Warm Springs GA to Selma AL, October 30, 2017

October 30, Monday

We bypass Atlanta this morning, and go though lots of rolling farmland and  pine and hardwood forests.  Some lumbering going on as we see mills and laden trucks.  Lots of cattle and horses and fields evidencing Georgia red clay.  Several of the town we go through are ready for Halloween.

We decide to stop in Warm Springs to visit Roosevelt's Little White House. It is a nice complex, featuring his home, a pleasant walking area and a museum and gift shop.

 FDR came here first, following reports of therapeutic effects of the warm springs on polio victims.

This house was completed in 1932 when he was governor of New York.  It only has a few rooms - 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living and dining area.  He purchased and renovated a nearby resort which featured pools fed by the warm springs, and it became a place that treated polio patients. The pools are emptied right now for repairs, but we were able to stick a hand in the warm spring water.

Apparently, Roosevelt appreciated and got along well with the local people who supported him through the depression and more.  Some say he learned a great deal about the farmers and rural America here and was inspired to form the Rural Electric Administration which was responsible for getting affordable electricity to the rural areas of America.

Nearby guest house, also very simple. His family often visited, as well as some dignitaries.

Roosevelt visited here over 40 times and it was here, in April of 1945, that he died of a massive stroke.  He died while sitting for a portrait and the unfinished portrait is here in a small museum off the gift shop,

along with his specially designed car that he was able to drive and other memorabilia.

After this visit, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch, then drove to Six Mile Creek, another Corps of Engineers area near Selma, but it was closed.  Many things, we find, close in mid-October, even though our book of campsites said  this one was open year-round.  Once again, we resort to Walmart.  This one in Selma, Alabama, which was a nice one.