#arthurdale

Arthurdale was the first of the New Deal's planned communities, one personally championed by Eleanor Roosevelt to give miners and farmers impoverished by the Great Depression a second chance at independence. Although the ideals that founded it did not survive the Second World War, Arthurdale was a beacon of hope at a desperate time in the nation's history.

Arthurdale was the first of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal” towns, model planned communities intended to put impoverished Americans back on their feet during the Great Depression. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was the community’s greatest champion. She had hoped Arthurdale would become the blueprint for a self-sufficient, self-sustaining community. Although it ultimately fell short of her hopes, the project nonetheless improved the lives of the poor miners who found homes and started new lives in the community. Nearly a century later, Eleanor’s passionate commitment to Arthurdale is commemorated by the historic district’s garden and museum.

Admittedly, I did my final university thesis on Arthurdale, so I know a little more about it than the average person reading this book, and certainly more than the usual lard ass in the YouTube comments section screaming "LIBERALISM GONE AMUCK!!! SOCIALIST CONSPIRACY!!!" But I would think that the professionals editing this book would at least know the difference between Scott's Run and Arthurdale and could get the date right. Blanche Wiesen Cooke, arguably the foremost expert on Eleanor Roosevelt today, wrote the introduction. Did she not read the book? Did she not catch this?

Various experimental programs and projects enacted by the New Deal left their marks on Central Appalachia, none more so than the planned community of Arthurdale, West Virginia, located on West Virginia Route 92. Championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, Arthurdale was a social experiment intended to help impoverished local miners and farmers attain self-sufficiency through self-governance and entrepreneurship, although its critics miscast it as government-mandated socialism. Eventually, the experiment lost its support and funding, and the community was returned to private ownership shortly after the start of the Second World War. Nearly a century after its founding, however, many of Arthurdale's original public buildings and houses remain in use.  The historic district, which includes the New Deal Museum, is well worth a visit. 

Eleanor, you have a lovely garden

Lunch!!

That there is a view

Ooh stores