FDR Cottage in Warm Springs, GA Burns

On Tuesday, we lost a vital piece of history.  McCarthy Cottage at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilition burned - possibly as the result of an electrical storm. (Please note that nearby the Little White House is still standing!)

In 1924, Franklin D. Roosevelt went to Warm Springs GA (they called it Bullochville) in those days, seeking a cure for the paralysis caused by polio.  What he found was a dilapidated resort, a simple way of life, and plenty of southern hospitality.

When this newspaper article in The Atlanta Journal hit the wires, polios from around the country began coming to Warm Springs.  Roosevelt's dream of a rehabiliation center became a reality much sooner than he imagined. 

The dilapidated resort consisted of pools fed by warm mineral water, various cottages, and a large victorian hotel known as Meriwether Inn.  Roosevelt viewed the inn as a firetrap.  In 1927 McCarthy cottage was built and he stayed there instead. McCarthy Cottage became his Georgia home until he built the Little White House in 1932.

Roosevelt loved the resort so much that he bought it and changed it's entire mission.  It would no longer be a resort but rather a place for children and adults affected by polio to find comraderie, to rehabilitate, and to get their lives back.

That's what Ann Fay Honeycutt did in COMFORT, the sequel to BLUE. 

As a fictional character, Ann Fay represents the many real individuals whose lives were changed at Warm Springs. They arrived in various stages of despair and hope and found others who shared their pain.  They discovered friends, lovers, and role models. They followed Roosevelt's example and went on to live productive lives. 

One small and yet very important piece of history burned to the ground this week but no fire can destroy the happy results of Roosevelt's dreaming and his gift to children and adults who had had polio.

You can view an image of McCarthy Cottage at Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative and read about the fire here.

DIP INTO HISTORY: Warm Springs, GA

There are lots of ways to experience history but I can think of none more inviting than slipping into the silky mineral laden waters of the historic pools at Warm Springs, GA.

Franklin Roosevelt learned about these pools in 1927 and made history by turning them into a place of rehabilitation for individuals who had had polio.

A journalist interviewed him, the story went out across the wires, and before he knew what was happening a small contingent of "polios" had joined him for therapy. He shared his exercises with them, bought the dilapidated resort, and turned it into a place of therapy - a place to get a life back.

Ann Fay, the protagonist in Comfort found a new image of herself while at Warm Springs.

She didn't see the Little White House while she was there

 but you can. 

You will be able to visit the FDR Memorial Museum.

And maybe even meet Suzanne from Comfort or

 Marion Dunn, the former pushboy and bracemaker who remembers being dunked in the pool by FDR.

Or perhaps you'll meet FDR, himself.

Um, that is Robert Prater, FDR interpreter.

He might look more like this!

Don't you want to wade into history?

Dip into the Past 

this Labor Day Weekend or

Next Memorial Day!

Lots more to do while in the area.

Last year, Randy Seldomridge, Language Arts teacher at Granite Falls Middle School contacted me about doing a school visit. Before my visit, the students read Blue, worked across the curriculum on Blue related projects, corresponded with me, and enjoyed a visit from Heather Deckelnick who coordinated our local Miracle of Hickory exhibit.

This year Team Tsunami is again reading Blue but now they've added Comfort to their reading list.

The incredible teachers of Team Tsunami wanted to take the whole 7th grade to Warm Springs, GA where a chunk of Comfort takes place. But they're doing the next best thing - packing up their families and heading to Warm Springs with video camera in hand. They leave today and are blogging about their research trip here. I for one, will be following their updates and look forward to seeing the movies they take for their students.

They did invite me to go and I would so love to be tagging along but my bags are actually packed for a visit to Gravelly Hill Middle School which I also visited last year. So you see, history does repeat itself.

And sometimes that's a good thing!