The Rough Writer News for and about the Volunteers at Sagamore Hill

Volume 22, Issue 05

May 2020

The Rough Writer is a volunteer newsletter, not an official National Park Service publication. It should not be used for historic research.  If you can't see the photos in this e-newsletter, click "display images below" or "allow images" in your email.

“When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.”   ―  Theodore Roosevelt

Then and Now by Nancy Hall

I had a little bird And its name was Enza. I opened the window and In-flew-enza.

One hundred years ago, the world saw the final serious outbreak of what some called,”The Spanish Lady” or the Spanish Flu. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 was the third deadliest of the past 1,000 years, after the Black Death (14th century) and the spread of smallpox to the Americas in the 16th century. While some discounted its lethal effects at the beginning of the outbreak, and children jumped rope to the little ditty above, it took more than 50 million deaths worldwide, more than died in combat in the two world wars, for its historical impact to be fully grasped. And yet, as Lynette Iezzoni, recounts in her book Influenza 1918 , as “soon as the dying stopped the forgetting began” (199). Theodore Roosevelt spent six weeks at Roosevelt Hospital in New York between November 1918 and late December. He was being treated for gout as well as other health issues, but not the flu. Given the thousands of American influenza fatalities, eventually numbering over 600,000, one might expect to find in the historical records some public comments by TR on the state of America’s health. A search of major biographies turned up empty. He was not the only silent bystander to this massive killer. Missing from most history books is the searing story of the universal suffering imposed by the Spanish Flu. One reason for this collective amnesia seems to have been the timing - the outbreak of WWI and four separate waves of influenza: two outbreaks before the armistice of November 1918; one before the signing of the Versailles peace treaty in June 1919; and the last in early 1920. And censorship of the press.  The war, not the flu, captured the headlines of newspapers all over the world, and this was especially true in the US, with President Wilson focused on building up the war effort, not, tragically, on reports of ships full of sick and dying sailors and soldiers. Wartime censorship relegated information about the new virus to the back pages of newspapers the world over (except in Spain, where coverage of the flu was not censored, resulting in that country gaining, erroneously, the moniker and the blame for “Spanish Flu”). In an editorial in the April 4, 2018 issue of The Economist , the authors look back at the damage done by both press censorship and the decision by governments to “bury the human toll of the disease in the collective memory of the first world war.” Families shattered by personal loss from both the virus and the war had seen too many horrors that some felt were best forgotten: “The flu, like the war, was in the past. The present was what mattered” (Iezzoni 202). The Great War against Germany and its allies came to an official conclusion with the Armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November 1918. And though the war that “slew half the seed of Europe,/One by one” (Owen) had ended, germ warfare had not. It continues still, and we can no longer retreat into forgetfulness. Would TR wear a protective mask across his face today, on horseback or in a crowd? Why, "by George," I think he would. And we will, too. Sources: Iezzoni, Lynette. Influenza 1918: The Worst Epidemic in American History . TV Books, 1999.  Wilfred Owen, “The Parable of the Old Man and the Youth”. The Economist , International archive. April 4, 2018. pp 1-2. Rough Rider statue photo by Janet Parga.

Protecting Our Park Resources and Values Must Be "Predominant" by Jonathan Parker, Acting Superintendent

The last two months of responding to COVID-19 have presented unprecedented challenges to the National Park Service and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. One of the most important tasks in the park during this time has been our continual receiving, reviewing, and interpreting of new policies and guidance relative to COVID-19 and the management of park staff, volunteers, and visitors. This monsoon of local, state, and federal guidance is voluminous, constant, and sometimes capricious, but it is all essential reading. Often the greatest challenge in wading through pages upon pages is to distill a functional directive from the guidance to answer our many questions, including "What should we do and how should we do it?” and "What is most important?" I’ve learned from swimming in this ocean of guidance for weeks that the best “guidance” is often communicated in a brevity of language – and can also be found hiding within our Agency’s own history. "Your prime directive is to slow the spread of the virus . . . make all of your decisions to achieve this goal." These twenty words, spoken repeatedly by our Regional leadership on weekly telephone calls over the last two months, have been instrumental in helping us respond to this ongoing crisis. This succinct phrase fits in your pocket and is as accessible as it is actionable. It cuts through ambiguity in a manner that a 22-page document cannot. This phrase, exposed to the gravity and pressure of COVID-19, has been transformed into bedrock – a fundamental principle that now guides our decision-making in the park. We will need additional instructive bedrock to inform our decision-making in the months ahead, core principles that will guide us through future months characterized by adaptation and fluctuating risk. The federal law establishing the National Park Service in 1916, the "Organic Act", contains a succinct prime directive (hidden in plain sight) that has shepherded the parks for the last 103 years. This phrase, casually referred to as a “Hippocratic Oath” for NPS employees and volunteers is as follows: "....[the purpose of the NPS is] to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the [public] enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." The essence of the above phrase has been that the NPS must do two things concurrently to appropriately manage the parks: a) provide for public "enjoyment" and use of the parks and b) provide "enjoyment" in a manner that does not impair park resources. COVID-19 places the Organic Act, our "Hippocratic Oath", in stark relief. How do we uphold these tenets if both principles are equal? Is it possible to "provide for enjoyment" of the parks in a safe manner that does not “impair” park resources, including the safety of visitors, in the midst of a pandemic? If so, how do we do it? Answering this question is one of our many challenges in the months ahead – and we need unambiguous guidance. Luckily for us, there is clarity to be found within the current NPS Management Policies that govern all national parks. In its role as steward of park resources, the National Park Service must ensure that park uses that are allowed would not cause impairment of, or unacceptable impacts on, park resources and values. When proposed park uses and the protection of park resources and values come into conflict, the protection of resources and values must be predominant. (1.5 Appropriate Uses of the Parks) This policy directs the NPS to place added weight and priority on managing the parks in a manner that reduces or eliminates impairment relative to the use of the parks. To (grossly) paraphrase, protection from harm should come first. “ . . . conserving [the parks] unimpaired” is a prime directive that has safeguarded the national parks, and billions of visitors, for more than 100 years. As I prepare to depart Sagamore Hill in early June and in the midst of COVID-19, I ask that all of us be mindful of the indelible need to make decisions that prevent the impairment of park resources, with the most important resource being the life, health, and safety of all people in the park – including you! Please be patient, flexible, and open-minded with one another as you adapt to changes in park operations in the months ahead. Above all, choose to make decisions that protect yourself and improve the safety for those working within and visiting Sagamore Hill. Work to prevent impairment and remember, “ . . . the protection of resources and values must be predominate.”

An aerial view of the Superintendent’s conference table featuring a portion of the hundreds of pages of printed guidance outlining new rules and policies for the park during COVID-19.)

How I Spent My Spring Vacation

Patrick Teubner says here is a photo of me doing what I have been doing a lot of lately: spending time with my iPad, trying to learn three different languages (German, French, and Spanish) using the Duolingo app. I am not achieving anything close to fluency, but I hope I will have learned enough Spanish by the time we all get back together so I can exchange some friendly banter en espanol con el Señor DeFranco . I have been catching up on Stephen King novels using the Libby app, and I highly recommend the “Bill Hodges trilogy”, Mr. Mercedes , Finders Keepers, and End of Watch . I am reacquainting myself with my guitar and piano, both of which I discovered is not as easy as hopping right back on as that proverbial bicycle, and if I get around to it, I’d also like to reread a book I bought decades ago called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.  The basement and attic get a bit of regular cleaning, and on nice days we do some gardening. At the end of the day, there is a cocktail (or two) to celebrate our continued good health and that of our family, near and wide.

Ginny Perrell has been spending part of her “break” time not only reading a book about TR ( Becoming Teddy Roosevelt ) but also some recent popular fiction. She and Jay have also been honing their detective skills by devouring the complete DVD collection of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries as well as Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Whimsey mysteries. Once the weather warms and her bike is back from the repair shop, Ginny will be cycling again.

 Ever patient Bill Reed , is seen here wrapped in a cape as he awaits a haircut from his talented (and brave) wife Donna. Other than getting a regular beauty treatment, Bill has made sure that during our hiatus from Sagamore Hill, the Thursday team of docents stays connected through Zoom meetings. We met Dave Distler’s daughter, Emma , home from a Fulbright in Italy, during one of the Zoom sessions and said hello to the spouses who have become unofficial tour guides after listening to all of us share our stories.

Joe DeFranco takes advantage of a rare good weather day to put in some plants. When not gardening or painting, he has been busy "plowing" through books about TR for future Rough Writer articles.

Brian Tadler says he has been spending g olf practice time in the yard! Even though it’s a “mollycoddle” game and TR wouldn’t approve, it’s still something fun that he enjoys doing from time to time. And luckily he has been able to hit shots in the yard and play mini rounds of golf. He also spends some horizontal time reading about some of the great men that TR admired during his lifetime.  Ulysses S.  Grant is well documented as being a hero of TR’s, but lesser known is Ty Cobb. In Archie Butt’s memoirs he writes about how TR was very much intrigued by Cobb, the most famous baseball player in the country at the time.

Dave Distler writes "This was the way we celebrated my birthday. Emma baked the cake. No dinner at a restaurant this year. Since I am the third birthday in my family within less than three weeks, I am used to having little fanfare on my birthday." Happy Birthday Dave!

Arlene Yarwood reports "my husband, daughters, sons-in-law, and granddaughter are all fine physically but getting a little nuts otherwise, especially me. I have started knitting and doing needlepoint again which helps. I walk most days just to leave the house, and am periodically finding drawers to clean out. I miss chatting with fellow volunteers and staff. Hope you are all doing well. Hope to see you soon."  

Baby Update

New mother Laura Cinturati shared this picture of baby Frankie. He is three months old as of May 15! Frankie weighs close to 13 lbs now, enjoys putting his fingers in his mouth, and is practicing rolling over.

TR Close to Home by Charlotte Miska

It is no surprise that there are many references to Theodore Roosevelt and his family in the hamlet of Oyster Bay. Have you ever been in the Oyster Bay Post Office? The post office was completed in 1936 as a federally sponsored Public Works Administration (PWA) project with Treasury Department funds. The Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works allotted $59,430 for construction in 1933, however The New York Times reported on August 2, 1936, that the PWA paid $114,000. ( The Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works was renamed the Public Works Administration in 1935 and shut down in 1944.) New York architect William Bottomley designed this colonial revival structure to be a mirror image of the Town Hall building across the street. He hired two prominent artists to adorn it with historical murals and sculptures. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

United States Post Office, Oyster Bay, NY

The post office contains multiple examples of New Deal artwork, all funded by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). The prominent American artist illustrator and author Ernest Peixotto was commissioned to paint five murals (frescos) representing a brief history of Oyster Bay. Although he was known mainly for his murals and his travel literature, his artwork also regularly appeared in Scribner's Magazine. He was the president of the National Society of Mural Painters from 1929–35, and president of School Art League of New York from 1936–40. From 1935–40 he served on the Art Commission of New York City and was director of murals for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The frescos in the post office depict the following: William Leverich discussing the treaty with the Indians, 1653 George Washington at the Youngs' House, Oyster Bay, 1790 James Caldwell, First Postmaster and First Post Office, Oyster Bay, established about 1800 Theodore Roosevelt with his children at Sagamore Hill, 1899 (Ted Jr – 12, Kermit – 10, Ethel – 8, and Archibald – 5. Two-year old Quentin and 15-year old Alice are not included.) Spring afternoon at Piping Rock, 1936.

Post Office Fresco of Theodore Roosevelt with his children at Sagamore Hill, 1899

The vaulted ceiling was painted by Peixotto’s assistant, Arthur Sturges and depicts beautiful women representing different countries sending mail to North America on ships and planes. Mercury, the winged messenger, sits atop the dome to receive the mail with speed. Leo Lentelli, a noted Italian sculptor, whose work can be seen throughout America on public buildings created the terracotta panels above the interior doorways, depicting the continents symbolized by animals. On the Africa/Oceania panel the dates 1858 and 1919 refer to the years of Theodore Roosevelt's life. On the Asia/America panel the date 1902 refers to the year TR returned to Oyster Bay as President, and 1936, the year the Post Office was built. Lentelli also sculpted the stone flagpole base on the grounds outside the Post Office. After the block of stone was put in place, Lentelli had a wood shack built around it and spent the winter of 1936 carving beautiful seahorses, dolphins, and shells. He also carved a bust of Theodore Roosevelt situated inside the Post Office. Next time you need stamps, visit the Oyster Bay Post Office and do not forget to look up!

Flag Pole Base Carved by Leo Lentelli

‌	Lentelli's Bust of TR in Post Office

Sources: Living New Deal Website, Wikipedia, The New York Times (August 2, 1936).

Curator's Corner by Susan Sarna

During the Roosevelt family's years in Washington DC, in early spring, whether TR was Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, or President of the United States, Edith would begin her preparations to move her large brood from DC to Sagamore Hill. The usual procedure was for the children and the servants to return to Sagamore in May or June and stay until October. Every move was a major undertaking. Not only did she have to coordinate getting the people and the clothes ready, she also needed to coordinate opening the house and uncovering all of the furniture. Edith began this lengthy process by writing a list of objects that the servants needed to begin packing up for the move. An example of this list, titled "Silver taken to Washington October 1897" is in Edith's Memorandum Book, which is in the Sagamore Hill collection. Edith moved complete sets of china, crystal, and silver between DC and Sagamore Hill yearly. These handwritten notes by Edith are a true treasure trove for a researcher .

TR on Women's Equality in Marriage, 1880 by Natalie A. Naylor

This traditional time of college commencements is a good opportunity to examine a brief paper Theodore Roosevelt wrote shortly before his own graduation from Harvard in 1880. In his essay, “Practicability of Equalizing Men and Women before the Law,” one of the issues he addressed was equality in marriage(1). The topic was not a new one for the country. Indeed, when Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John in 1776 to “Remember the Ladies” and not to “put unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands,” she was arguably referring to coverture in marriage. Under the common law at that time, when man and wife married, they became one, and that one was the husband who controlled both the person and property of his wife. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the "Declaration of Sentiments" for the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, one of the “repeated injuries” she included was, “He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” During the next three decades, one of the main goals of the women’s rights movement was for married woman’s property laws, which is one form or another almost all the states enacted. So Roosevelt’s support in his essay for “the most absolute equality” regarding property in marriage laws was not a radical position in 1880. One of the reasons for legal equality was, as he put it, that there “would be less brutality among the lower classes.” He was probably alluding to what today we call domestic violence toward women, who were often victims of drunken husbands. TR also maintained that “a son should have no more right to any inheritance than a daughter should have.” He boldly asserted that regarding marriage laws, “there should be the most absolute equality preserved between the two sexes.”  Roosevelt also mentioned in his essay two practices in marriage. He went beyond conventional thinking when he wrote, “ I do not think the woman should assume the man’s name. ” This is the only sentence in his essay that he underlined for emphasis. In the nineteenth century, suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone was the best-known woman who retained her maiden name after she married Henry Blackwell in 1855. Those who followed her example were known as Lucy Stoners, although the number who followed her example were quite limited in the late 19th century and well into the 20th century. As we know, each of TR’s two wives and two daughters took their husband’s names after marriage. Equally radically, Roosevelt added, “I would have the word ‘obey’ used no more by the wife than by the husband.” As far as is known, however, the Roosevelt weddings used the traditional wedding vows, wherein the wife promises to obey her husband. Roosevelt’s essay is dated June 30, 1880, which was the day of his Harvard Commencement, but he probably wrote it sometime earlier. During his final semester at Harvard he was basking in delight at having won the hand of Alice Hathaway Lee. After courting her for more than a year, in late January 1880, she had finally agreed to marry him. There is no evidence in Roosevelt’s writings that he ever expressed these views on equality in marriage either to Alice or Edith. Throughout his life, TR held traditional views that woman’s role was preeminently in the sphere of domesticity as wife and mother, however much he endorsed equality in marriage in this essay. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (1) This wording is on his title page. On the first page, he had a slightly different wording in his heading, “Practicability of giving Men & Women Equal Rights.” The handwritten manuscript is in the Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, HUC 6879 no. 62 1880, 6-30–HCL. Harvard’s TR Collection as well as biographer Kathleen Dalton each describes this essay as TR’s senior thesis (Dalton in Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life , 2002, p. 75). However, it is very brief (only 1,200 words), with no references or citations. It is more like an op ed article in today’s newspapers rather than a research paper or thesis. I believe it may have been written for Class Day, perhaps as a remnant of Harvard’s colonial curriculum when disputations (debates proving a thesis) were a feature of commencements.

TR from the Harvard Senior Class Book of 1880

Roosevelt's Three Mothers by Nancy Hall

On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation setting aside the second Sunday in May as a “public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.” Considered the “father” of the American celebration of Mother’s Day, he was hardly the first to consider a day of recognition for mothers. Ancient peoples held annual rites honoring mothers at the heart of their myths: Egyptians celebrated Isis, the ideal mother and wife; the Greeks honored Rhea, the mother of Zeus; and the Romans revered Cybele, the Magna Mater, or Great Mother. Before Wilson's proclamation, however, Anna Jarvis, whose movement to honor her own mother, Ann, in 1908, is considered the “mother” of Mother’s Day in the United States. As Theodore Roosevelt himself would have said, mothers are honored for good reason. For most of us, our mothers – birth mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers – are significant influences in our life’s progress. Our memories, attitudes and values find their roots most often in maternal relationships. George Washington said, “Everything I am, I owe to my mother.” Theodore Roosevelt, in a speech to the National Congress of Mothers in 1905, asserted that “the only true calling for women'' was to have children, and a lot of them. In fact he considered the woman who chose not to have children an “unlovely creature.” For TR, always the advocate for the strenuous life, the role of mothering was “a sacred and civic duty, so critical that the welfare of the state rested upon it” (JSTOR). Though his formulation for what constituted the ideal mother in his 1905 speech seems brazenly paternalistic today in terms of the reality of women’s lives then and now, it summed up TR's belief that all might be right with the world if women and men performed their "duties" – as he, a man of privilege, defined them. Therefore, it is not surprising that mothers figured significantly in the life of Theodore Roosevelt and influenced his emotional response to society’s ills, to family life, the ideals of sacrifice and duty, even his reaction to sorrow, and his abhorrence of inactivity in others. Unlike most people, Roosevelt had not one, but three mothers: Martha “Mittie” Bulloch Roosevelt, Anna “Bamie” Roosevelt Cowles, and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt.

Martha “Mittie” Bulloch Roosevelt married TR’s father when she was only 18; she died just shy of 50 on the same day her daughter-in-law, Alice Lee Roosevelt died, February 14, 1884. The beautiful, dark-haired, flirtatious, and beguiling Mittie was born in Connecticut. When she was four, her family returned to Georgia where her father, a planter, built Bulloch Hall in what would become the town of Roswell. Her family’s deep roots in its slave-holding culture and later the Confederacy produced a young woman used to an easy, pampered life. Transplanted to New York where her husband’s roots were deep as well – the Roosevelts had lived and thrived in New York since before the founding of the nation – Mittie, with a growing family of four, missed her former life in Georgia. She longed for the companionship of her mother and sister and with the advent of the Civil War, openly sided with the Confederate cause. Family tensions were inevitable. TR, Sr., bending to Mittie’s pleas not to serve in the Union army, worked as an allotment commissioner persuading Union soldiers to put wages aside for their families. A strong supporter of President Lincoln, he also served as a charter member of the Union League of New York. As a child, the young TR was mesmerized by Mittie’s plantation tales of the Old South, but like his father, he admired the President, enshrining Lincoln in his pantheon of heroes. Sadly, Mittie’s “thoroughly un-Reconstructed” life appeared more and more vapid to both her husband and TR, and in her mid-40's, following the death of TR, Sr., she suffered a mental decline, a severe lethargy, that left her unable to manage the household. As Mittie mentally retreated into a kind of self-indulgence, it engendered in TR a polite, but lingering, resentment of women whose lives centered on frivolous luxury without purpose or spirit. Twenty-one years after her death, we hear echoes of that resentment when he admonished women at the National Congress of Mothers to remember that “the most important, the most honorable and desirable task which can be set any woman is . . . a home marked by self-respect and mutual forbearance, by willingness to perform duty, and by refusal to sink into self-indulgence or avoid that which entails effort and self-sacrifice” (JSTOR).

On the other hand, Anna, TR’s older sister,had energy and purpose to spare, and she exhibited the habit of willing self-sacrifice that TR would later celebrate in that same speech. “Bamie,” Anna’s nickname, was smart and quick with an innate practical intelligence that endeared her to everyone. In her teens, she became TR’s second mother when Mittie proved unable to manage household affairs before and after TR, Sr.’s death. When their father traveled away from home, he would delegate those duties normally undertaken by a wife and mother to Bamie. When TR left for Harvard, she chose and furnished his rooms in Cambridge; and following the death of Alice Lee, she took charge of “Baby Lee” (Alice Roosevelt) for almost three years while TR worked through his grief in the Dakota territory. Putting her brother’s needs before her own, she also oversaw the construction of Sagamore Hill, and later, her own homes in New York and Washington would become temporary housing for TR and his family as well as refuges for both young Alice and her cousin, Eleanor. As an adult, Alice Roosevelt Longworth said of Bamie that if the times had been different, Bamie would have been president, not her brother.

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt whom TR married two years after Alice Lee Roosevelt’s death, and to whom he was married for 33 years, also met all the criteria for that “sacred” calling of motherhood and wife that TR had come to idolize and desire. She bore him five children and welcomed a sixth, baby Alice, after insisting that the child should live with her father instead of with Bamie. Edith brought to her marriage a reserve, stability, and discipline that enabled TR to follow his ambitions while curbing some of his more frantic enthusiasms in action and words. At the same time, she indulged, up to a point, his playful and restless need to play hard. But when he walked into the hall at Sagamore Hill dripping with blood from an accident atop the windmill, she remonstrated with a maternal scolding, “Theodore, I wish you would do your bleeding elsewhere. You are ruining my carpet.” Once when asked how many children she had, Edith famously answered, “Seven.” And like a parent trying to teach a child how to be frugal, she put $20 in TR’s pocket each day to make sure their always tenuous finances did not get out of hand. And while TR reveled in the happiness of their marriage, following the custom of the day, he often referred to Edith as “Mother” in letters to and about her.  In his fifties and out of shape from months of inactivity, TR embarked on what would become the ill-fated expedition down the River of Doubt. Before leaving for Brazil, Edith, concerned for her husband’s safety, was not encouraging. But TR described this opportunity for another adventure in terms of a plea to extend his childhood: “This is my last chance to be a boy.” Once again, Edith let him go. And so he went.   Countless armchair psychologists have had a field day analyzing Theodore Roosevelt’s many relationships, his frenetic lifestyle, astounding political successes, and outsized place in American history. Although Roosevelt, unlike Washington, did not credit his remarkable life story solely to his mother – or rather to his three mothers – there is little doubt of the significant influence of those early and enduring maternal figures– Mittie, Bamie, and Edith.  Sources:  JSTOR, Vol 13, No 1 (March 1987, pp 141- 47). Dalton, Kathleen, Theodore Roosevelt: The Strenuous Life . Vintage Books, New York, 2008. Morris, Syvia Jukes, Edith Kermit Roosevelt. The Modern Library, New York, 2001.  “TR and the American Family” Dec. 6, 2016, The Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University.

Volunteer Travels - B ulloch Hall at Last! by Steve Gilroy

It took 36 years, but I finally made it back! In 1984, after having completed my sixth and final summer as a seasonal park ranger at Sagamore Hill, I traveled to Roswell, Georgia and looked forward to visiting Bulloch Hall, circa 1839, the childhood home of TR’s mother, Martha “Mittie” Bulloch. However, when I arrived, I found that the site was closed to the public and was only available for private events. This past February, I found myself back in the area and was eager again to be able to go on a tour of the house and grounds. The tour normally takes an hour, but since I was the only visitor there and indicated that I was from Sagamore Hill, the docent, who could not have been nicer nor more knowledgeable, spent over two hours with me telling me about the house and the family.  The three most memorable moments of my visit were standing in the dining room where Theodore Roosevelt’s parents were married in December 1853 (an event reenacted each December); seeing Mittie’s childhood room where her slave girl also slept next to her on the floor; and standing on the spot where TR was photographed when he visited his mother’s home in 1905. Mittie was not born at Bulloch Hall; she was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1835 and moved to Georgia when she was four. She married Theodore Roosevelt (not a Sr. yet) when she was 18 and he was 24. Three years after their marriage, Mittie’s mother and sister moved to the Roosevelt home on E. 20th Street in New York to stay with Mittie and her new husband and to assuage the young transplant’s loneliness. During the Civil War, however, the women secretly sent supplies to Confederate soldiers while Theodore, Sr. supported Lincoln and the Union cause. Complicating family matters further, Mittie’s two brothers served in the Confederate navy.   In 1923, Margaret Mitchell, a journalist with the Atlanta Journal Magazine , interviewed the last living bridesmaid from Mittie and Theodore’s wedding. Mrs. (William) Evelyn Baker’s recollections of the bride and Bulloch Hall were said to have later influenced the major character, Scarlett O’Hara, in that journalist’s famous, and only, novel – Gone with the Wind .   After touring the house, which is beautifully decorated with period, but almost no original, furnishings, I then toured the garden and reconstructed slave quarters with their wonderful exhibits. Before leaving, I purchased one small, somewhat disappointing, item from the gift shop: a magnet with a small picture of Mittie and a larger picture of Theodore, Sr. on its face. My visit to Bulloch Hall was worth the wait of so many years. However, if I had arrived at a later date, the home of TR’s mother would have been closed again due to the current pandemic. My timing was good this time around.

Steve Then

Steve Now

Souvenir Magnet

What is It? by Charlotte Miska

Did you ever notice those big boxes mounted high in the trees around Sagamore Hill? Did you wonder what they were? I did. When I inquired, Tyler Kuliberda told me they were barn owl nesting boxes that were installed as part of an Eagle Scout project. Steven Masiakos, of Oyster Bay, built five boxes. Each box is two feet wide and one and one-half feet tall and made from pressure-treated wood. They were installed in September 2018; Steven became an Eagle Scout the following month. Steven decided to build the boxes after speaking to his former scoutmaster who told him that a mice infestation was discovered in the TRH a few years ago during its restoration. The decline of barn owls, who eat shrews and mice, was cited as a probable reason. I do not know if the boxes are monitored or if any are occupied. Does anyone know? Perhaps we can find out when we are allowed to return to the site.

Barn owls are medium-sized owls with rounded wings and short tails. A buoyant, loping flight gives them a distinctive flight style. Their legs are long and their head is smoothly rounded, without ear tufts. Barn owls are pale overall with dark eyes. They have a mix of buff and gray on the head, back, and upper wings, and are white on the face, body, and underwings. When seen at night they can appear all white. They are one gorgeous bird. At night, Barn Owls hunt by flying low, back and forth over open habitats, searching for small rodents primarily by sound.

The Rough Writer is Available Online

You can find the Rough Writer on the Friends of Sagamore Hill website. Simply select the MORE ABOUT TR menu and click Rough Writer Newsletter. You will go to a page that lists the Rough Writer issues starting with January 2020. Back issues are now readily available for your reading pleasure. Thank you Patrick Teubner for making this happen.

Visit FOSH Website

This newsletter is produced by members of the Volunteer Advisory Board for the volunteers of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.

Proofreader Susan Sarna Laura Cinturati Layout Charlotte Miska

Contributors Joe DeFranco Steve Gilroy Nancy Hall Charlotte Miska Natalie Naylor Janet Parga Jonathan Parker Ginny Perrell Bill Reed Susan Sarna Brian Tadler Patrick Teubner

Comments? Nancy Hall, Editor hallnpj@gmail.com

The National Park Service cares for the special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.

About Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, located in Oyster Bay, New York, is a unit of the National Park Service. The Site was established by Congress in 1962 to preserve and interpret the structures, landscape, collections and other cultural resources associated with Theodore Roosevelt’s home in Oyster Bay, New York, and to ensure that future generations understand the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, his family and the significant events associated with him. For more information please check out our website at  www.nps.gov/sahi  or call (516) 922-4788.

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