Franklin's Trees

“All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on The Hudson River,” President Franklin Roosevelt once declared. For it was at his home in Hyde Park, New York that FDR could indulge in his favorite avocation—“tree farmer.” This book introduces children to FDR’s love of nature through a lifetime in which he oversaw the planting of over a million trees on his estate. It tells of a childhood hiking the trails through his forest, later widening those trails into roads after polio deprived him of the use of his legs and only able to get around by car. It describes the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, which came to be known as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army.” It also tells the story of how FDR sent England’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill a Norway spruce one Christmas to cheer up the English people. Today, FDR’s love of trees is remembered at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York, where many of the trees he planted still rise on the grounds and surrounding forest.

A.J. Schenkman is the author of several books about local and regional history. He has written for many magazines, blogs, and academic journals including numerous articles on Hudson Valley history in Ulster Magazine, The Times Herald-Record, Chronogram and on his website, Ulster County History Journal. He is a teacher in Ulster County. He is the Town of Gardiner Historian and Consulting Historian for Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, NY, where he lives with his family.

Lauren Reese holds a BA in Art Education and has taught in a variety of settings. A watercolor and gouache artist, she illustrates books as well as original paintings and commissioned pieces. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.