we have been talking for years about driving to sagamore hill on long island, teddy roosevelt's home in oyster bay. for two years it had been undergoing a renovation which delayed our visit, but it's been open now for another two years so we have had no excuses . . except for being too busy . . or distracted with other things?!
why do i think chanda is talking about food and eating here? maybe because we didn't have a very big breakfast? greg is reading about the staff housing that is just beyond the sign under several trees. they had several cooks and kitchen staff, chambermaids, a nurse for the children and a valet who was the "head man." the property was a working farm upon which they grew timothy, rye grass and corn to feed the horses, pigs, and dairy cows. they had about a hundred chickens for eggs and poultry for the family and servants. they also had a fruit orchard with peach, plum, pear and apple trees; and a three acre garden with raspberry, blueberry and strawberry bushes, a myriad of vegetables, and a grape arbor with three to four varieties of grapes.
the staff housing . .
their windmall . .
windmill story (as quoted from theodore and copied from a display board during our visit):
the other day . . . the windmill . . . was squeaking. i got an oil can and climbed up to oil it, neglecting to shut off the mill. just as i got to the top, the wind veered. the paddle swung around and took off a slice of my scalp. i started to climb down, but i'm big and clumsy and it took quite a little while. by the time i got to the house my face and shoulders were drenched with blood. inside the door i met mrs. roosevelt. "theodore," she said, "i wish you'd do your bleeding in the bathroom. you're spoiling every rug in the house."
theodore roosevelt, 1913
the house was built in 1885 and has twenty three rooms. the downstairs entrance has a library to the right as you enter and the parlor to the left. the large hallway holds an enormous chime that supposedly was incredibly loud and called everyone to meals. a large north room that was added to the house in later years holds many treasures given to the family as gifts from various sultans and kings. there was a huge book of german folklore from king wilhelm the second, an expansive and beautiful wool rug from the sultan of the ottoman empire (that would be abdülhamid the second, mehmed the fifth, or mehmed the sixth), and a long and intricately decorated sword from . . . another important personage! there were also several animal rugs in EACH room (!) and many, many mounted animal heads on all the walls (bison, deer, bears . . etc.). surprisingly (considering that i used to be vegetarian and never liked killing animals) i have always loved this house and the dead animals displayed in it. (i came often with my parents when growing up.)
interesting note: though theodore roosevelt was such an avid hunter, the antiquities act was passed during his presidency and he created nineteen to twenty national monuments to protect natural, cultural and scientific features. supposedly, the impetus for this was a return he made to his ranch in wyoming in the early 1900's to find that many of the wild animals there had been hunted to almost extinction (i.e. the american buffalo).
the roosevelt family motto: he who will plant will cultivate.
the view from the front porch . .
i don't have many pictures of the interior . . but here's one of his wife's room (edith carow). i love the afghan hanging at the foot of the bed.
the headboard is noted for it's beautiful woodwork and originally was from their city house on 57th street.
the blue room in which theodore died in 1919 (which used to be his daughter ethel's room and a spare guest room). his wife died in 1948, which was when the house was bought by the theodore roosevelt association, a non-profit corporation established in 1919.
i love the hundreds of books found all over the house on beautiful wood bookshelves. here is a blurry picture of three volumes of
the works of bret harte. greg and i recently learned about bret harte and the san francisco literary life that influenced mark twain in the book
the bohemians by ben tarnoff. i had found it on the shelf in the bernal heights branch of the san francisco library and bought a copy the day before we left. i never did post photos of that part of the day (i only posted about the afternoon cable car ride). however, that morning before the ride, i visited a bookstore while waiting to attend chanda's ballet presentation and bought the tarnoff book as i hadn't been able to finish the library's copy in time before leaving. anyway . . . . . to continue with sagamore hill (named after sagamore mohannis, the native american chief who had lived there in the seventeenth century) . .
the rose arbor, with the family's pet cemetery in the distance.
from
an autobiography:
as for the dogs, of course there were many, and during their lives they were intimate and valued family friends, and their deaths were household tragedies.
theodore roosevelt
after the house tour we took a walk to the family beach . .
skipping stones . .
slipper shells and turkish washcloth . . (found online in connecticut college's digital commons,
bulletin #39, seaweeds of long island sound, peg van patten and charles yarish).
an oyster shell on oyster bay . .
getting ready to head back . .
this photo reminds me of the tiffiny glass window at the metropolitan museum of art titled "view of oyster bay."
the path home through the woods . .
past the beautiful and big tulip trees . .
wavyleaf aster, symphyotrichum undulatum
we took a peek in the museum before leaving the park (for more photos of the interior of the house check out
this website). by this time everyone was rather hungry for lunch, so we didn't stay long.
special junior ranger certificates we received for answering the question, "what were the last five states to be admitted into the union?" (can you guess: see below for the answer.)
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since greg and chanda were turning into bears at this point, it was time for lunch. chanda had found a cafe in oyster bay that she was looking forward to trying. however, as we drove into town we ran into a huge traffic jam. there was a fall festival and hundreds of people and cars were converging in the town center. greg was driving and he was not in the mood for meandering through the throng, so we got on the road for the next town:
where we found a local grocery store which didn't have quite the gourmet, new age salad dishes chanda and i prefer, but they did have good food. greg was happy to find cape cod potato chips and an everything italian hero . .
which both chanda and i had to take a bite of . . and chanda and i found an eggplant salad, a green salad and chicken parmesan meatballs to share.
heading home across the triborough bridge . .
chanda running off to rehearsal . .
ciao!
(answer to the junior ranger question about the last five states added to the union: hawaii, alaska, oklahoma, arizona, new mexico.)
