Theodore Roosevelt's Summer White House (It's Reopening to the Public!)
Today when I saw a story on CBS's website about Sagamore Hill reopening, I was (forgive me) dee-lighted! The Long Island home of President Theodore Roosevelt reopened this weekend after a four year renovation project costing $10 million. The 28-room Cove Neck mansion has served as TR's summer White House. He was the first president with instant access to and from Washington thanks to the newly invented telephone.
Sagamore Hill was Roosevelt's from 1885 until his death in 1919. It is located in the Village of Cove Neck, New York, near Oyster Bay on the north shore of Long Island, 25 miles east of Manhattan. It's official name is now the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, which includes the Theodore Roosevelt Museum.
Roosevelt was a native of New York City. He was born and raised in a home still located at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan. (In an earlier post, found here, I journalled about my visit there.) But he had a second home on Long Island. Roosevelt spent many summers of his youth on vacations with his family in the Oyster Bay area. In 1880, at the age of 22, Roosevelt purchased 155 acres of land on Cove Neck, a small peninsula roughly 2 miles northeast of the village of Oyster Bay, for the sum of $30,000. The following year, his uncle James A. Roosevelt had designed his estate home several hundred feet west of the Sagamore Hill property. In 1884 Theodore Roosevelt hired the New York architectural firm Lamb & Rich to design a shingle-style, Queen Anne home for the property.
The twenty-two room home was completed in 1886 at a cost of $16,975, a princely sum in TR's day. Roosevelt moved into the house in 1887. Roosevelt originally planned to name the house "Leeholm" after his wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. However, she died in 1884 and Roosevelt remarried in 1887, so he decided to change the name to "Sagamore Hill". Sagamore was the title of the head of an Indian tribe on Long Island.
In 1905 Roosevelt decided to expand the house, adding the largest room, called the "North Room" at a cost of $19,000. The home now has twenty-three rooms. The house and its surrounding farmland became the primary residence of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt for the rest of their lives. Sagamore Hill became known as the "Summer White House" during the seven summers that Roosevelt spent there as President. Roosevelt died at Sagamore Hill in January 1919.
On July 25, 1962, Congress established Sagamore Hill National Historic Site to preserve the house as part of the National Park Service. Sagamore Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The home was normally open to the public by guided tour, but had been closed for the extensive renovations until this weekend. Almost all the furnishings are original. Also on the site is the Theodore Roosevelt Museum, which chronicles the life and career of the President. The museum is housed in the 1938 house called "Old Orchard", the former residence of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his family.
In the course of the renovations, among the things repaired were 19th century windows, wallpaper was rehung, artwork was cleaned, and woodwork was refinished, all with the goal of keeping the house's history intact. Within the house are "speaking tubes" which enabled the staff and family to communicate with each other. Unlike in TR's day, the house now has computerized temperature control, and security. Roosevelt installed electricity in 1918, but that too has been upgraded.
The grand opening takes place today when thousands are expected for a good old fashioned celebration to mark the reopening of this national treasure. Sagamore Hill opens for public tours starting Monday. Online reservations are accepted.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/sahi/index.htm
Location: 12 Sagamore Hill Road, Oyster Bay, NY
Sagamore Hill was Roosevelt's from 1885 until his death in 1919. It is located in the Village of Cove Neck, New York, near Oyster Bay on the north shore of Long Island, 25 miles east of Manhattan. It's official name is now the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, which includes the Theodore Roosevelt Museum.
Roosevelt was a native of New York City. He was born and raised in a home still located at 28 East 20th Street in Manhattan. (In an earlier post, found here, I journalled about my visit there.) But he had a second home on Long Island. Roosevelt spent many summers of his youth on vacations with his family in the Oyster Bay area. In 1880, at the age of 22, Roosevelt purchased 155 acres of land on Cove Neck, a small peninsula roughly 2 miles northeast of the village of Oyster Bay, for the sum of $30,000. The following year, his uncle James A. Roosevelt had designed his estate home several hundred feet west of the Sagamore Hill property. In 1884 Theodore Roosevelt hired the New York architectural firm Lamb & Rich to design a shingle-style, Queen Anne home for the property.
The twenty-two room home was completed in 1886 at a cost of $16,975, a princely sum in TR's day. Roosevelt moved into the house in 1887. Roosevelt originally planned to name the house "Leeholm" after his wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. However, she died in 1884 and Roosevelt remarried in 1887, so he decided to change the name to "Sagamore Hill". Sagamore was the title of the head of an Indian tribe on Long Island.
In 1905 Roosevelt decided to expand the house, adding the largest room, called the "North Room" at a cost of $19,000. The home now has twenty-three rooms. The house and its surrounding farmland became the primary residence of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt for the rest of their lives. Sagamore Hill became known as the "Summer White House" during the seven summers that Roosevelt spent there as President. Roosevelt died at Sagamore Hill in January 1919.
On July 25, 1962, Congress established Sagamore Hill National Historic Site to preserve the house as part of the National Park Service. Sagamore Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The home was normally open to the public by guided tour, but had been closed for the extensive renovations until this weekend. Almost all the furnishings are original. Also on the site is the Theodore Roosevelt Museum, which chronicles the life and career of the President. The museum is housed in the 1938 house called "Old Orchard", the former residence of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his family.
In the course of the renovations, among the things repaired were 19th century windows, wallpaper was rehung, artwork was cleaned, and woodwork was refinished, all with the goal of keeping the house's history intact. Within the house are "speaking tubes" which enabled the staff and family to communicate with each other. Unlike in TR's day, the house now has computerized temperature control, and security. Roosevelt installed electricity in 1918, but that too has been upgraded.
The grand opening takes place today when thousands are expected for a good old fashioned celebration to mark the reopening of this national treasure. Sagamore Hill opens for public tours starting Monday. Online reservations are accepted.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/sahi/index.htm
Location: 12 Sagamore Hill Road, Oyster Bay, NY