside Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

The round dropleaf table, the hutch and small chest of drawers near the kitchen door, the television stand, and the day bed (not seen in the photo below) were all made by Val-Kill Industries.

Melvina Thompson’s living room and later Eleanor’s office at Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

DINING ROOM

While breakfast and lunch were usually served on the porch connected to Tommy’s apartment, dinner was most always served in the dining room. The table was originally from the Roosevelt’s Springwood mansion. Eleanor brought it to Val-Kill in the early 1950s.

Dining room at Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Fancy and expensive household furnishings and decor were not something that was important to Eleanor. For example, her best dinnerware was common terra cotta Franciscan Ware (apple pattern) made in California by Gladding, McBean & Company starting in 1940. The company and the rights to the patterns have been sold many times since Gladding, McBean & Company closed in 1962. The apple pattern (same as Elvis had at Graceland) was produced in China up until the early 2010s under the name Wedgewood Waterford Royal Doulton, though pieces now sought after by collectors are those produced prior to 1984. Only the cup and saucer on the table belonged to Eleanor. The rest of the apple-pattern Franciscan Ware are replacements purchased for the house by the National Park Service.

View of the Val-Kill Cottage dining room facing the kitchen door, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

LIVING ROOM

Eleanor’s living room was furnished with a collection of mismatched furniture, for she really didn’t care about such things. The small tables in the room were made by Val-Kill Industries. The room is also decorated with many photographs of Eleanor’s family and friends. None of the photos were in the house by the time Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site was created in 1977, but they were seen in photos of the house taken shortly after Eleanor’s death. Family members help gather what they had, and these photos were returned to Val-Kill Cottage and put back in the places where they were seen in the photographs of the room.

Living room at Val-Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

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