Roosevelt found Warm Springs in 1924 when searching for relief from polio. He came there to swim in the springs naturally heated water. He love the area so that he built a simple cottage while running for president in 1932. This area of Georgia was a rural farming community, and he spent many hours visiting neighbors and learning of their difficulties especially since the beginning of the depression. These visits gave him insight to the lives of the average families and helped him develop New Deal policies such as the Rural Electrification Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps (I had a uncle who worked for this project in upstate New York).
We couldn’t go inside the house today because they were filming a new documentary film. But we did tour the museum and could walk down and I was able to get this picture of the outside of the house. It was not a very big house.
Roosevelt died here on April 12, 1945 while posing for a portrait. Here is a picture of the unfinished portrait just as the artist left it. Later the artist did indeed finish the portrait by memory.
Nearby is Roosevelt’s Warm Springs Institute. He founded this institute for people suffering from polio. They could come and enjoy the same relief he got. Since the Salk Vaccine was approved in 1955, polio is no longer the focus of the institute. They now help all people with different disabilities, teaching them to become self sufficient adults and the museum hires many of them.
It was a good stop and is worth the 60 mile detour off I85.
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