FDR lies buried in the Rose Garden, beside his wife (and distant cousin) Eleanor, a gifted and influential Democratic politician without whose help his career might well not have survived his long bouts of illness. Unlike other presi dent's wives, who had mainly served as hostesses at society functions, Eleanor Roosevelt played a prominent role in the New Deal programs, and toured the country and reported to FDR on the living conditions of the poor. After FDR's death in 1945 she moved to the nearby cottage, Val-Kill , from where she carried on her work as chair of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, receiving dignitaries such as Tito, Nehru, Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy until her death in 1962. Shuttle buses leave the FDR house every half-hour (May-Oct daily 9am-5pm; Nov-April Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; tours only $5; tel 845/229-9115).
A three-mile-long clifftop path along the Hudson from the Roosevelt complex winds up at the Beaux Arts Vanderbilt Mansion . This virtual palace is, believe it or not, the smallest of the family's residences, built for Frederick, a grandson of railroad baron Cornelius. The furnishings are quite garish, but the formal gardens are very pretty and offer a fine view of the Hudson River (daily 9am-5pm; $8). The grounds are open year-round, from dawn to dusk, at no charge.
Apart from these historic homes, Hyde Park has one other huge tourist draw, the excellent public dining rooms of the Culinary Institute of America (lunch and dinner daily; reservations tel 845/471-6608), the largest and most prestigious cooking school in the country. Housed in a huge Gothic-style red-brick castle along US-9, south of Hyde Park at 433 Albany Post Rd, the various restaurants here - ranging from the casual atmosphere and the pizza and vegetarian dishes at St Andrew's Café to the $25 fixed-price Italian dinners at Caterina de Medici and the four-star American Bounty and Escoffier rooms, where jackets are required - have trained some of America's best chefs.
Beyond Hyde Park, US-9 cuts slightly inland from the Hudson, passing through a number of sleepy towns on its way north toward Albany. RHINEBECK , six miles north of Hyde Park, is the first and most worthwhile of these, holding a number of good restaurants as well as America's oldest hotel . The lovely, white colonial Beekman Arms , at 6387 Mill St has been hosting and feeding travelers in its warm, wood-paneled rooms since 1766 (tel 845/876-7077; $100-130). Two other good places to eat on the same block of Mill Street are the Calico Restaurant & Patisserie (Wed-Sun; tel 845/876-2749), which offers tasty breakfast pastries and a lunch and dinner menu with strong northern Italian and regional French influences at around $10 for a main course, and the all-American Foster's Coachhouse Tavern at 22 Montgomery St (tel 845/876-8052). Nearby is the pricier but very authentic French Le Petit Bistro at 8 E Market St (Thurs-Mon; tel 845/876-7400). Rhinebeck is also home to the New Agey Omega Institute for Holistic Studies , which runs a wide range of self-improvement workshops at a large campus east of town on Lake Drive; call for details of current programs (tel 845/266-4444 or 1-800/944-1001).
The other good stop on the east bank of the Hudson is Olana , the hilltop home of Frederick Church (1826-1900), one of the foremost artists of the Hudson River School. High above a bend in the river, across the bridge from the town of Catskill, the quirky but very attractive house rises in an odd blend of Persian and Moorish motifs; obligatory (and very popular) guided tours (April-May & Oct Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; June-Sept Wed-Sun 10am-6pm; $3; last tour one hour before closing; for reservations call 518/828-0135) take in the bric-a-brac clogged rooms, as well as a number of his picturesque paintings. The grounds are also open daily from 8am until sunset.
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