 Photo: FDR Presidential Library & Museum, CC BY 2.0 |
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The Pools That Brought a Future President to Georgia |
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| Franklin D. Roosevelt first visited Warm Springs on October 3, 1924, three years after polio left him unable to walk. The next day he waded into the resort's 88 degree spring-fed pool, and the mineral-rich, buoyant water let him move his legs and stand in a way he had not been able to on land. He kept coming back, and word of his progress drew other polio patients to the same waters. The springs themselves were valued long before Roosevelt arrived. The Muscogee (Creek) people who lived in the area considered the warm waters sacred and used them for healing well before European settlers built a resort around the springs in the 1800s. |
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| A Treatment Center and the Birth of the March of Dimes | ||
| Roosevelt was so convinced by his own progress that he bought the resort and, in 1927, founded what became the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, a treatment center built around the pools. From 1927 until 1942, patients came from across the country for hydrotherapy in these same waters, guided by therapists who developed exercises specifically for the buoyant pool. The foundation's fundraising arm eventually grew into the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the organization Roosevelt founded that we know today as the March of Dimes. Roosevelt kept a cottage at Warm Springs, the Little White House, about a mile and a quarter from the pools, and he was staying there when he died on April 12, 1945. |
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Restoration and Current Status |
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| The historic pools had deteriorated over the decades and were closed to the public for years while the state worked on stabilizing and restoring the pool structures and the surrounding pool house. In August 2025, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources held a ribbon-cutting to mark the pools being stabilized and refilled with Warm Springs water for the first time in years. Once the full restoration is complete, the plan is to make the pools viewable again, along with special programs and events, as part of a standard visit to the historic site. Because restoration work is ongoing, call ahead before you plan a trip specifically to see the pools. | ||
| Visiting the Site | ||
| The pools sit on the grounds of Roosevelt's Little White House State Historic Site, which also includes Roosevelt's cottage, the museum, and the Walk of Flags and Stones. For current hours, admission prices, and everything else you need to plan your visit, see our Little White House Historic Site guide. | ||
Phone & Address |
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| Phone: 706-655-5870 - Address: 401 Little White House Rd., Warm Springs, GA 31830 | ||
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Last updated: September 2026