After leaving Plains this past summer, Ashleigh, Bob, and I made our way to northwest Georgia to visit the Little White House in Warm Springs. This house was built for Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 after he had come to this town to experience the naturally warm flowing waters that were soothing to his polio-stricken body. He enjoyed it so much here that he often visited it as a retreat during his Presidency.
It was here that President Roosevelt passed away on April 12, 1945. He was sitting for a portrait at the time when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. (At left is the table and chair he was sitting at when this occurred). He was carried into his bedroom and quietly passed away. Earlier that morning, he had spoken his final words “I have a terrific headache.”
The unfinished portrait that was being painted when he died hangs in the Little White House museum today (seen with me below). The artist Elizabeth Shoumatiff later went back and re-created the portrait based on the unfinished portrait, sketches, and memory. This painting is on display there as well (seen with Ashleigh below).
Following our visit to the Little White House, we headed for our hotel in Augusta and realized how big of a state Georgia really is. After stopping for some Cracker Barrel, it was after 9:00pm before we arrived at our hotel. Continued at a later date…
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