December 2020 Rough Writer

The Rough Writer

News for and about the Volunteers at Sagamore Hill

Volume 22, Issue 11

December 2020

The Rough Writer is a volunteer newsletter, not an official National Park Service publication. It should not be used for historic research.

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“…the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

– TR New York State Fair, Syracuse, September 7, 1903

From the Editors

Ten months after the country shut down normal operations and for most of us, normal life, we end the year with the promise of vaccines and a gradual return to life before COVID-19 (and to help you with reentry, we have included a couple of holiday recipes).

While Theodore Roosevelt’s home and the Old Orchard Museum remain closed, Superintendent Jonathan Parker says that the trails and surrounding property have experienced high volumes of visitors, and unlike other public lands on Long Island, the property at Sagamore Hill has not experienced damaging acts of vandalism. Jonathan says most visitors have shown a remarkable degree of respect and clearly enjoy walking the grounds and interacting with the Rangers.

And speaking of Rangers, Tyler Kuliberda, has asked that we pass on volunteer opportunities offered by the Library of Congress helping to transcribe letters to Theodore Roosevelt. It is a vast collection, and you are invited to visit the following site https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/rough-rider-bull-moose-theodore-roosevelt/.

As most of you know, Susan Sarna will be leaving her full-time position at Sagamore Hill, transitioning to head up the rehabilitation work at the William Floyd Estate. (See Sue’s article below.) Sue’s responsibility for the major rehabilitation of the Theodore Roosevelt Home from 2012-15 resulted in one of the premiere restorative projects in the Parks System, and one for which she has deservedly received high praise. To say that she will be missed by us all is an understatement, not only for her leadership but also for her friendship and most importantly, for the trust she placed in volunteers. She trusted us to study history, to greet visitors respectfully, to lead tours that factually recount the story of the Roosevelt family, and to offer hospitality to those visitors while ensuring the protection of historic articles and furnishings in the TRH and OOM. She was a mentor to many of us, and the guidance she gave always pointed us in the direction of becoming better at serving the public and the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt.

But perhaps the thing we will miss most about Sue will be her laugh which could echo loudly throughout the second floor of OOM, rivaling perhaps some of TR’s own famous outbursts of delight and appreciation. So, we wish Sue a “bully” new year and continued success. And “By Jove,” Sue, you always gave us your best, and for that we give you our heartfelt gratitude.

Nancy and Charlotte

From the Superintendent

On the Eve of Snowfall and a New Year

I’m looking out my office window to the west as rotating windmill vanes and the peak of the house stand darkly silhouetted against a rose sky. If the current forecast holds, Sagamore Hill will soon be wrapped in a blanket of snow, transforming the landscape into a serene wonderland.

2020 has been a challenging year for, and at, Sagamore Hill. At the moment I don’t wish to recount the challenges we have faced as the citizen stewards of this esteemed 83-acre parcel – they have been numerous and all of us have worked hard to meet them. I want to look forward to freshly fallen snow, to welcoming first-time visitors, to new opportunities to share the Roosevelts’ stories, and to the new year.

Each of you are a part of our shared mission to preserve and promote this special place – Sagamore Hill. Former National Park Service Director William Mott once remarked, “The parks are the constants. The fixed elements of America that can be shared by everyone. Not only now but also on into a future we cannot now know or understand.”

In a year of unprecedented change and challenge, Sagamore Hill provides a peaceful, essential “constant” – everyday – for all those who embark on a visit. The opportunity to walk in nature, breath fresh air, and explore a storied landscape are opportunities worth celebrating, this year more than ever.

Have a wonderful and warm holiday season – and come visit soon, too.

Jonathan

Sagamore Hill: Work Worth Doing

by Susan Sarna

As I look back on my time at Sagamore Hill I am thankful to TR for giving me the chance to “work hard at work worth doing.” I have always said that I had the greatest boss and he never complained if things weren’t perfectly in place. Recently, I told someone that if you respect your boss your work will reflect it. I have always respected TR and felt a responsibility to preserve and protect his legacy.

This has been a daunting task and one that I did not accomplish solo, I did it with a thousand voices assisting me along the way. I have worked with some of the greatest people over the past 31 years and I would like to acknowledge those that have helped me carry on the mission of preserving, protecting, and educating the public because without all them I would not have succeeded so triumphantly.

Every VIP (volunteer in park) that walked through the doors at Sagamore Hill brought with them years of experience, knowledge, and insight. I felt that every day was a learning experience for me. I remember a VIP who was a book expert. Once a week we sat and cleaned the books one by one (we cleaned every book every year for at least 5 years). He would often stop to enlighten me on the significance of the volume we were cleaning. He provided facts that the NPS had not been aware of and those facts were added to the catalog file for researchers. Another VIP made it her mission to keep the silver in the Dining Room shining bright. I relied on her expertise for the full 31 years. Then there was the VIP who took a course on caring for textiles so during the packing of the collection she instructed the staff how to care for the linens.

The VIPs didn’t just instruct me on my duties at Sagamore Hill but also on how to live my life. I was inspired by this group of people who gave their precious time to help me with my job. They taught me personal things like how to care for my daughter, how to get along with my husband, and the most important lesson was right out of TR’s playbook, how to be a productive citizen.

I have enjoyed every minute of my time at Sagamore Hill and will truly miss the people but will always carry with me the wisdom I attained from my time with them. My email will not change, and I will continue to be around to see some projects through. So this is not good-bye but a thank you and a promise to continue “work worth doing.”

O, Christmas Tree

by Nancy Hall

When Archie Roosevelt was eight years old and living in the White House, he decided he would give his family a special treat – a Christmas tree! Now a gift of a tree might seem odd today since we have grown accustomed to seeing a multitude of White House holiday displays, including a massive official White House Christmas tree on the front lawn in Washington, D.C. and the halls and public rooms inside the White House decorated with as many as 62 lavishly adorned trees.

But this was not ever so. According to the White House Historical Association, 19th century Christmas White House celebrations were not elaborate affairs. Though small Christmas gatherings were held for family and close friends, the decorations mostly consisted of evergreen boughs and wreaths. And anything more festive usually depended on the President’s own family traditions and whether there were going to be children present.

So in many respects, White House tradition followed the experience of most ordinary Americans – low key and private. While Puritan New Englanders as late as the 1840’s still took a dim view of Christmas itself – seeing it as “papist idolatry” and an excuse for drunken revelry, the influence of immigrants and the experiences of Americans returning from travels abroad began to change the way Christmas was celebrated here. For example, the custom of hanging holly and evergreens over doors came to us from the British Isles; the lavish use of candles came from the Scandinavian experience of long winter nights; and the Christmas tree – a German custom popularized by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband – began to be more and more visible in American homes and eventually migrated even to the White House.

Charles Dickens might also receive some of the credit for the way Americans began to celebrate Christmas, and even he was influenced by the growing fad for Christmas trees in England, which he incorporated into the plot of A Christmas Carol. The popularity of Dickens’ story, first published in 1843, with its idealized scenes of families gathered around warm hearths, a lighted tree, a Christmas turkey, and a story of a man changed by getting a second chance to reform his life, transformed the way Americans, religious and secular alike marked Christmas.

Americans were quick to adopt this new tradition, but it wasn’t until 1889 that the White House had its first Christmas tree; President Benjamin Harrison lit his tree with candles and placed it in the second floor parlor, not in a public space. Three years later, President Grover Cleveland safely lit his family tree with electric lights. In September, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became President, but it wasn’t until his second Christmas in the White House that the Roosevelts finally had a Christmas tree of their own, thanks to 8-year-old Archie.

The story goes that TR, a staunch conservationist, was disturbed by the environmental destruction of our “dwindling natural resources”, including the wide-spread chopping down of small trees for Christmas decorations. TR was advised by Gifford Pinchot that the cutting of small trees could be beneficial for the health of larger trees, so he softened a bit on the Christmas tree fad. However, contrary to press coverage at the time, TR did not ban a Christmas tree from the White House. It simply was not the Roosevelt custom. Moreover, with six children and various pets crammed into the crowded family quarters in the White House, Edith felt there was not sufficient space for a tree. If they wished, the children could visit their aunt’s house a few blocks away and enjoy her Christmas tree.

This did not satisfy young Archie, who conspired with a White House electrician to help him cut down a small tree and install it in a closet in the family quarters. Archie decorated it with lights and gifts for each member of the family, including all the pets. And on Christmas morning, after the children had opened their stockings, he led them all to his little tree.

Once when Edith was asked how many children she had, she answered, seven, Theodore being the tallest and the oldest! So, of course, like the other children, he seems to have been delighted by Archie’s initiative. Unlike Scrooge, however, TR did not have a “Bah Humbug” attitude toward Christmas trees, and certainly when surrounded by his children and the Christmas morning surprise, he more than likely quoted Tiny Tim and said, “God bless us, every one.”

Sources:

Dolby, George. “Charles Dickens Brings ‘A Christmas Carol’ – and Christmas – to Boston”. New England Historical Society. 2019.

Katz, Brigit. “When Theodore Roosevelt’s Son Snuck a Christmas Tree Into the White House”. Mental Floss. December 12, 2019.

The White House Historical Association. whitehousehistory.org.

None appeared more astonished than Mr. Roosevelt

Tour Tips - It Happened in December

December 1880 – TR enters law school at Columbia (later drops out).

December 1884 – TR helps to organize the Little Missouri River Stockmen’s Association, but returns to New York for Christmas.

December 2, 1886 – TR marries Edith in London.

December 6, 1904 – Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

December 10, 1906 – TR wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the conflict between Russia and Japan. He is the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind.

December 16, 1907 – TR’s notions to impress the rest of the world with military power results in the Great White Fleet, a naval spectacle with 16 ships and 14,000 sailors that spends the next 14 months touring the globe.

"Food, Glorious Food"

by Nancy Hall and Charlotte Miska

As seasoned Sagamore Hill volunteers, you have probably “dee-lighted” visitors on your tours with stories about TR’s appetite (as large as his personality) and some of his favorite food – hominy (grits), boiled eggs (he could consume as many as a dozen at a time), homemade rolls and biscuits with white gravy, fried chicken, and a “bathtub’s” worth of coffee with as many as seven sugar lumps. His appetite for all things wild and hearty included a fondness for steak and game of all kinds, bison, shad and shad roe, lobster, oysters, clams, kidney stew and liver and bacon. Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks in The President’s Cookbook note that TR “had little use for exotic food or drink or even alcohol” (except for the occasional sweet Mint Julep), though he did admit to liking special teas such as Caravan and Hu-Kwa. Basically, the Roosevelts preferred a simple, not “Spartan”, cuisine. And TR didn’t let political squabbles get in the way of enjoying a good meal. Corned-beef hash, a famous feature of breakfast served at Senator Hanna’s home in Washington to Roosevelt and other famous guests, was “relished” by them all and became famous. Its delicious simplicity suited TR’s taste and was memorialized in a poem in the Washington Post in June, 1906:

There is lobster a la Newburg, which some people think is great,

And terrapin’s a dainty for the culture eater’s plate;

There are many pleasant dishes for the man who has cash,

But there’s nothing that quite equals Hanna’s famous

corn-beef hash!

As ecumenical as his tastes were, however, neither TR nor Mrs. Roosevelt were quite prepared for the surprise Christmas “gift” from Helen Longstreet, postmistress in Gainesville, Georgia in 1907: a pair of “hand-fed possums”, fattened on persimmons, “for the sole purpose of gifting them to the president and his family . . . for the honor of furnishing the Christmas dinner for the American Prince and his family.” (foodtimeline.com)

So in the spirit of the season, we thought these few words about some of TR’s favorite foods along with a couple of Edith’s recipes might even inspire you to break out the butter, eggs, and flour and create some memorable treats for family and friends. We include two favorites at Sagamore Hill – one for Fat Rascals (Edith’s biscuits) and one for Sagamore Hill Sand Tarts (cookies). We could not, however, find the recipe for cooked possum! Our apologies.

Fat Rascals

The most difficult thing for me (Nancy) about baking this recipe was waiting for the "Rascals" to come out of the oven. Twelve minutes in a hot oven, and just as the recipe suggests, they should be eaten right away, piping hot, with butter and a drizzle of honey. With 3 sticks of butter crisping the crust, there was no need for any additional butter. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Flour

Salt

Sugar

Baking Powder

Butter

1 lb of Currants

Milk

Sift 4 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup sugar, and 4 teaspoons baking powder. Mix well. Cut in 1-½ cups butter. Then stir in 1 pound of currants. Mix well again and add 1 cup of milk, little by little. With each addition, mix with a fork until a soft dough forms. Roll the dough approximately ½ inch thick on a lightly floured board. Use a 2-inch round cutter to shape the biscuits. Bake biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet until nicely browned. Bake in a hot (450 degree F) oven about 12 minutes. When done, remove from oven, split and butter each biscuit, and serve piping hot. Makes approximately 2 dozen.

Sagamore Hill Sand Tarts

I (Charlotte) used the recipe from The President’s Cookbook by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks published in 1968. It is slightly different from the one for Philadelphia sand tarts in the SAHI archives handwritten by Edith. In addition to the classic round shape, I made hearts because we all love TR and stars because, well, he was a star. The cookies go well with a cup of hot coffee or tea.

Butter

Sugar

Eggs

Vanilla

Flour

Cinnamon

Cream 1 cup butter until it is as smooth as mayonnaise. Then add 2 cups sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, one by one, beating after each addition. Beat in one additional egg yolk and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Stir in 4 cups sifted flour. Mix again well. Roll the dough on a lightly floured board until quite thin. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Then beat remaining egg white just enough to stir it up a bit. Brush the egg white on top of the cookies. Sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and bake on a greased cookie sheet in a moderate (350 degrees F) oven for about 8 minutes. Makes 6 dozen.

Nature Corner

by Charlotte Miska

Winter Birds

Many holiday motifs celebrate winter with images of the iconic Northern Cardinal with the males' bright red feathers and the very dapper Black-capped Chickadee. A sighting of either of these birds always puts a smile on my face, but I celebrate winter with the appearance of the Dark-eyed Junco and the Red-breasted Nuthatch.

The Dark-eyed Junco is commonly called the snowbird because of its appearance around winter bird feeding stations. They usually arrive on Long Island in October. It is a member of the sparrow family. Look for them on woodland walks as well as in flocks at your feeders or on the ground beneath them. Listen for their twittering call or their trilling song. If they are flushed from the ground, look for an overall gray or dark brown bird with obvious, bright white outer tail feathers.

I like to describe the Red-breasted Nuthatch as a cutie-pie. It is a small, compact bird with a long, pointed bill. They have very short tails and almost no neck. Red-breasted Nuthatches move quickly over trunks and branches probing for food in crevices and under flakes of bark. They creep up, down, and sideways without regard for which way is up, and they don’t lean against their tail the way woodpeckers do. Their flight is short and bouncy. Although more prevalent on the south shore of Long Island good numbers have been reported this year on the north shore. Look for them in coniferous trees and also at your feeders.

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-breasted Nuthatch