Roosevelt’s Georgia retreat
Franklin Roosevelt came to western Georgia in 1924 “for the water, but fell in love with the land,” said Joe Samuel Starnes in The New York Times. He’d hoped the state’s mineral-rich springs would help alleviate his paralysis. Over two years, the wealthy New Yorker acquired 1,200 acres, founded the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute, and created a refuge that would become known as the “Little White House” after his election to the presidency. A “rural and relaxing place,” these “piney woods”—known today as F.D. Roosevelt State Park—stretch west from Warm Springs to Pine Mountain. The latter is home to Callaway Gardens, a 13,000-acre resort speckled with 13 lakes, two golf courses, a tennis center, a spa, and gardens lush with “blooming azaleas and dogwoods.” Near Pine Mountain’s peak sits a bronze statue of FDR in leg braces. He gazes at the “wide, green valley” of Dowdell’s Knob, a “favorite spot,” where he spent one of his last days.
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