New Deal historic sites

The election of an ambitious new president in hard times is evoking comparisons with President Franklin Roosevelt, and the 75th anniversary of FDR's New Deal is sparking renewed interest in how Americans survived the Great Depression, according to an Associated Press story. Now historic preservationists and tourism officials are hoping for increased tourism in places associated with the New Deal.

Here's a look at two of those sites:

Arthurdale, W.Va.—Built in the 1930s as a planned community for the rural poor, looks pretty much the way it did in the time of Roosevelt. It was the first of 100 New Deal resettlement homesteads for the poor and unemployed around the country. Of the town's 165 original houses, 160 remain, and one of them has been fully preserved. It is still furnished with a loom in the living room, a massive coal-fired furnace in the hallway and a coal-fired stove in the kitchen. In the kitchen cabinets are Depression-era glassware and containers for "Arthur Dale Meat Products," the ground beef and sausage the homesteaders packaged and sold. For more info, click here.

Warm Springs, Ga.--This is the home to FDR's retreat, the Little White House. He built the Little White House in 1932 while governor of New York, prior to being inaugurated as president in 1933. He first came to Warm Springs in 1924 hoping to find a cure for the infantile paralysis (polio) that had struck him in 1921. Swimming in the warm, buoyant spring waters brought him no miracle cure, but it did bring improvement. During FDR’s presidency and the Great Depression, he developed many New Deal Programs (such as the Rural Electrification Administration) based upon his experiences in this small town.

For more information on visiting New Deal historic sites, visit the National New Deal Preservation Association Web site.