I arrived for the last video showing in the site's museum at 4pm and made the most of the next hour before the gates closed. I saw FDR's vast collection of canes, mostly gifts from distinguished guests of some sort or another. To my eye, it seemed as only a handful of the hundred or so canes appeared worn enough to have seen regular use. Another item of particular interest to me in the museum was FDR's 1938 Ford with custom hand controls, designed by Roosevelt himself.
The actual entrance to FDR's Southern Georgia estate was a neat bumper gate, flanked by two sentry posts which had been manned by the U.S. Marine Corps and Secret Service. An automobile apparently would drive right up to the gate, push forward with the bumper, and drive through as the gate swung around.
Before reaching the Little White House I explored the Servant's Quarters and the Guest House. Room sizes were modest and appeared generally comfortable for the summery atmosphere. Inside the main building, the decor was as FDR had left it. There were appliances, dishes, books, and linens from the 1940s or earlier. The man who led our country out of the Great Depression was in the midst of a portrait session in 1945 when he collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage, was moved to his bed by servants, and shortly pronounced dead to the nation.
