National Park Service

Cultural Landscapes Inventory

Sagamore Hill

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

 2014
Table of Contents

Inventory Unit Summary & Site Plan

Concurrence Status

Geographic Information and Location Map

Management Information

National Register Information

Chronology & Physical History

Analysis & Evaluation of Integrity

Condition

Treatment

Bibliography & Supplemental Information
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Inventory Unit Summary & Site Plan

The Cultural Landscapes Inventory Overview:

Inventory Summary

CLI General Information:

Purpose and Goals of the CLI

The Cultural Landscapes Inventory (CLI) is an evaluated inventory of all significant landscapes in units 

of the national park system in which the National Park Service has, or plans to acquire any enforceable 

legal interest. Landscapes documented through the CLI are those that individually meet criteria set 

forth in the National Register of Historic Places such as historic sites, historic designed landscapes, and 

historic vernacular landscapes or those that are contributing elements of properties that meet the 

criteria. In addition, landscapes that are managed as cultural resources because of law, policy, or 

decisions reached through the park planning process even though they do not meet the National 

Register criteria, are also included in the CLI. 

The CLI serves three major purposes. First, it provides the means to describe cultural landscapes on 

an individual or collective basis at the park, regional, or service-wide level. Secondly, it provides a 

platform to share information about cultural landscapes across programmatic areas and concerns and to 

integrate related data about these resources into park management. Thirdly, it provides an analytical 

tool to judge accomplishment and accountability.

The legislative, regulatory, and policy direction for conducting the CLI include:

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 USC 470h-2(a)(1)). Each Federal agency shall 

establish...a preservation program for the identification, evaluation, and nomination to the 

National Register of Historic Places...of historic properties...

Executive Order 13287: Preserve America, 2003. Sec. 3(a)...Each agency with real property 

management responsibilities shall prepare an assessment of the current status of its inventory 

of historic properties required by section 110(a)(2) of the NHPA...No later than September 30, 

2004, each covered agency shall complete a report of the assessment and make it available to 

the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Secretary of the 

Interior... (c) Each agency with real property management responsibilities shall, by September 

30, 2005, and every third year thereafter, prepare a report on its progress in identifying... 

historic properties in its ownership and make the report available to the Council and the 

Secretary... 

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Federal Agency Historic 

Preservation Programs Pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act, 1998. Standard 2: 

An agency provides for the timely identification and evaluation of historic properties under 

agency jurisdiction or control and/or subject to effect by agency actions (Sec. 110 (a)(2)(A) 

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Management Policies 2006. 5.1.3.1 Inventories: The Park Service will (1) maintain and expand 

the following inventories...about cultural resources in units of the national park system...

Cultural Landscape Inventory of historic designed landscapes, historic vernacular 

landscapes,... and historic sites... 

Cultural Resource Management Guideline, 1997, Release No. 5, page 22 issued pursuant to 

Director’s Order #28. As cultural resources are identified and evaluated, they should also be 

listed in the appropriate Service-wide inventories of cultural resources.

Responding to the Call to Action:

The year 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. A five-year action plan 

entitled, “A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement” 

charts a path toward that second century vision by asking Service employees and partners to commit to 

concrete actions that advance the agency’s mission. The heart of the plan includes four broad themes 

supported by specific goals and measurable actions. These themes are: Connecting People to Parks, 

Advancing the NPS Education Mission, Preserving America’s Special Places, and Enhancing 

Professional and Organizational Excellence. The Cultural Landscape Inventory relates to three of these 

themes:

Connect People to Parks. Help communities protect what is special to them, highlight their 

history, and retain or rebuild their economic and environmental sustainability.

Advance the Education Mission. Strengthen the National Park Service’s role as an educational 

force based on core American values, historical and scientific scholarship, and unbiased translation 

of the complexities of the American experience. Preserve America’s Special Places. Be a leader in extending the benefits of conservation 

across physical, social, political, and international boundaries in partnership with others.

The national CLI effort directly relates to #3, Preserve America’s Special Places, and specifically to 

Action #28, “Park Pulse.” Each CLI documents the existing condition of park resources and identifies 

impacts, threats, and measures to improve condition. This information can be used to improve park 

priority setting and communicate complex park condition information to the public.

Responding to the Cultural Resources Challenge:

The Cultural Resources Challenge (CRC) is a NPS strategic plan that identifies our most critical 

priorities. The primary objective is to “Achieve a standard of excellence for the stewardship of the 

resources that form the historical and cultural foundations of the nation, commit at all levels to a 

common set of goals, and articulate a common vision for the next century.” The CLI contributes 

to the fulfillment of all five goals of the CRC: 

1) Provide leadership support, and advocacy for the stewardship, protection, interpretation, and management of the nation’s heritage through scholarly research, science and effective 

management; 

2) Recommit to the spirit and letter of the landmark legislation underpinning the NPS 

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3) Connect all Americans to their heritage resources in a manner that resonates with their 

lives, legacies, and dreams, and tells the stories that make up America’s diverse national 

identity; 

4) Integrate the values of heritage stewardship into major initiatives and issues such as 

renewable energy, climate change, community assistance and revitalization, and 

sustainability, while cultivating excellence in science and technical preservation as a 

foundation for resource protection, management, and rehabilitation; and 

5) Attract, support, and retain a highly skilled and diverse workforce, and support the 

development of leadership and expertise within the National Park Service.

Scope of the CLI

CLI data is gathered from existing secondary sources found in park libraries, archives and at NPS 

regional offices and centers, as well as through on-site reconnaissance. The baseline information 

describes the historical development and significance of the landscape, placing it in the context of the 

landscape’s overall significance. Documentation and analysis of the existing landscape identifies 

character-defining characteristics and features, and allows for an evaluation of the landscape’s overall 

integrity and an assessment of the landscape’s overall condition. The CLI also provides an illustrative 

site plan that indicates major features within the inventory unit and generates spatial data for 

Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The CLI also identifies stabilization needs to prevent further 

deterioration of the landscape and provides data for the Facility Management Software System 

Inventory Unit Description:

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS) preserves the home and associated cultural resources of 

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. Located in the village of Cove Neck, 

within the town of Oyster Bay, New York, Sagamore Hill is situated on one of the highest points of a 

peninsula bounded by Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor. Theodore Roosevelt purchased the 

155-acre property in 1880, built a 22-room Queen Anne-Shingle style house between 1884 and 1885, 

and resided on the property until his death in 1919. During this period he sold sections of the property to 

relatives but retained 87 acres that contained his home, a working farm, woodlands, and a tidal marsh 

and beach on the harbor. Following Theodore’s death, his wife Edith Carow Roosevelt continued to 

live at the property until she passed away in 1948. Edith continued the family’s stewardship of the 

property as a working farm, and encouraged her eldest son, Theodore Jr., and his wife to build a home 

within the property, known as Old Orchard, in 1938.

The National Park Service now manages 83 acres of the Roosevelt estate. At its core are the 

Theodore Roosevelt Home set within lawns dotted with trees, a carriage road and the Macadam Road, 

historic farm buildings, the Old Orchard estate built for Theodore Roosevelt Jr., open fields, and an 

orchard. Beyond the core, the outer acreage consists of the former Smith’s Field, undeveloped 

woodlands, and a beach, salt marsh, and tidal creek complex associated with Cold Spring Harbor 

(Drawings 1–3). The site is open year round and receives over 40,000 visitors a year.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

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Before Europeans arrived at what became Sagamore Hill, Matinecock Indians and their ancestors 

settled along the northern shore of Long Island, hunting, fishing, and cultivating crops. Their activities, 

including periodic burning of the forest, created meadows that favored fire-resistant pitch-pine, oak, and 

chestnut trees. When European explorers such as Dutchmen Henry Hudson and Adriaen Block arrived 

in the 1600s, they observed these cultures and founded colonies among them, settling the southern tip of 

Manhattan Island and calling it New Amsterdam. As New Amsterdam (later named New York City) 

became increasingly prosperous and crowded, both Dutch and English settlers established communities 

along the north shore of Long Island. After some conflict, the Dutch ceded the colony to the English in 

1664 (Verone, email, 13 August 2014).

Oyster Bay remained a small community into the nineteenth century, with dispersed farms that supplied 

food to the growing city of New York. Alongside national trends that moved large-scale grain 

production to the American Midwest, railroads shifted Long Island agriculture from grains to fruits, 

vegetables, and dairying. The railroad also opened the Oyster Bay landscape to middle and upper-class 

vacationers from New York and Boston. Following the American Civil War, the development of Long 

Island estates by wealthy urbanites accelerated, with the Roosevelt family purchasing several properties 

in Oyster Bay village. Family ties to the area contributed to Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to establish 

his own home there. In 1880, Roosevelt purchased 155 acres of land from Thomas Young, a local 

farmer. The farm consisted of agricultural fields of buckwheat and corn, pastures, an orchard, and a 

barn. Roosevelt sold some of his acreage to family members whose holdings abutted his own, keeping 

87 acres for himself. On the property, Theodore and his future second wife, Edith, maintained the 

farmland and developed their own residence, constructing two-and-one-half story, Queen Anne and 

Shingle style house on the top of a hill on the western part of the property, which offered sweeping 

views of Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound, and Cold Spring Harbor. Other buildings included a combined 

stable and lodge, an ice house, a windmill and pump house, and several small farm sheds. Lawns with 

trees and shrubs surrounded the house, while driveways and paths connected to such features as a 

flower and vegetable garden and a pet cemetery.

Sagamore Hill became Theodore’s home and office for the remainder of his life. The site’s proximity 

to New York City appealed to him, but the landscape also provided important recreational opportunities 

for the family. The island teemed with wildlife for hunting, contained woodlands for hiking and riding, 

and beaches for swimming, all of which Roosevelt considered paramount to his personal and family life. 

Roosevelt also used Sagamore Hill as his office during much of his political career, especially while he 

was President when the property served as his “summer White House” and helped portray him to the 

public as an active leader working in a relaxing environment. During 1905, Roosevelt helped broker a 

peace treaty here following the Russo-Japanese War, culminating in the Treaty of Portsmouth and 

earning Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Roosevelt emphasized the “strenuous life,” a way of life that espoused the benefits of physically 

demanding activity. As a part of this philosophy, Sagamore Hill continued to function as a working farm 

through the family’s tenure. During these years, a farm manager kept horses, cows, pigs, and a flock 

of chickens and turkeys on the property. Nearly 40 acres were maintained as fields for pasturage, hay, 

and other crops. Trails through the surrounding woodlands were used for hiking, riding, and hunting, and 

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gave the family access to the beach and bathhouse on the eastern end of the property, along the 

shoreline of Cold Spring Harbor. Roosevelt cherished the farm as a “nook of old-time America,” and 

worked to preserve it as much as possible. 

During the almost 40 years that Theodore and Edith occupied the property, it was Edith who kept the 

farm account books, hired and fired the help, set their wages and salaries, and made the day-to-day 

decisions that kept the house and farm running smoothly. After Theodore Roosevelt’s death in 1919, 

Edith retained the property as her home until her death in 1948. During her 29-year stewardship of the 

site, Edith continued to oversee the farm’s operations. One of the most significant changes was the 

construction of Old Orchard in 1938, their son Theodore Jr.’s estate located in the middle of the 

Sagamore Hill property. The completion of the Old Orchard complex, which included a two-story brick 

Colonial Revival-style mansion, was part of gradual abandonment of agricultural practices at the farm 

that saw many of the formerly maintained fields begin their succession to woodlands.

The Roosevelt Memorial Association – which later became the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) 

– began planning for the future of Sagamore Hill with Edith Roosevelt and her children. Founded in 

1919 to preserve the memory and ideals of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRA purchased the property in 

1948. The organization made changes to the site to open it for public visitation and consequently, farm 

operations ceased. Sagamore Hill’s landscape transitioned from a working farm to a well-groomed 

park, opening to the public in 1953, though many of the agricultural structures remained.

In 1962, the United States Congress authorized the establishment of the Sagamore Hill NHS, and the 

following year, the TRA donated the site to the federal government. Since that time, the National Park 

Service has managed 83 acres of Roosevelt’s historic farm to preserve and interpret its cultural and 

natural resources.

SIGNIFICANCE SUMMARY 

Sagamore Hill NHS is significant under criteria A, B, C, and D in the National Register of Historic 

Places. The park has national significance in the area of politics/government for its association with 

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the 26th President of the United States, and for First Lady Edith 

Carow Roosevelt (1861–1948). The property is also nationally significant in the area of 

politics/government for its use as the summer White House and the numerous meetings held there, particularly those in 1905 that lead to the signing of the treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War and 

earned Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize. The park is locally significant in the area of architecture for 

Sagamore Hill, the name of Roosevelt’s Queen Anne-style country house designed in 1885 by the New 

York firm of Lamb & Rich with an addition by C. Grant La Farge, and for Old Orchard, Roosevelt’s 

son Theodore, Jr’s Colonial Revival-style mansion designed in 1937-1938 by William McMillan. Both 

houses were representative of the estates constructed on Long Island’s North Shore during those times. The park is also significant at the local level in the area of archeology for its ability to yield substantive 

archeological information about Roosevelt’s late nineteenth-century farm and for its potential to yield 

information about settlement and subsistence practices around Oyster Bay from the pre-contact to early 

historic periods.

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The period of significance for Sagamore Hill NHS begins in 1885 when the construction of Sagamore 

Hill was completed and ends in 1948 with the death of Edith Carow Roosevelt. This period 

encompasses the entire span of Theodore Roosevelt’s association with the place and includes the years 

of his ascendency to national prominence (1889-1900), terms as president of the United States 

(1901-1909), and the final decade of his life when he continued to exert influence over national affairs. The period between Theodore’s death in 1919 and 1948 represents the continuity of use of the land by 

the Roosevelt family, particularly former First Lady, Edith Roosevelt, who continued to reside at and 

manage the property until her death in the latter year. The most significant development during that 

period was the construction of Old Orchard, a second mansion erected on the property for Theodore 

Roosevelt, Jr., and his family, in 1937-1938.

ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION SUMMARY AND CONDITION

The physical integrity of the Sagamore Hill landscape is evaluated by comparing landscape 

characteristics and features present during the period of significance (1885–1948) with current 

conditions. Many of the historic characteristics and features still remain today. The natural systems, 

topography, and native vegetation that initially drew Theodore Roosevelt to the property still survive. Landscape features including the field patterns, woodlands, ponds, and Cold Spring Harbor beach retain 

their appearance from the time of the family’s occupancy. The main house (1885) on the hill, the most 

important building associated with Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, has been preserved and opened for 

tours, and is still surrounded by trees, shrubs, and lawns. The stable and lodge building was lost in a 

1944 fire, but most of the other buildings and structures associated with the Roosevelts remain, including 

the ice house, pump house, gardener’s shed, farm shed, chicken house, Gray Cottage, and the New 

Barn. The Old Orchard house (1938), part of the estate of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his wife 

Eleanor, is now a museum while other support buildings of the Old Orchard property are utilized for 

park operations. Although no longer used, the Macadam Road and circular drive that end under the 

house’s porte-cochere still remain, and traces of the old carriage road, service road, and farm roads are 

still visible. Unique small-scale features such the Sagamore Hill rock, pet cemetery stone, and rocks 

along the circular drive also remain in the landscape. Paths and trails traverse the grounds and into the 

woodlands, offering views of the historic fence lines and fields that complemented this rural country 

home.

Since 1948, Sagamore Hill has not functioned as a working farm, which has allowed successional 

vegetation to encroach on the formerly open fields and create an increased sense of enclosure. The 

property’s historic sweeping views of Oyster Bay Harbor to the west and Long Island Sound to the 

south are now obscured by vegetation growth on neighboring properties. In the 1950s, the Theodore 

Roosevelt Association transformed this private property into a public park, adding several features 

related to visitor services. A new entrance road, parking lot, and souvenir shop were built, displacing 

much of the flower and vegetable garden and several outbuildings. The National Park Service has 

retained many of these additions, and now uses the souvenir shop as a visitor center. Some historic 

trees have been lost to old age or removed due to hazardous conditions. Since the mid-1990s, the park 

has completed several projects of clearing woodlands in order to reclaim and redefine the historic open 

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spaces. Despite the changes in land use and the addition of visitor services, the Sagamore Hill 

landscape continues to embody Roosevelt’s intent to create a rural country home. The condition of the Sagamore Hill landscape is “good.” There is no clear evidence of major negative 

disturbance and deterioration by natural and/or human forces. The cultural and natural values are as 

well preserved as can be expected under the given environmental conditions. No immediate corrective 

action is required to maintain its current condition.

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Site Plan

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Overall site plan for Sagamore Hill NHS (Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation--hereafter 

OCLP--2014).

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Site plan for the west half of Sagamore Hill NHS (OCLP 2014).

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Site plan for the east half of Sagamore Hill NHS (OCLP 2014).

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Property Level and CLI Numbers

Inventory Unit Name: Sagamore Hill

Property Level: Landscape

CLI Identification Number: 650049

Parent Landscape: 650049

Park Information

Park Name and Alpha Code: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site -SAHI

Park Organization Code: 1880

Park Administrative Unit: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

CLI Hierarchy Description

Sagamore Hill NHS consists of one landscape, named Sagamore Hill, which encompasses the entire 

park.

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Concurrence Status

Inventory Status: Complete

Completion Status Explanatory Narrative:

The Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation completed a “Cultural Landscape Report for 

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Volume 1: Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis” 

in 1995, which was prepared by Regina M. Bellavia and George W. Curry. In 2010, the 

Olmsted Center completed a “Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill National Historic 

Site, Volume 2: Treatment,” with treatment plans and recommendations for the park, prepared 

by Tim Layton and Margie Coffin Brown. Work on this Cultural Landscape Inventory was initiated in 2012 by Student Conservation 

Association SCA) intern Aaron Ahlstrom. Historical Landscape Architects Margie Brown, Tim 

Layton, and Jeff Killion at the Olmsted Center, as well as SCA intern Jim Bertolini, completed 

the inventory in 2014.

Concurrence Status:

Park Superintendent Concurrence: Yes

Park Superintendent Date of Concurrence: 08/20/2014

National Register Concurrence: Eligible -- Keeper

Date of Concurrence Determination: 12/24/2013

Concurrence Graphic Information:

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Park concurrence on the findings of this report was received on August 20, 2014.

Geographic Information & Location Map

Inventory Unit Boundary Description:

The boundary for this Cultural Landscape Inventory is coterminous with the boundary of federally 

owned land administered by the National Park Service as Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS), 

or 83.02 acres. The boundary encompasses nearly all the land (76 of the 86 acres) that made up 

Theodore Roosevelt’s country estate during the period when he achieved national political significance. The park acreage also includes 2 acres in the southwest corner of the property that Theodore sold to 

his sister in 1884 and a 5.02-acre parcel never owned by Roosevelt (located northwest of Sagamore 

Hill Road) acquired National Park Service in 1985 from the Trust for Public Land (National Register 

2013, Draft, Sec. 10: 46-47).

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State and County:

State: NY

County: Nassau County

Size (Acres): 83.00

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Boundary Coordinates:

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8875500000

Longitude: -73.4964300000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8875900000

Longitude: -73.5021100000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8881300000

Longitude: -73.5004600000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8881300000

Longitude: -73.4997700000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8868300000

Longitude: -73.5004600000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8878200000

Longitude: -73.4978900000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8871400000

Longitude: -73.4978400000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

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Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8664600000

Longitude: -73.4920300000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8865300000

Longitude: -73.4899900000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8849200000

Longitude: -73.4894200000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8844000000

Longitude: -73.4900200000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8842700000

Longitude: -73.4955500000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8844600000

Longitude: -73.4958400000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8845200000

Longitude: -73.4964300000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8840700000

Longitude: -73.4972000000

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Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8845400000

Longitude: -73.4983700000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8840700000

Longitude: -73.5019900000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8837700000

Longitude: -73.5025400000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8838300000

Longitude: -73.5035000000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8849300000

Longitude: -73.5028400000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8857000000

Longitude: -73.5035700000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

Latitude: 40.8859400000

Longitude: -73.5030000000

Boundary Source Narrative: National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 10:44-45

Type of Point: Area

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Latitude: 40.8866200000

Longitude: -73.5032900000

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Location Map:

Sagamore Hill is located within Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island in the State of 

New York (Bellavia and Curry, Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill, 1995).

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Sagamore Hill is situated on a small peninsula that separates Cold Spring and Oyster Bay 

harbors (Bellavia and Curry, Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill, 1995).

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Regional Context:

Type of Context: Cultural

Description:

Long Island’s North Shore has retained its use as a retreat for wealthy New Yorkers. Many 

of the properties in Cove Neck are rural estates, although there are commercial and residential 

developments in the surrounding communities such as Hicksville and Huntington. Some 

landowners continue to produce crops for local markets but farming is generally limited to the 

eastern end of Long Island (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 3).

Type of Context: Physiographic

Description:

Sagamore Hill NHS is located on Cove Neck, a small peninsula near Oyster Bay, on the 

northern shore of Long Island, New York. Long Island is roughly twenty miles wide and 

stretches approximately 120 miles from New York and Manhattan Island northeast towards the 

Rhode Island coast. Oyster Bay splits into two main inlets, Cold Spring Harbor to the east and 

the main Oyster Bay (historically called Martin Gerritsen’s Bay) to the west, with the Cove 

Neck peninsula dividing the two. The Sagamore Hill property spans the spine and east slope of 

the peninsula and the historic farm grounds descend in rolling hills and depressions toward Cold 

Spring Harbor to the east (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 159).

Type of Context: Political

Description:

Sagamore Hill NHS is part of the village of Cove Neck, within the town of Oyster Bay in 

Nassau County, New York. Most of the surrounding zoning is for large residential lots 

(National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 3).

Tract Numbers: Sagamore Hill NHS consists of two tracts of land. Tract 101-01 consists of 

78.00 acres transferred from the Theodore Roosevelt Association to the 

National Park Service in 1962. Tract 101-02 consists of 5.02 acres donated 

by the Trust for Public Land in 1985.

Management Information

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General Management Information

Management Category: Must be Preserved and Maintained

Management Category Date: 08/20/2014

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS) meets the criteria for the “Must Be Preserved and 

Maintained” management category. As defined in the park’s enabling legislation on July 25, 1962 

(Public Law 87-547), Sagamore Hill NHS preserves in public ownership and interprets the structures, 

landscapes, collections, and other cultural resources associated with Theodore Roosevelt’s home in 

Oyster Bay, New York, to ensure that future generations understand and appreciate the life and legacy 

of Theodore Roosevelt, his family, and the significant events associated with him at Sagamore Hill 

(Final General Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement 2007: 1-5).

Management Category Explanatory Narrative:

NPS Legal Interest:

Type of Interest: Fee Simple

Public Access:

Type of Access: Other Restrictions

Explanatory Narrative:

Guided tours of Theodore Roosevelt’s house are suspended until the current rehabilitation 

project is complete. The Visitor Center and Bookstore is open Wednesday–Sunday from 9am 

to 5pm, and the Roosevelt Museum at Old Orchard is open Wednesday–Sunday from 10am to 

5pm. The park grounds are open every day from sunrise to sunset, including the nature trail 

that leads to the national wildlife refuge on Cold Spring Harbor. The park is closed 

Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Adjacent Lands Information

Do Adjacent Lands Contribute? No

Adjacent Lands Description:

Adjacent lands are those lands outside of the boundaries of the park. Since 1948, some residential 

development has taken place on these lands and formerly open fields have reverted to forest. Most of 

these lands were never owned by Theodore Roosevelt and are therefore not associated with the 

significance of the site. The limited acreage that was owned by the former President no longer retains 

integrity to the period of significance.

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National Register Information

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Existing National Register Status

National Register Landscape Documentation:

Entered Documented

National Register Explanatory Narrative:

On July 25, 1962, Congress passed Public Law 87-547 establishing Sagamore Hill National Historic Site 

(NHS) in Oyster Bay, New York. The park was administratively listed without documentation on 

October 16, 1966 in the National Register of Historic Places with the passage of the National Historic 

Preservation Act. On October 20, 1976, documentation was accepted for 85 acres of Sagamore Hill 

NHS. The documentation identified the home of Theodore Roosevelt as significant in eight areas: art, 

conservation, education, literature, politics, science, social/humanitarian, and architecture. The 

documentation listed the overall period of significance as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. No 

specific periods of significance were identified, although the text notes 1885–1919 as the dates when 

Roosevelt occupied the home. Specific features listed or described in the documentation included the 

house (Sagamore Hill), Grey Cottage [sic], Ice House, New Barn, Carriage House and Tool Shed, Gardener’s Shed, Chicken House, and Windmill (reconstruction). Old Orchard, the home of Theodore 

Roosevelt Jr. built between 1930–1938, was also described. Regarding the landscape, the 

documentation stated that “the house is surrounded by landscaped lawn and there are thirty-two acres 

of large, second growth timber of which oaks are the most prominent” (National Register, 1976, Sec.7: 

1).

Additional National Register documentation was accepted on January 31, 1980, with several revisions 

and site photographs. The number of areas of significance was decreased to three: conservation, 

politics/government, and architecture. The documentation listed the overall period of significance as the 

nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a specific date of 1884 as the builders/architects. The text 

notes 1884–1919 as the dates when Roosevelt occupied the home. Specific features related to the 

historic period and listed or described in the documentation were the same as the 1976 documentation. 

Other minor historic features were also cited: the stone foundations of the stable and lodge, wood post 

and rail fences, four original “TR” landmarks (carved entrance stone, carved pet cemetery stone, and 

two gate stones and stone and masonry retaining walls), and Quentin Roosevelt’s grave marker. The 

documentation also identified several structures not related to the Roosevelt period: concession facility, 

kiosk, maintenance building, and Foreman’s cottage. The Old Orchard was described as not being 

associated with Theodore Roosevelt’s life. Regarding the landscape, the documentation stated that, 

“the house’s setting, astride a hill surrounded by lawns and deciduous forests, reflects Roosevelt’s great 

love of nature and outdoor activity. The grounds and forest were the setting for the rambles and 

outdoor activities that Roosevelt is famous for and which his children, nephews, and nieces delighted 

in” (National Register, 1980, Sec.8: 1). 

On March 29, 1996, the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) concurred with the 

National Park Service on the itemization of contributing and noncontributing resources in the park, as 

part of an update to the List of Classified Structures. Contributing resources at Sagamore Hill included 

Sagamore Hill (Theodore Roosevelt Home), Gray Cottage, Ice House, New Barn, Carriage House, 

Gardener’s Shed, Chicken Coop and Tool Shed, Windmill, Split Rail Fence Segments, Sagamore Hill 

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Rock, Pet Cemetery Stone, and Retaining Walls. The SHPO concurred that the following resources 

were also contributing: carriage roads, Macadam Road/circular drive, main garden path, pet cemetery 

path, service road, and pump house. The SHPO agreed that the Quentin Memorial, which was not 

present during the historic period and brought to the site in 1956, was not a contributing resource. The 

SHPO also agreed with the National Park Service determination that the Old Orchard and associated 

features (Foreman’s Cottage, Garage, and two small garden sheds), although more than fifty years old 

at the time (1996), were not architecturally or historically significant.

On September 18, 2001, the New York SHPO determined that Old Orchard was eligible for individual 

listing in the National Register for its historic and architectural significance as the home of a prominent 

New Yorker (Theodore Roosevelt Jr.) and a representative example of early twentieth century estate 

design on Long Island’s North Shore. This determination was in response to the park’s proposed 

accessibility upgrades and interior modifications at the Old Orchard Museum. In the SHPO’s 

Resource Evaluation, the brick mansion, the caretaker’s cottage, and service building complex were 

described as “set within a rural landscape on the edge of Sagamore Hill’s orchard.” However, no 

specific landscape features were described. 

On December 24, 2013, updated National Register documentation for the park was accepted by the 

Keeper of the National Register. The documentation identified the home of Theodore Roosevelt as 

significant in the areas of politics/government, architecture, and archeology. The documentation listed 

the period of significance as 1885–1948, beginning when the construction of Sagamore Hill was 

completed and ending with the death Theodore Roosevelt’s wife, Edith Carow Roosevelt. Specific 

dates were listed as 1885 (construction of Sagamore Hill), 1919 (Theodore Roosevelt’s death), 1938 

(construction of Old Orchard), and 1948 (Edith Carow Roosevelt’s death). Contributing resources 

include 12 buildings, 4 structures (and 8 associated features), 3 objects, and 2 sites. One of the sites, 

listed as Estate Grounds, consisted of designed areas providing a setting for the residential buildings, 

areas associated with former agricultural uses, and naturally occurring woodlands, ponds, and a sand 

beach. Noncontributing resources includes 2 buildings, 6 structures, and 2 objects (National Register 

2013, Sec.7: 19-20, Sec. 8: 21). 

According to research conducted for this CLI and the categories of National Register documentation 

outlined in the “CLI Professional Procedures Guide,” the areas and periods of significance for 

Sagamore Hill NHS has been adequately documented in the National Register and through previous 

consultations with the New York SHPO. The existing documentation adequately describes the site’s 

numerous historic resources that contribute to its significance. Therefore, for purposes of the CLI, the 

Sagamore Hill NHS landscape is considered “Entered-Documented.”

Existing NRIS Information:

Name in National Register: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

NRIS Number: 66000096

Primary Certification Date: 12/24/2013

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National Register Eligibility

National Register Concurrence: Eligible -- Keeper

Contributing/Individual: Contributing

District National Register Classification:

National Significance Level:

A - Associated with events significant to broad 

patterns of our history

Significance Criteria: 

B - Associated with lives of persons significant in our 

past

Significance Criteria: 

C - Embodies distinctive construction, work of 

master, or high artistic values

Significance Criteria: 

D - Has yielded, or is likely to yield, information 

important to prehistory or history

Significance Criteria: 

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Period of Significance:

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Creating Social Institutions and Movements

Subtheme: Ways of Life

Facet: Occupational And Economic Classes

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Expressing Cultural Values

Subtheme: Architecture

Facet: Shingle Style (1880-1900)

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Expressing Cultural Values

Subtheme: Architecture

Facet: Queen Anne-Eastlake (1880-1900)

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Shaping the Political Landscape

Subtheme: Political and Military Affairs 1865-1939

Facet: The Republican Era, 1877-1900

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Shaping the Political Landscape

Subtheme: Political and Military Affairs 1865-1939

Facet: The Progressive Era, 1901-1914

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Developing the American Economy

Subtheme: Agriculture

Facet: Farming For Local Markets (Dairying, Fruits, And 

Vegetables)

Time Period: CE 1885 - 1948

Historic Context Theme: Transforming the Environment

Subtheme: Conservation of Natural Resources

Facet: Formation Of The Conservation Movement, 1870-1908

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Area of Significance:

Area of Significance Category: Politics - Government

Area of Significance Subcategory: None

Area of Significance Category: Architecture

Area of Significance Subcategory: None

Area of Significance Category: Archeology

Area of Significance Subcategory: Historic-Non-Aboriginal

Statement of Significance:

As stated in the park’s 2013 National Register documentation, Sagamore Hill NHS is significant under 

National Register criteria A, B, C, and D. The park has national significance in the area of 

politics/government for its association with Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the 26th President of the 

United States, and for First Lady Edith Carow Roosevelt (1861–1948). The property is also nationally 

significant in the area of politics/government for its use as the summer White House and the numerous 

meetings held there, particularly those in 1905 that lead to the signing of the treaty that ended the 

Russo-Japanese War and earned Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize. The park is locally significant in 

the area of architecture for Sagamore Hill, the name of Roosevelt’s Queen Anne-style country house 

designed in 1885 by the New York firm of Lamb & Rich with an addition by C. Grant La Farge, and for 

Old Orchard, Roosevelt’s son Theodore, Jr’s Colonial Revival-style mansion designed in 1937-1938 by 

William McMillan. Both houses were representative of the estates constructed on Long Island’s North 

Shore during those times. The park is also significant at the local level in the area of archeology for its 

ability to yield substantive archeological information about Roosevelt’s late nineteenth-century farm and 

for its potential to yield information about settlement and subsistence practices around Oyster Bay from 

the pre-contact to early historic periods.

The period of significance for Sagamore Hill NHS begins in 1885 when the construction of Sagamore 

Hill was completed and ends in 1948 with the death of Edith Carow Roosevelt. This period 

encompasses the entire span of Theodore Roosevelt’s association with the place and includes the years 

of his ascendency to national prominence (1889-1900), terms as president of the United States 

(1901-1909), and the final decade of his life when he continued to exert influence over national affairs. The period between Theodore’s death in 1919 and 1948 represents the continuity of use of the land by 

the Roosevelt family, particularly former First Lady, Edith Roosevelt, who continued to reside at and 

manage the property until her death in the latter year. The most significant development during that 

period was the construction of Old Orchard, a second mansion erected on the property for Theodore 

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Roosevelt, Jr., and his family, in 1937-1938.

The following text expands on the park’s significance, and where applicable, briefly discusses specific 

resources at Sagamore Hill that contribute to the park’s overall significance. For additional detail, refer 

to Section 8 in the park’s updated National Register documentation. CRITERION A

Politics/Government:

Sagamore Hill NHS is nationally significant under Criterion A in the area of politics/government for its 

association with significant events in American history that occurred there during Roosevelt’s 

presidency. During the summer of 1905, Roosevelt met envoys of Russia and Japan separately in the 

library at Sagamore Hill for conferences preceding the negotiations at Portsmouth, New Hampshire 

that resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905. In addition to ending the 

Russo-Japanese War, this notable event in diplomatic history earned Roosevelt, the facilitator, a Nobel 

Peace Prize. The President held numerous other meetings at the house related to the most notable 

achievements of his administration, including the great anthracite coal strike of 1902, the construction of 

the Panama Canal, and the establishment of federal conservation policies. His use of Sagamore Hill as 

the summer White House set new precedents for conducting government business away from 

Washington, D.C., and redefined the notion of the presidential retreat (National Register 2013, Draft, 

Sec. 8: 22-23).

CRITERION B

Theodore Roosevelt:

Sagamore Hill NHS derives its primary significance under Criterion B at the national level in the area of 

politics/government for its association with Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the 26th President of the 

United States. Roosevelt used Sagamore Hill as his primary residence from the age of 28 until his 

death at 61. This period encompasses his prominent career in public service, including his years as an 

appointee to the U.S. Civil Service Commission (1889-1895), President of the Board of Police 

Commissioners in New York City (1895-1897), Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-1898), Governor 

of New York (1898-1900), and President of the United States (1901-1909). As president, Roosevelt 

willfully expanded the powers of the chief executive, overseeing the implementation of a slew of 

progressive reforms that had a profound impact on American society and establishing a strong foreign 

policy based on increasing military might. In doing so, helped define many of the characteristics and 

traditions that subsequently came to be associated with the presidency and ushered in the period of 

United States world primacy that came to be known as the American Century. Roosevelt also used his 

political prominence to establish his role as a cultural leader whose national influence often lay outside 

traditional politics. During his tenure as president, Sagamore Hill served as the summer White House 

and as a family retreat from Washington life throughout the rest of the year. The property figured 

prominently in the public image he cultivated and embodied his ideals of the strenuous life, the simple 

life, and conservation. Other nationally significant historic properties associated with specific periods in 

Roosevelt’s life include the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City; 

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the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York (the site of his first 

presidential inauguration upon McKinley's death); Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, 

where his Maltese Cross Cabin and the site of his Elkhorn Ranch are currently located; and Pine Knot, 

the Roosevelts’ rural retreat outside Charlottesville, Virginia, which Roosevelt visited approximately 

eight times (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 22).

Edith Carow Roosevelt:

Sagamore Hill NHS is nationally significant under Criterion B in the area of politics/government as the 

place most prominently associated with the life of Edith Carow Roosevelt (1861–1948), Theodore 

Roosevelt’s second wife, who served as First Lady from 1901 to 1909. Like her husband did for the 

presidency, Edith Roosevelt did much to define the role of the First Lady for subsequent occupants of 

the White House. While an intensely private person who desired to shield her family life from public 

view, she understood her role as White House hostess and established processes, including the hiring of 

a social secretary, to manage the affairs. She was a major force in convincing the United States 

Congress to fund major renovations to the White House and worked closely with the firm of McKim, Meade & White on designs that included the addition of the West Wing. During the 32 years that she 

and Theodore occupied Sagamore Hill together, Edith managed the property’s day-to-day operations, 

leaving Theodore free to pursue his political and literary ambitions. After his death in 1919, Edith 

retained the property as her main home until her own death in 1948 (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 

8: 22).

CRITERION C

Architecture:

Sagamore Hill NHS is locally significant under Criterion C in the area of architecture for several 

buildings that are representative works of well-known architectural firms. Designed by the notable 

New York firm of Lamb & Rich, with a compatible addition by architect C. Grant La Farge, Sagamore 

Hill is an early and restrained example of a Queen Anne-style country house of the type that 

proliferated along Long Island’s north shore in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since 

the house was in the sole possession of the Roosevelt family from its construction until it became a 

historic site, it retains integrity both architecturally and decoratively. The smaller house on the property 

known as Old Orchard, built for Roosevelt’s son Theodore, Jr., and his wife Eleanor n 1937-1938, is 

representative of the Colonial Revival-style residences constructed in the area throughout the 1920s and 

1930s. Theodore, Jr.’s son-in-law, William McMillan, who designed Old Orchard, practiced 

architecture in Maryland and specialized in fashionable residences (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 

8: 23).

CRITERION D

Sagamore Hill NHS is locally significant under Criterion D in the area of archeology for its 

demonstrated ability to yield substantive archeological data about the form and function of a planned 

late nineteenth-century gentleman’s farm on the North Shore of Long Island. The surviving physical 

elements of the Stable and Lodge Building Site have the demonstrated and potential ability to provide 

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important information about the building's structural footprint and construction method. This information 

could prove valuable not only to a better understanding of how it was used, but also to its accurate 

interpretation, and possible reconstruction, at the park. The site also provides an important material 

manifestation of the agrarian way of life that was fast disappearing along the North Shore of Long 

Island even at the time the building was constructed. Additionally, the district has the potential to yield 

substantive archeological data about settlement and subsistence practices around Oyster Bay from the 

pre-contact to early historic periods (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 23).

Chronology & Physical History

Cultural Landscape Type and Use

Cultural Landscape Type: Historic Site

Current and Historic Use/Function:

Primary Historic Function: Estate Landscape

Primary Current Use: Outdoor Recreation

Other Use/Function Other Type of Use or Function

Multiple Dwelling-Other Both Current And Historic

Concession Historic

Tennis Court Historic

Historic Furnished Interior Both Current And Historic

Agricultural Outbuilding Both Current And Historic

Agricultural Field Both Current And Historic

Barn Both Current And Historic

Beach Both Current And Historic

Forest Both Current And Historic

Body Of Water (Lake, Pond) Both Current And Historic

View Both Current And Historic

NPS Class II Connector Road Both Current And Historic

Parking Area Both Current And Historic

Hiking Trail Both Current And Historic

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Current and Historic Names:

Name Type of Name

Sagamore Hill Historic

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Current

Ethnographic Study Conducted: No Survey Conducted

Chronology:

Year Event Annotation

Inhabited The Matinecock Indians and their ancestors occupy the 

landscape surrounding Oyster Bay, hunting, fishing, and 

engaging in agriculture (Hammond 2003: 1-2).

4000 BCE - CE 1750

Explored Dutch sailor David Pietersz DeVries anchors his vessel in 

Cold Spring Harbor, naming the area Oyster Bay and 

purchasing it for the Dutch (Hammond 2003: 1).

CE 1639

Established Treaty of Hartford divides Long Island into British and 

Dutch sectors, with Oyster Bay being the dividing line. 

The two powers continue to dispute territory.

CE 1650

Land Transfer The British seize the former Dutch colony of New 

Amsterdam and rename it New York. CE 1664

Purchased/Sold Englishman Joseph Cooper purchases a land title from the 

Matinecock that includes the future Sagamore Hill 

property (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 19).

CE 1667

Expanded New York City expands, and a new railroad network 

extends eastward along Long Island (Naylor 2007: 21-22).

CE 1830 - 1839

Developed Long Island Railroad reaches Syosset, four miles south of 

Sagamore Hill (Naylor 2007: 13).

CE 1854

Inhabited Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and his wife Martha rent “Tranquillity,” a property a mile outside of Oyster Bay, for 

their family, including their son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. 

(National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8:21).

CE 1874 - 1884

Purchased/Sold Theodore Roosevelt purchases 155-acre property in 

Oyster Bay (Bellavia and Curry 1995:19).

CE 1880

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Built Sometime between Roosevelt’s purchase of Sagamore 

Hill and 1888, a bathhouse is built on the shore of Cold 

Spring Harbor (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 28).

CE 1880 - 1888

Built John A. Wood & Son carpenters build a stable and lodge 

to the northeast of the central hill, finishing on February 1, 

1884 (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 34).

CE 1883 - 1884

Purchased/Sold Roosevelt sells 28 acres of the southern portion of his 

property to his sister Anna Roosevelt (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 20).

CE 1884

Purchased/Sold Roosevelt sells 32 acres of southern portion of property to 

his aunt Anna Gracie (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 20).

Built John A. Wood & Son builds the Roosevelt Home of 

granite, red brick, and wooden shingles on top of a central 

ridgeline on the historic farm (HSR Sagamore Hill 1997: 

9).

CE 1884 - 1885

Built A windmill is constructed between these two dates 

northeast of the Ice House (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 45).

CE 1884 - 1886

Built A pump house is built at the windmill to provide water to 

the property (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 47).

Built An ice house is built east of the house (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 37).

CE 1885

Inhabited Roosevelt, his wife Edith, and Theodore’s daughter Alice 

move to Sagamore Hill (National Register 2013, Draft 

Sec. 8:21).

CE 1887

Developed Long Island Railroad reaches Oyster Bay (Naylor 2007: 

13).

CE 1889

Built A dock is built on Cold Spring Harbor (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 28).

CE 1890

Built Around this time, a garden path is constructed northeast of 

Sagamore Hill (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8:25).

Purchased/Sold Roosevelt sells six acres on the southern portion of his 

property to his uncle James Roosevelt (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 21).

CE 1894

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Built A path is installed leading to the pet cemetery north of the 

house (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec 8:25).

CE 1898

Destroyed The barn on the property that was present when 

Roosevelt purchased the land collapses (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 32).

CE 1904

Altered An extension to the entrance road is added connecting to 

the porte-cochere on the south side of the house’s east 

wing (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 89).

CE 1905

Altered A new room is added to the northern side of the house 

called the Trophy or North Room. Construction requires 

the removal of the northern portion of the piazza (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 37).

Built The old windmill is replaced with an improved wheel and 

tower as well as a reconstructed pump house and system 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 37; Lee 2010: 129).

Built A speaking platform is built in the piazza (National 

Register 2013, Draft, 4).

Planted A Japanese cedar, Russian mulberry, and American white 

oak are planted to commemorate Roosevelt’s part in the 

Russo-Japanese War peace negotiations (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 61-62).

Purchased/Sold Roosevelt buys 17 acres from his cousin, William Emlen 

Roosevelt (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 21).

CE 1906

Purchased/Sold Roosevelt sells 19 acres to W. Emlen Roosevelt (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 21).

Built Edith Roosevelt supervises the construction of “The 

Nest,” a covered reading platform raised on cedar posts 

with a hip roof, wood shingles, and timber railing as well as 

benches (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 28).

CE 1906 - 1913

Built The New Barn is built in the pasture southeast of the 

stable and lodge (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 42).

CE 1907

Built The Gray Cottage is built for Roosevelt’s valet, coachman, 

and their families (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 27).

CE 1910

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Built Roosevelt directs Hans Rude Jacobsen to construct a new 

macadam entrance driveway along a new, less-steep route 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 89).

CE 1911 - 1912

Built Roosevelt directs Jacobsen to install drainage gutters along 

the new entrance road (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 53).

CE 1911

Built A third retaining wall is built along the new entrance road 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 54).

Land Transfer Roosevelt dies and his wife inherits the property (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 107).

CE 1919

Built Theodore Roosevelt Jr. directs construction of the Old 

Orchard estate in the orchard area which includes a main 

house, foreman’s house, garage, small garage shed, and 

concrete cold cellar (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 

8:29).

CE 1937 - 1938

Built A new road is constructed to provide vehicular access to 

Roosevelt Jr.’s new house in the orchard (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 127).

CE 1938

Built A small chicken house is built southeast of the farm shed 

and chicken house to expand the Roosevelts’ poultry 

housing (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 114).

CE 1940

Land Transfer Mrs. Roosevelt deeds 4 acres in the orchard to Eleanor 

Roosevelt, her daughter-in-law (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

108).

CE 1945

Destroyed The stable and lodge at Sagamore Hill burns down 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 107).

CE 1947

Altered The New Barn is converted to a three car garage and 

servants’ living quarters after the stable and lodge burned 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 114).

Land Transfer Following the death of Edith Roosevelt, the Roosevelt 

Memorial Association (RMA) purchases the property 

from the Roosevelt family (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 133).

CE 1950

Rehabilitated The RMA hires a contractor to renovate and modernize 

the main house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 139).

CE 1950 - 1951

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Altered The RMA turns the ice house into public restroom 

facilities (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 139).

CE 1951

Built The RMA installs metal post and chain link fence along 

the circular entry drive on the south side of the house and 

along the walkway to the restrooms (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 154).

Memorialized The Roosevelt Memorial Association changes its name to 

the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and opens the 

site to the public (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 133).

CE 1953

Built Nassau County and the TRA construct a county road and 

a 150-car parking lot in the garden and pasture area 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 133).

Built The Boy Scouts of America donate a metal flag pole 

located on the west lawn southwest of the house (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 350).

Removed The TRA removes the garden arbor, the flower and 

vegetable garden, and the cold frames during the county 

road construction (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 142, 149).

CE 1953 - 1954

Removed The TRA removes the small chicken house built in 1940 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 139).

CE 1954

Removed The TRA removes the cow shed to accommodate the 

parking lot (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 139).

Built The TRA constructs a pedestrian path from the parking lot 

to the Macadam Road east of the house (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 153).

CE 1956

Rehabilitated The TRA rehabilitates and rents the Gray Cottage 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 137).

Built The TRA builds a one-story, wood-frame souvenir shop 

southeast of the chicken house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

140).

Built The TRA installs benches along paths leading from 

parking lot to the house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 154).

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Memorialized Quentin Roosevelt’s grave marker from France is placed 

at base of the flagpole (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 154).

Built The TRA places a gazebo in the far east section of the 

garden (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 142).

CE 1958

Built The TRA installs a black wrought iron fence along the 

north side of the restrooms (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

154).

CE 1959

Altered The TRA installs a foundation for Quentin Roosevelt’s 

memorial plaque (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 154).

Purchased/Sold The TRA sells 11 acres of the northern portion of the 

property to Eleanor Zoller (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 134).

CE 1961

Established Congress passes Public Law 87-547 on July 25th, 

establishing Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS).

CE 1962

Purchased/Sold The TRA purchases four acres surrounding and including 

Old Orchard (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 134).

CE 1963

Removed The National Park Service (NPS) removes the weeping 

elm on the southwest corner of the piazza after it 

succumbs to Dutch elm disease (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

144).

Land Transfer The TRA donates the 78 acres of Sagamore Hill to the 

federal government (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 159).

Altered NPS adds a two-story addition to the south side of the 

Gray Cottage (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 165).

CE 1964

Altered NPS alters the first floor of the house at Old Orchard to 

serve as a museum (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 173).

CE 1966

Built NPS builds a small kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 173).

CE 1968

Reconstructed NPS reconstructs the windmill based on a historical study 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 175).

CE 1971

Land Transfer The Trust for Public Land purchases then transfers to the 

NPS a 5.02 acre parcel of land north of the county road 

and west of the property (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 161).

CE 1985

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Built The park permits the construction of a memorial garden to 

Jessica Craft. The garden includes a metal plaque set into 

an irregular white rock memorializing Craft (Kaufman 

2007: 180-81).

CE 1989

Stabilized Arborists from the Long Island Arboricultural Association 

remove eight hazardous trees near the main house 

(Kaufman 2007: 280).

CE 1991

Rehabilitated Using money won from a preservation competition, the 

park opens the carriage road as a trail and clears 

vegetation from the historic tennis courts (Kaufman 2007: 

282).

CE 1993

Restored The Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation 

propagates historically-important trees, partnering with the 

Arnold Arboretum in Boston. They also conduct a 

week-long pruning of damaged and neglected trees at the 

park (Kaufman 2007: 280-81).

CE 1996

Restored Using labor supplied from the town of Oyster Bay, the 

park clears the historic west lawn of non-historic trees and 

brush (Kaufman 2007: 280-81).

CE 1999

Damaged A winter storm causes damage to the park, including 

toppling the historic Cousins’ Beech. The park replaces it 

with a clone tree from the Bartlett Tree Experts and plants 

it near the fence line between the north and south fields 

(Layton and Brown 2010: 62).

CE 2005 - 2006

Removed The park removes a large red maple from a picnic area 

located west of the visitor contact station for visitor safety 

(Layton and Brown 2010: 60).

CE 2005

Built The park installs stonedust paths across the pasture 

leading from Old Orchard to the visitor parking lot (Layton 

and Brown 2010: 72-73).

CE 2005 - 2006

Removed The park removes the memorial garden and plaque 

dedicated to Jessica Craft due to intensive maintenance 

and encroachment on historic resources (Kaufman 2007: 

180-81).

CE 2007 - 2008

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Rehabilitated As part of a Federal Highway Administration project, the 

park resurfaces the Macadam Road. A separate project 

resets the dry-laid stone retaining wall lining the drive and 

removes woody vegetation (Layton and Brown 2010: 71).

CE 2008

Reconstructed As part of a Boy Scout service project, the park 

reconstructs two stiles along the pasture`s east fence 

(Layton, e-mail, 2012).

CE 2009

Rehabilitated The park restores the brick paving under the 

porte-cochere at the main house (Layton and Brown 2010: 

66).

Rehabilitated The park clears scrub vegetation and successional growth 

from the south and southeast fields. (Verone, email, 13 

August 2014).

CE 2009 - 2010

Reconstructed The park rehabilitates the pet cemetery arbor by 

constructing a compatible arbor and installing benches 

symmetrically under the structure (Layton, email, 2012).

CE 2011

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Physical History:

The following section provides information on the physical development and evolution of the 

site, organized by time periods. Information has been extracted primarily from the 1995 

“Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Volume 1: Site 

History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis,” the 1998 and 2010 “Cultural Landscape Report for 

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Volume 2: Treatment,” and a 2013 draft of the park’s 

National Register of Historic Places documentation.

EARLY OCCUPATION OF LONG ISLAND, 10,000 BCE –1600 CE

Long Island consists of two spines of glacial moraine with a sandy outwash plain to the south. 

The moraines formed during two phases of the Wisconsin stage of the Pleistocene Epoch some 

20,000 years ago. The higher southern moraine forms the backbone of the 118-mile island, 

while Sagamore Hill is located on the northern ridge, known as the Harbor Hill moraine. As the 

global temperature warmed about 10,000 years ago, the retreating glaciers carved the 

depression that is now Long Island Sound and inlets along the island’s northern shore, including 

present-day Oyster Bay. A depression north of the Harbor Hill moraine filled with melt water 

from the glaciers, creating a large freshwater lake. As the expanding lake forced through the 

moraine, it merged with the Atlantic Ocean and filled Long Island Sound. Organic matter and 

windblown silt, clay, and fine sand overlaid the island landscape, creating soils that varied from 

extremely fertile areas along the eastern and western lowlands of the island to the so-called 

“barrens” of the central uplands. The coarse underlying material along the northern moraine 

resulted in relatively dry soils compared to the more fertile and moist lowlands between the 

ridges (Andersen 2002: 17; Merwin and Manfra 2004: 11; Naylor 2007: 11; Weigold 2004: 48).

The geologic origins of Long Island and the Sound greatly influenced the human occupation of 

the area. Paleo-Indians arrived around 10,000 years ago, establishing themselves as 

hunter-gatherers. The population of these indigenous peoples increased during the Middle and 

Late Archaic periods, and by 4,000 B.C.E., these groups had heavily settled the island, though 

rising sea levels inundated many coastal living sites by that time. Archeological evidence 

suggests that groups in the Oyster Bay area remained reliant on coastal hunting, gathering, and 

cultivation until close to their contact with Europeans. Frequent burning opened grasslands and 

created pitch pine and scrub oak forests as well as broad grasslands known as the Hempstead 

Plains that covered most of what is now Nassau County. American Indian groups harvested 

resources around Oyster Bay, as evidenced by twenty-two identified archeological sites in the 

vicinity of what is now Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (Sanderson and Brown 2007: 

564-65; Merwin and Manfra 2004: 12-14).

EUROPEAN EXPLORERS AND OYSTER BAY, 1600–1700

In the early 1600s the first European explorers, including Englishman Henry Hudson and 

Dutchmen Adriaen Block and David Pietersz DeVries, explored the Long Island coastline. In 

1621, a Dutch trading expedition named the waters surrounding present-day Sagamore Hill 

“Oyster Bay,” and by 1632 Dutch settlers had established temporary homesteads in this area. 

DeVries and the Dutch settlers encountered several American Indian groups on Long Island, including the Matinecocks in the Oyster Bay area, named from the word Matinecock that 

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translates as “at the hilly ground.” Part of the Algonquian language group, the Matinecocks 

occupied the northern central portion of the island, referring to it as “Seawanhacky,” or “Island 

of Shells.” Acting on behalf of Holland, Devries purchased most of Long Island, including 

Oyster Bay, from the Matinecock Indian Penhawit. However, rapid colonization of Long 

Island by Europeans displaced and destabilized most American Indian groups by the 

mid-eighteenth century (Hammond 2003: 1,4; Greller and Clements 2001: 79; Hauptman and 

Knapp 1977: 167; Lee 2010: 25-26).

At the time of DeVries’ purchase, a small group of nearly 500 Dutch settlers inhabited New 

Amsterdam, a city that later became known as New York. For the next several decades, 

Dutch colonists pressed outwards from New Amsterdam, establishing small communities along 

Long Island’s North Shore area. However, the Dutch West India Company did not regulate 

settlement strictly, leading to frequent squatting by English colonists within Dutch territory and 

disputes over land rights. DeVries’ purchase in 1639 had supposedly given the Dutch rights to 

everything within present-day Nassau County. However, the English also claimed Long Island 

and sold a title to a group of English colonists from Lynn, Massachusetts who settled around 

Oyster Bay, which lead to tension between the Dutch and English governments. An agreement 

in 1650, known as the Treaty of Hartford, specified that a line from the westernmost part of 

Oyster Bay was to serve as the boundary between Dutch settlements to the west and English 

settlements to the east, but this failed to clarify the boundary as English settlers continued to 

press into Dutch-claimed territory. During this period, Englishman Joseph Cooper purchased a 

land title in 1667 for what later became Sagamore Hill. Cooper purchased the land from 

Matinecock leader Sagamore Mohannes for himself, but later transferred the land to the 

Youngs family that farmed the area for over two hundred years until deeding the property to 

Theodore Roosevelt in 1880. Escalating conflicts in the early 1660s resulted in the surrender of 

New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it “New York” (Hauptman and Knapp 1977: 168; 

Hammond 2003: 3-5; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 19; Lee 2010: 30; Verone, email, 13 August 

2014).

EARLY DEVELOPMENT NEAR SAGAMORE HILL, 1700–1900

Much of Long Island, including Oyster Bay, developed into an agricultural landscape that 

supported rapidly growing New York City into the twentieth century. Up to the early 1700s, 

Oyster Bay remained a small community on the fringes of the city’s development, where the 

Matinecock Indians lived alongside European settlers. However, by the mid-eighteenth 

century, most of the Matinecock had either died of disease or had moved into villages on the 

island’s east end with tribes such as the Montauk and Poosepatuck. Euro-American farmers 

took advantage of the generally rich soils of Long Island’s lowlands to cultivate grains, beans, 

corn, asparagus, and other crops to feed New York City’s burgeoning population. Even as soils 

started to decline due to intensive use by the early-1800s, Long Island farmers maintained their 

productive capacity by using livestock manure, seaweed, and fish as fertilizers. Timber 

harvests supplied lumber to regional ports including Cold Spring Harbor, two miles southeast of 

Cove Neck. Ports such as Northport, Oyster Bay, and Cold Spring Harbor along Long Island’s 

sheltered North Shore became major commercial centers by the early-1800s, harboring large 

whaling fleets. Shipyards constructed hundreds of ships between the 1680s and the late-1800s, 

ranging from packet sloops for transporting passengers and light cargo to single-masted 

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gaff-rigged sloops for coastal trading (Naylor 2007: 21; Hammond 2003: 1-2; Conkey, 

Boissevain, and Goddard 1978: 178; Weigold 2004: 70; Wines 1981: 52-54; Greller and 

Clemants 2001: 79; Merwin and Manfra 2004: 4).

The flow of goods between Long Island and New York City contributed to the development of 

the railroad on the island in the 1830s. However, these very transportation developments 

contributed to the end of agriculture’s dominance on Long Island and precipitated a shift in 

production. With railroads extending westward towards the expansive grain farms of the Great 

Plains, East Coast agriculture became less-important in national food production. Instead of 

staple crops, most Long Island farmers switched to perishable goods including meat, dairy, 

vegetables, and seafood. These products relied on the swift transportation afforded by the 

Long Island Railroad to ensure their products reached markets. The railroad arrived in Syosset, 

four miles south of Sagamore Hill, in 1854 and extended to the township of Oyster Bay in 1889 

(Naylor 2007: 12-13,21-22; Miller 2007, 6: 3).

THE COUNTRY ESTATE MOVEMENT ON LONG ISLAND, 1880–1930

The railroads, and later automobiles, also allowed people to move out of the city, bringing 

economic and social changes to scenic rural areas such as Oyster Bay. Wealthy individuals 

often retained townhouses in major cities along with quieter recreational retreats in the country. 

With western farmers out-competing their counterparts in New England, some Long Island 

farmers abandoned their properties to seek their fortunes in the west, where larger fields 

allowed for greater production with mechanized equipment. In their wake, urbanites from New 

York and Boston purchased those farms to build scenic country retreats overlooking Long 

Island Sound. By the 1880s, the Long Island Railroad company actively marketed Oyster Bay 

as a picturesque landscape for weekend visitors or permanent country homes. The railroad’s 

1882 advertising booklet described Oyster Bay’s recreational appeal, including the scenic views 

of the bay, boat races, and clambake excursions. Though agriculture remained a ubiquitous 

part of the country scene, crop production shifted from staples such as grains to vegetable and 

dairy production (Bell 1989: 450-66; Naylor 2007: 12-13). 

Though Long Island had been used as a retreat for wealthy New Yorkers since the colonial 

period, widespread recreational use of places like Oyster Bay did not develop until the railroad 

provided easy and swift access in the late-1800s. Construction of spurs off the main Long 

Island Railroad line allowed for the development of summer colonies along the North Shore. 

By the 1880s, several country estates constructed by wealthy New York business-owners filled 

the woodland around Cove Neck in the area that became Sagamore Hill. The trend of 

luxurious estate development in the area earned the North Shore the name “Gold Coast” by the 

1920s, an era immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, The Great Gatsby. 

The Roosevelt family began visiting the North Shore following the American Civil War. Cornelius Van Shaack Roosevelt, of Dutch descent and the grandfather of future President 

Theodore Roosevelt, purchased an estate on Long Island in the 1860s. His youngest son, 

Theodore, Sr. and wife Martha—parents of President Theodore Roosevelt—rented “Tranquility,” a property less than one mile east of Oyster Bay village, for ten years beginning 

in 1874, at which time Theodore Jr. was fifteen. Theodore Sr.’s connection with the Oyster 

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Bay area, as well as young Theodore Jr.’s desire to enjoy country living, led to Jr.’s purchase 

of 155 acres of land near Cove Neck in 1880, two months after marrying Alice Lee of Boston 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 14; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8:21; Miller 2007, 6:4-6).

SAGAMORE HILL AS A HOME AND THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE, 1880–1909

Sagamore Hill and Roosevelt’s “Strenuous Life”:

Theodore Roosevelt’s 1880 purchase and subsequent development of his home at Sagamore 

Hill had much to do with the value he placed upon what he called the “strenuous life.” 

Roosevelt believed that nature and active sports had saved his life as a youth and that 

therefore, life required adventure, action, and contact with nature. These ideals helped define 

the development of Sagamore Hill as a rural and relatively modest country home. 

After selling off all but 87 acres of the property to other family members, Theodore made plans 

to develop a portion of the site as a country seat and farm. What Roosevelt hoped to establish 

was a ‘colony’ of family members on Cove Neck, in part to assuage his wife Alice’s fears of 

being too isolated. At this time, the property included several dirt roads, fields, woodlands, an 

orchard, fences, ponds, a spring, and a single building—an old barn near the southern boundary 

(no longer extant) (Figure 1). In 1883, Roosevelt hired the architectural firm Lamb & Rich to 

design his home and a combined stable and lodge for the farm, but before construction could 

begin, his wife Alice died on February 14, 1884, two days after giving birth to the couple’s first 

child. Theodore’s mother also died the same day, at the age of 48. The grieving Theodore 

traveled west to his cattle ranches in Dakota Territory, leaving his newborn daughter Alice in 

the care of his sister. During this time, in March 1884, Roosevelt contracted the firm of John 

Wood & Son of Lawrence, Long Island to construct the house, which he named Sagamore Hill 

(it is also the name of the property as a whole), as well as the stable and lodge. According to 

Roosevelt, the name came from an Indian chief, Sagamore Mohannes, who had lived near the 

site long ago and signed away the rights to the land to Europeans over two-hundred years 

earlier (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 20; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 21).

Roosevelt’s development of Sagamore Hill paralleled broader trends towards suburbanization 

and estate building throughout the country. The working farm landscape that Theodore created 

was a result not only of the property’s early construction relative to other, similar retreats, but 

also Roosevelt’s design aesthetic and financial situation. In the most functional sense, 

Roosevelt’s wealth was never as large as that of his neighbors, a fact that restrained the extent 

and style of his development at Sagamore Hill. Roosevelt’s home reflected popular 

architectural trends of the period, incorporating elements of both Queen Anne and Shingle 

styles. However, it was modest in relation to the nearby estates owned by the Vanderbilts and 

Fields. Roosevelt avoided formal gardens or landscape design and limited the size of the house 

to 22 rooms (Naylor 2007: 20).

Despite his financial constraints, Roosevelt’s own preferences had a major role in the 

development of the Sagamore Hill property. Theodore’s enthusiasm for outdoor life required 

land in which to hike and ride, so he purposely confined new construction into a relatively tight 

cluster on the west half of the property. The most prominent buildings were the house and 

stable/lodge, the only architect-designed buildings at the site. As envisioned by Hugo Lamb and 

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Charles Alonzo Rich, these buildings incorporated elements of both the Victorian Queen 

Anne-style and the more subtle Shingle-style rustic qualities (Figures 2 and 3). The 

two-and-one-half story house was located on the top of a hill on the western part of the 

property, which offered sweeping views to the Long Island Sound and Cold Spring Harbor. The stable and lodge was situated to the northeast of the house and served as a shelter for 

cows, horses, hay, and grain and as a home for the grounds caretaker until it burned down in 

1944. During Roosevelt’s absence, carpenters from Wood & Son completed both buildings in 

1885. That same year, Wood & Son also constructed an ice house just to the east of the house. 

The ice house was an octagonal building with brick walls that stored ice cut from nearby ponds 

and sheltered two large tanks that held the farm’s reserve water supply. To provide the 

primary water for the farm, contractors built a windmill and pump house around a hundred feet 

northeast of the ice house between 1884 and 1886. As workmen were completing these 

projects, Theodore made ready to return to his new country home. In 1886, he married his 

childhood friend and neighbor, Edith Kermit Carow, and the following summer they moved to 

Sagamore Hill with his daughter Alice. Here, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt would raise a 

family that included five more children (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 17,34-38,45-47; Naylor 2007: 

18,20-21; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7:4, Sec. 8: 21,24).

Access into and around the property for carriages was provided by a system of roads that were 

developed beginning around 1885. Leading onto the property and winding up the sloped terrain, 

a stone-lined carriage road led to a circular drive that terminated at a porte-cochere at the front 

of the house (Figures 4, 5, and 6). At the stable and lodge, the carriage road connected to a 

service road that traversed north of the house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 43; National Register 

2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 25-26; Lee 2010: 55). 

During their years at Sagamore Hill, the Roosevelts constructed additional buildings and 

structures for their working farm. Between 1885 and 1905, they added a farm shed and 

chicken house, and several buildings no longer extant: cow shed, corn crib, wood shed, smoke 

house, small chicken coop, rabbit hutches, dog houses, and privies (Figure 7). When the old 

barn collapsed in 1904, the family built a replacement near the farm shed and chicken house by 

1907, calling it the New Barn. Theodore’s wife Edith supervised the construction of this large 

wood frame structure, which had a gambrel roof, sliding doors on its side elevation, and a 

cupola (Figure 8) (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 42-43,59,61-62; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 

8: 23-25; Lee 2010: 75). 

Edith Roosevelt sought to produce food on the farm to help feed her growing family. To this 

end, she established a flower and vegetable garden and supervised the construction of a 

gardener’s shed in circa 1885. The garden was located northeast of the house, between the 

orchard and the stable and lodge, and by circa 1890 was accessed by a path. In interviews 

conducted by Sagamore Hill NHS staff with Roosevelt’s son, Archibald Roosevelt, and 

daughter, Edith Derby, the park learned that the flower garden was bordered with a high board 

fence to the north; peach, pear, and plum trees on the west; currant and gooseberry bushes and 

cherry trees to the south; and the vegetable garden to the east. The vegetable garden included 

corn, asparagus, beans, beets, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupes, watermelons, 

strawberries, raspberries, sunflowers, and an arbor that supported assorted varieties of grape. 

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There was also another arbor, supporting rambling roses, located north of the house and next to 

the service road. Accessed by a path from the house, the arbor was part of a small cemetery 

dedicated to the family’s pets and featured a stone inscribed with the names and death dates of 

five dogs and two horses (Figure 9). The arbor was aligned on center with the path from the 

house and underneath the arbor, wood benches flanked either side of the central path (National 

Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 11 and Sec. 8: 26; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 44-45,72,97; Lee 

2010: 35).

The landscape immediately surrounding the house also received attention. Following the 

construction of the house, the Roosevelts retained and planted deciduous and evergreen trees 

around it and along the drives and fence lines (Figure 10, see also Figures 2 and 5). Notable 

trees that were planted included a Japanese cedar, a Russian mulberry, and later in 1905 an 

American white oak to commemorate the peace treaty between Russia and Japan and 

orchestrated by Roosevelt. Retained trees included a weeping American elm at the southwest 

corner of the piazza, assorted trees on the circular lawn, and birches south of the future 

Macadam Road (built in 1912). Numerous shrubs such as spiraea, yew, and barberry were 

also planted (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 42,59,61-62; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 24).

The Roosevelts maintained roughly half of the property as crop and pasture land (Figure 11). A 

full-time farmer/superintendent lived in the lodge and oversaw Sagamore Hill to ensure the 

farm’s successful operation, cultivating between 20 and 40 acres of hay and clover fields, and 

raising milking cows, chickens, pigs, and other livestock. The superintendent also oversaw the 

orchard and the vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens. Consistent with his “strenuous life” 

philosophy, Roosevelt sometimes helped pitch hay at the farm (National Register 2013, Draft, 

Sec. 8: 23-25; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 42-43,59,61-62; Lee 2010: 75).

The agricultural fields were split into five sections colloquially termed the pasture (or cow 

pasture) farthest to the east, the north field located north of the future Gray Cottage (built in 

1910), the south field situated south of the barn, the southeast field located south of the house, 

and Smith’s Field at the north edge of the farm (Figure 12). The pasture contained daisy and 

clover while the southeast field alternately contained timothy or corn. The orchard was located 

at the east edge of the pasture and predated the Roosevelt’s acquisition of the property. Surrounding and dividing these pastures and fields were an array of fences. The most common 

was post and rail, constructed of four wooden rails with a post approximately every ten feet. 

The Roosevelts erected many of these fences, though they also used modern post-and-wire, 

with four strands of wire with posts spaced evenly. The family also used board fences but 

these typically enclosed smaller areas such as the flower and vegetable garden (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 78).

In addition to farming, the Roosevelt family enjoyed the recreational opportunities afforded by 

their rural coastal property. Theodore taught his children and their cousins to play football on 

the broad lawn west of the house, to swim and fish at Cold Spring Harbor beach, and chop 

trees and ski and ride in the nearby woods. In addition to entertaining his local hunter friends, 

Roosevelt took his sons on hunting outings in the woods around Sagamore Hill. The Roosevelts 

also built a shooting range and a tennis court (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 22-23). 

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Approximately 32 of the total 87 acres remained undeveloped and wooded. The woods 

included oak, chestnut, hickory, and beech, as well as linden, tulip-tree, and locust. Understory 

vegetation included bloodroot, mayflower, trailing arbutus, shadblow, anemone, dogwood, 

pipsissewa, laurel, lily, cardinal flower, marshmallow, pale beach rosemary, goldenrod, and 

aster. Narrow paths cut through the woods, which the family used for bird watching, hunting, 

walking, horse-back riding, and to access the tennis court, shooting range, and the beach 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 20,28,55; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 24-25).

The Roosevelts developed their beachfront for recreation as well. Early in their residence at 

Sagamore Hill, the family constructed a bridge over Eel Creek to access the beach, where as 

early as 1888, they constructed bathhouse (Figures 13 and 14). The family’s frequent picnics 

often started with a long walk or row. Most famous perhaps were the point-to-point 

excursions, which found the Roosevelts crossing the landscape from point to point by any 

means possible, without regard for obstacles. Theodore intended the exercise to cultivate 

hardiness and athleticism in his children (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 20,28,55; National Register 

2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 24-25).

Sagamore Hill and Roosevelt’s Political Career:

Roosevelt built his political career from Sagamore Hill, which remained his primary home 

beginning in the 1880s until the end of his life. In 1889, President Harrison appointed Roosevelt 

as a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, an office he retained until 1895, when he 

became the director of the New York City Police Department. In 1897, Roosevelt joined 

President McKinley’s administration as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt’s notoriety 

grew when he left Washington, D.C. to become colonel of a volunteer cavalry regiment during 

the Spanish-American War in 1898. His celebrated service made him a national hero with 

undeniable political appeal.

One month after his return from Cuba, the New York State Republican Party held the formal 

ceremony notifying Roosevelt of his nomination for governor in 1898 at Sagamore Hill. He 

won the election and served in Albany for two years, until the Republicans nominated him to 

run as McKinley’s Vice President in 1900. Once again, he accepted the nomination at his 

Oyster Bay house and kicked off his stump speeches for the election campaign from there. After McKinley’s assassination in September 1901, Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th 

President, and at the age of 43, the youngest person to achieve the office to date. Three years 

later, the country overwhelmingly elected him to a second term. His various public positions 

required his presence in many locations, including Albany, Manhattan, and Washington, D.C. 

Sagamore Hill served continuously as his family home and vacation from public affairs, and 

was also the location of important meetings and political work. He invited favored reporters to 

Sagamore Hill to view him at home with his family and gave them exclusive stories. On 

September 15, 1902, the first summer Roosevelt spent on Long Island as President, he opened 

the Sagamore Hill grounds to over 8,000 people from Oyster Bay and Nassau County. By the 

end of his presidency in 1909, Americans came to associate Sagamore Hill with Theodore 

Roosevelt (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 23,26).

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By making public his “strenuous life” at Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt hoped to model for an 

attentive nation not only the joys of a rich family life but also the benefits of a vigorous and 

close relationship with the natural environment. Roosevelt played hide-and-seek with the 

children in the barn, took them camping on nearby beaches, and played tennis with them. He 

also famously invited his guests to run down nearby Cooper’s Bluff with him for exercise. When a photographer visited Sagamore Hill in 1912 to take some of the earliest newsreels of a 

politician at home, Roosevelt insisted on being filmed playing with his dog and chopping wood. 

In later public addresses, Theodore expanded the definition of the strenuous life to encompass 

broader values, including devotion to family and playfulness in the home. As a major 

spokesman for the philosophy, Roosevelt helped to popularize the strenuous life and linked it 

with American efforts to become a world power (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 23-24).

Sagamore Hill served as the place where Roosevelt’s personal and political lives intersected 

with his conservation philosophy. The property nurtured and advanced his abiding interest in 

natural history and the environment. The choices he made concerning the uses of his land, the 

activities he embraced, the management of the landscape, and the implementation of 

technologies all reflected the personal conservation ethic that underlay the conservation policies 

he promoted and implemented throughout his public life. Roosevelt used his own activities and 

interests to gain publicity for natural history and the wilderness. An active member of the 

Audubon Society, Roosevelt also organized the Bird Club of Long Island. The vivid 

descriptions of the bird songs of Sagamore Hill in his autobiography illustrate his familiarity with 

the local avian population.

Sagamore Hill continued to inspire and encourage the conservation agenda that Roosevelt 

furthered as President. He and American conservationist Gifford Pinchot developed a national 

conservation policy while playing tennis and chopping wood during the latter’s frequent visits to 

the farm. The famous naturalist John Burroughs came to Sagamore Hill in 1907, four years 

after Roosevelt had toured Yellowstone National Park with him on a well-publicized campaign 

trip. The two men examined the nesting area of a family of high-holes in a cavity of an old 

apple tree, visited the pond where night herons lived, searched for bird life in a nearby clover 

meadow, and sat on the piazza and listened to bird songs. Later generations of conservationists 

made pilgrimages to Sagamore Hill to honor Roosevelt’s conservation legacy, such as Steward 

Udall, who would serve as President Kennedy’s Secretary of the Interior and was a devoted 

crusader for wilderness preservation (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 27).

Though the landscape of Sagamore Hill remained relatively constant during Roosevelt’s 

presidency, he did make slight modifications to enhance the capacity of the farm as a ‘summer 

White House.’ In 1905, he added the North Room to the house, prompted by the demands of 

public life that necessitated more space in which to entertain visiting dignitaries and conduct 

official business (Figure 15). However, in keeping with his general attitude of merging the 

public and private spheres of his life, Roosevelt also hosted family friends and displayed his 

private interests and pastimes in the North Room, rather than devoting it solely to state activities 

(National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 27).

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Figure 1. View looking southeast across the southeast field towards the old barn, prior to 

1904. The Roosevelts’ caretaker frequently planted corn and timothy in the southeast 

field (Sagamore Hill National Historic Site--hereafter SAHI--#1132, Box 6).

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Figure 2. View looking northeast at house, c. 1904. Note meadow in foreground and 

maintained lawn closer to house. Abundance of oxeye daisies inspired family to call this 

the “Daisy Meadow” (Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-23796).

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Figure 3. View looking northeast at the west facade of the stable and lodge, 1905. The 

carriage road/service road provided access to the building (SAHI, #1112, Box 6).

Figure 4. View looking northeast towards the house from the carriage road in 1905 

(SAHI, #1071, Box 5).

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Figure 5. View looking northwest at the porte-cochere, 1905. Plantings in this area include barberries at southwest and southeast corners of house, a yew at southwest 

corner, and a bridalwreath spirea south of library’s bay window (SAHI, #1123A, Box 6).

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Figure 6. Theodore Roosevelt walking along the circular drive in 1912. Note the stones 

along the edge of the driveway (Roosevelt at Home, Roosevelt Memorial Association, Inc.).

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Figure 7. Richard Derby Jr. (Theodore’s grandson) at the fenced chicken yard, circa 1918. Beginning in circa 1900 and continuing throughout their tenure, the Roosevelts 

maintained a chicken yard south of the chicken house (SAHI, #10097).

Figure 8. View looking southeast at the New Barn, shortly after its completion in 1907 

(SAHI, #1113, Box 6).

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Figure 9. Edith Roosevelt and a neighbor boy in front of the pet cemetery arbor, c.1901 

(SAHI, #1131, Box 6).

Figure 10. View looking northeast at Sagamore Hill, 1905, showing an American elm, center, and a Scotch elm, right, in the circular drive lawn (SAHI, #1117, Box 6).

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Figure 11. Aerial photograph from 1926 showing the various fields and the original orchard, top right. The house is near the center of the photograph, left of the curved 

entrance drive (Nassau County DPW-Drainage Section, Mineola, New York).

Figure 12. Pre-1907 view east across southeast field from windmill. Fences delineate 

north (on left) and south (on right) fields, which were used for grazing and hay 

production and likely had alternating crops of alfalfa and timothy (SAHI, #1135, Box 6).

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Figure 13. In the background is a simple wood bridge that crossed Eel Creek to access 

the beach along Cold Spring Harbor (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs 

Division, Edward S. Curtis Collection, LC-DIG-ppmsca-23801).

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Figure 14. Bathhouse at Cold Spring Harbor beach, circa 1917. Vegetation on the beach 

and marsh consisted of predominantly low-growing species adapted to the sandy soils 

(SAHI, Family Photo Album #7644).

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Figure 15. View looking southeast at Sagamore Hill, c.1922. Wisteria vines were trained 

to surround the windows on the west and north facades of the North Room (SAHI, #1149, Box 6).

SAGAMORE HILL AFTER THE PRESIDENCY, 1909–1919

Soon after Roosevelt’s presidency ended, several new projects were initiated at Sagamore Hill. 

In 1910 Roosevelt oversaw the construction of the Gray Cottage to house the valet, coachman, 

and their families. This two-story frame building was located southeast of the New Barn and 

accessed by a driveway that ended as a loop. In 1912, Roosevelt directed a local contractor 

named Hans Rude Jacobsen to build a more durable macadam-constructed entrance drive to 

the main house for motorized vehicles. The new Macadam Road was built southwest of the 

carriage road and passed over less-steep terrain to the south of the original road, but also made 

use of the part of the old carriage alignment. The drive included gutters, culverts, and wood 

retaining walls that were later replaced with stone walls (Figure 16) (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

43; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 25-26; Lee 2010: 55).

Sagamore Hill remained in the media spotlight long after Roosevelt left the Oval Office in 

March 1909. When he returned to the United States in June 1910 after a year-long African 

safari expedition, during which he collected specimens for the Smithsonian and the American 

Museum of Natural History, many Americans still considered him one of the nation’s most 

influential politicians. Roosevelt initially supported his Republican successor, William Howard 

Taft, but along with many of his Republican colleagues, soon became dissatisfied with Taft’s 

performance in office. Leaders of the Progressive Movement began arriving in Oyster Bay to 

meet with Roosevelt, and his early resolve not to speak to reporters about political issues 

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quickly dissipated. With the press describing the property as “a sort of Mecca” for politicians, Roosevelt’s return to the presidency began to seem a distinct possibility and Sagamore Hill 

once again served as a base for his political activities. During 1912, Roosevelt commuted from 

Sagamore Hill to New York City to campaign first for the Republican presidential nomination, which he failed to secure, and then as a Progressive Party candidate against Taft and the 

Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Over the course of that year, his property on Long Island became 

the informal headquarters for American Progressive reform. Though unsuccessful in the 1912 

election, the former president articulated a new political vision from Sagamore Hill that 

resonated for several generations (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 28).

Public events at Sagamore Hill diminished after the election, and Roosevelt spent much of his 

time focusing on writing and travel. During the 1914 political campaigns, he continued to work 

on behalf of the faltering Progressive Party and strongly criticized President Wilson’s foreign 

policy as World War I began, making Sagamore Hill a beacon for those Republicans who 

wanted the White House to take a more aggressive stance on national defense. Throughout 

1915 and 1916, Roosevelt honed his rapport with the press with an eye toward possibly running 

for president again. He allowed reporters to look at documents he was preparing and helped 

them to present news coverage favorable to him; in return, they kept him in the public eye 

through a constant flow of news from Sagamore Hill. As the United States struggled with 

problems of neutrality, Roosevelt spoke out for greater military preparedness and a defense of 

American maritime rights. In the end, he decided not to accept the Progressive Party’s 

nomination in 1916 and instead endorsed the Republican choice of Charles Evans Hughes, who 

failed to defeat Wilson (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 28).

After the American entry into World War I in April 1917, Roosevelt actively supported the war 

effort. However, conflicts between himself and President Wilson, among other developments, 

pointed toward the strong likelihood of a second Republican Party nomination for Roosevelt in 

1920. But other events in 1918 forestalled Roosevelt’s political plans; all four of his sons 

served overseas in World War I, and in the summer of 1918 Theodore and Edith received the 

news at Sagamore Hill that their youngest son, Quentin, had been shot down over enemy lines. 

The tragic loss left a lasting impact on Roosevelt’s health, and he spent much of the subsequent 

five months in and out of the hospital. He returned to Sagamore Hill for the Christmas holidays 

and continued to work on public issues, including a potential presidential campaign, from his 

office in the North Room (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 28-29).

Early on the morning of January 6, 1919, Roosevelt died at home, and two days later was 

buried nearby at Young’s Cemetery. Friends and family gathered at the house to remember 

him, along with the ubiquitous reporters who had chronicled his life for years. In October 1919, 

Ladies Home Journal published a eulogy to the great man titled “The Man Who Sleeps at 

Oyster Bay” that fittingly captured Roosevelt’s never-ending attachment to Sagamore Hill, the 

place where so many of the important events in his life occurred (National Register 2013, 

Draft, Sec. 8: 28-29). From its beginnings with the construction of the stable and lodge, the 

Sagamore Hill property now boasted the family’s home, a barn, agricultural outbuildings, several 

maintained fields, a thriving flower and vegetable garden, a road and trail system, and quarters 

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Figure 16. “Going to See Roosevelt,” May 27, 1916. The wood retaining walls along the 

entrance drive would later be replaced by dry-laid stone walls (SAHI, #13712).

EDITH ROOSEVELT, OLD ORCHARD, AND THE THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

ASSOCIATION, 1919–1962

Edith Carow Roosevelt was actively involved in the management the Sagamore Hill property 

from her arrival in 1887 to her death in 1948. Although Theodore laid out the farm and 

designed the home during his first marriage, he spent his life there with Edith, who managed the 

property and ensured that the family lived within their means. From the start of her marriage, 

Edith kept the farm account books, hired and fired the help, set their wages and salaries, and 

made the decisions that kept the house and farm running smoothly.

During the 32 years that Edith and Theodore occupied Sagamore Hill together, Edith managed 

the property's day-to-day operations, leaving Theodore free to pursue his political and literary 

ambitions. As noted earlier, when the old barn collapsed in 1904, Edith supervised the 

construction of the New Barn on the model of the old. She may also have taken the lead role 

in the construction of the North Room addition to the house in 1905. As the Roosevelt family’s 

popularity increased following Theodore’s election to the presidency, she took efforts to ensure 

the family a degree of privacy, such as having chains placed across entrance roads and trails. 

To decorate the exterior of the house, Edith oversaw the planting of wisteria and clematis vines, 

supervised the planting of a flower garden, a rose bower, and arbors on the surrounding 

grounds. In 1911, Edith and the family gardener planted Gracie’s Grove, a stand of pines 

commemorating the birth of their first grandchild (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 28).

After Theodore’s death, Edith continued to oversee the property in an environment much 

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different than that witnessed by her and her husband in the 1880s. With the rise of estate 

towns outside the metropolis of New York City, communities on Long Island such as Oyster 

Bay began incorporating to provide municipal services for the growing populations. As the 

“Gold Coast” of Long Island attracted more wealthy New Yorkers escaping their city 

townhouses, lands surrounding Sagamore Hill transitioned from a rural landscape into a 

loosely-populated residential landscape. The small community of which Sagamore Hill was a 

part, named Cove Neck, incorporated in April 1927 for this very reason. As she had done since 

1887, Edith continued to hire gardeners and caretakers to carry on the work of the farm, 

although agriculture became limited to the area immediately surrounding the core of the 

property. With the decline of farming on the remainder of the acreage, many fields began to 

revert to forest (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 108,118,120).

Modifications to the landscape surrounding Sagamore Hill continued during Edith Roosevelt’s 

tenure. In 1947, after a fire destroyed the stable and lodge, the New Barn was converted to a 

garage and caretaker’s residence. Aerial photographs also document several smaller buildings 

within this period that contributed to the agricultural operations of the property including a cow 

shed located north of the farm shed, a small chicken house, a privy at the Gray Cottage, and 

two small sheds northwest of the gardener’s shed. It appears that Edith also had the windmill 

removed during this period, possibly as a result of utility improvements in the surrounding area 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 112,114-15).

Edith also presided over one of the greatest alterations to the landscape since Theodore’s 

construction of the house in 1885. The couple’s son, Theodore Jr., and his wife Eleanor had 

sought the title to the Sagamore Hill property as a permanent residence, but Edith chose to stay 

(the title for the land did not transfer from Edith until 1945, a year after Theodore Jr.’s death). 

Instead, Edith gave the couple four acres on which to build their own home at the orchard, 

roughly between the main house and the beach (Figure 17). Theodore Jr. and Eleanor 

completed their house in 1938, naming it Old Orchard. Their large two-story red-brick 

residence was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Theodore Jr.’s son-in-law, William 

McMillan. Despite its imposition into the site of the old orchard, the new residence blended 

with the topography as the family chose to set the garden façade and French door at existing 

grade. However, its construction required the removal of an unknown number of apple trees. 

Many of those that remained were damaged or destroyed in an ice storm around 1940. 

Proximate to the house were several support buildings, including a six-bay garage with a 

second-story living quarters, a small garage shed, a foreman’s cottage, and a concrete cold 

cellar. In 1938, Theodore Jr. oversaw the construction of an access road from Cove Road to 

Old Orchard, which made use of an existing dirt farm road north of the flower and vegetable 

garden (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 29,34; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 111-12,120).

Edith Roosevelt died in September of 1948. Soon after, a commemorative group began 

negotiations with the Roosevelt family to purchase and preserve Sagamore Hill. Several 

friends and supporters of Theodore had founded a group called the Roosevelt Permanent 

Memorial National Committee when he died in 1919. Congress recognized the organization as 

the non-profit Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) in 1920, tasking it to establish, among 

other tasks, a park in Oyster Bay, New York to commemorate Theodore Roosevelt. The RMA 

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entered negotiations with the Roosevelt family in 1948 and settled on a sale price in 1950, 

transferring the title that year (exclusive of the Old Orchard estate). The RMA began 

immediate repairs and rehabilitation at the main house, repairing the exterior and installing 

up-to-date heating and electricity in the interior from 1950 to 1951, and converted the ice house 

into public restroom facilities. Due to failed negotiations with the residents of Cove Neck, 

however, the park did not open to the public until 1953 when the RMA negotiated a deal with 

Nassau County approving road maintenance by the county and not the municipality. That same 

year, the RMA changed its name to the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), which 

continued the work of opening Sagamore Hill to the public. With a dedication ceremony led by 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the park opened to the public on June 14, 1953 (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 133,139).

To accommodate this new function, the TRA and Nassau County made improvements to the 

property. In 1953, Nassau County constructed the Sagamore Hill Road in the far west part of 

the property, generally following the route of the old service road through a series of long 

curves before terminating near Edith’s gardens. Here, the county constructed a 150-car 

parking lot, which necessitated the removal of not only most of the garden but a cow shed and 

small chicken house in 1954. In 1956, the TRA constructed a ten-foot wide pedestrian path 

leading from the parking lot to the Macadam Road east of the house, and built a 

concessioner-run souvenir shop designed by Architect Piers Brookfield. Also, sometime 

between 1956 and 1962, the TRA constructed a garage next to the Gray Cottage, which the 

TRA rented to a tenant who maintained the grounds. To the southwest of the main house in 

1953, the Nassau County Council of the Boy Scouts of America erected a flagpole. Finally, in 

1956 the gravemarker for Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore and Edith’s youngest son who died in 

France in 1918 while serving in World War I, was relocated from France to Sagamore Hill. 

The limestone marker was dedicated next to the flagpole in 1956, and in 1959 a bronze plaque 

and fieldstone paving were added here (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 136-37,139-40).

Throughout the TRA’s tenure as the site manager at Sagamore Hill, several trees and shrubs 

were added and agricultural features were removed. Ornamental trees were planted included 

flowering cherry, magnolia, and flowering crabapple trees. Kwanzan cherries surrounded the 

parking area and crabapple trees lined the new walk between the house and parking lot. They 

also maintained the remnants of the gardens with a rotation of flowers and trees, replacing 

them each year or as the plants died. However, the TRA did not maintain the property as a 

working farm as Theodore Roosevelt had done. Many of the fields that had begun their 

succession to woodlands while Edith was still alive were overgrown by the end of the 1950s 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 144-45,149-50).

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Figure 17. Aerial photograph from 1940 showing the Old Orchard estate, lower right. 

Sagamore Hill is at lower left (SAHI Archives).

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, 1963–PRESENT

The National Park Service assumed stewardship of Sagamore Hill in 1963 following passage of 

Public Law 87-547 on July 25, 1962. The law authorized the Secretary of the Interior to 

acquire both the Sagamore Hill property and Theodore Roosevelt’s birthplace (a townhouse in 

New York City) in order to preserve resources associated with the life of the former president. 

In 1963, three years after Eleanor died (Theodore Jr. died in 1944), the TRA purchased the Old 

Orchard estate with the intent to use it as museum exhibit space. However, the TRA donated 

Old Orchard, as well as the entire 78-acre Sagamore Hill property, to the National Park Service 

that year before plans were implemented (Public Law 87-547, 1962: 1; Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 139).

The early years of National Park Service management focused on rehabilitating existing 

structures for park uses. As the TRA had envisioned, the first floor of Old Orchard was 

transformed into a museum in 1966, providing interpretive and educational opportunities to the 

public. The park adapted the foreman’s cottage and Gray Cottage to serve as residences for 

park staff, and rehabilitated the Old Orchard garage into a maintenance garage. A 

concessioner continued to operate the souvenir shop that later became the park’s visitor center. The only new building added by the park was a kiosk constructed at the entrance to the parking 

lot in 1968 for visitor orientation. In 1971, the park reconstructed the windmill that had been on 

the site during the Roosevelt tenure, and by 1988 had built a bridge across Eel Creek. In 1989, 

the park permitted the construction of a memorial rose garden to Jessica Craft, their first 

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curator, in 1989. However, as the garden was increasingly difficult to maintain and encroached 

on the historic flower and vegetable garden from the Roosevelt period, it was removed by 2007 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 173,175).

Two important events related to land management and preservation occurred at the park. The 

first took place five years after the establishment of the park when the National Park Service 

designated 32 acres of Sagamore Hill as a Natural Environmental Study Area to preserve 

habitat for plant and animal life in the surrounding area. This not only preserved both natural 

and cultural resources within the eastern, undeveloped portion of the park but continued 

Roosevelt’s tradition of nature conservation at his historic home. The second occurred in 1985 

when five acres of land at the northeast corner of the property was transferred from the Trust 

for Public Land to the National Park Service. This acquisition eliminated the threat of suburban 

construction that would have been clearly visible from within the park (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

159,164-65; Kaufman 2007: 180-81,186).

Seeking to preserve and enhance the integrity of the landscape to the Roosevelt period, the 

park began managing the vegetation around the farm grounds more intensively beginning in the 

1990s. Due to decreased maintenance of the agricultural landscape since Edith Roosevelt’s 

death in 1948, most of the formerly open agricultural areas were covered by over 40 years of 

woodland growth. In addition, ongoing development of residential areas surrounding the park 

began encroaching on other viewsheds (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 185).

The publication of resource management documents in the 1990s aided the park in securing 

project funding to address the backlog of landscape maintenance and treatment needs. To 

guide these actions, the park completed its Resource Management Plan in 1992, which called 

for a renewed inventory and assessment of the park’s historic and cultural landscape. That 

same year, the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation completed a report on tree 

preservation, maintenance, and propagation for the historic site. This documentation was 

followed by the first volume of a Cultural Landscape Report in 1995 and a second volume in 

1998 that called for the re-establishment of compatible uses at Sagamore Hill, including 

agricultural use in the overgrown pastures and fields surrounding Sagamore Hill. The report 

also called on the park to remove non-historic vegetation dating from after the death of 

Theodore Roosevelt in 1919 (Bellavia and Curry 1995; Bellavia and Uschold 1998; Kaufman 

2007: 267,282).

The park carried out several landscape rehabilitation projects through the 1990s. In 1991, 

arborists from the Long Island Arboricultural Association removed eight hazardous trees near 

the main house. In 1993, the park won a competition sponsored by Monsanto and received 

$20,000 in maintenance funds, which was used to reopen the carriage road as a trail and clear 

the historic tennis courts. By 1996, the Olmsted Center began propagating 

historically-important trees in cooperation with the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, and conducted 

a field project that removed dead and dying trees, and pruned badly overgrown trees. In 1999, 

the town of Oyster Bay loaned the park their tree-maintenance crew to clear away non-historic 

trees and brush from the west lawn (Kaufman 2007: 280-82).

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Beginning in 2004, the park began preparation of a General Management Plan (GMP) to serve 

as the new guiding document for planning and management at the park for the next twenty 

years. In support of the GMP, preliminary research to update the National Register explored 

the roles of Edith Carow Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and the development of the 

Old Orchard estate. As a result of this research, the GMP clearly articulated a period of 

historical significance for Sagamore Hill, with the period beginning in 1884 with the construction 

of the stable and lodge and ending in 1948 with the death of Edith Carow Roosevelt. Following 

the approval of the GMP in March 2008, the Olmsted Center prepared an updated Cultural 

Landscape Treatment Plan to inform the retention, enhancement, and reestablishment of the 

landscape’s historic character as it developed through 1948 (GMP 1998; Layton and Brown 

2010).

Prior to completion of the updated treatment plan, a storm in the winter of 2005–2006 toppled 

the Cousins’ Beech, a large European beech that stood near the northeast boundary of 

Sagamore Hill, on a hill overlooking Cold Spring Harbor. Though the park replaced the tree in 

kind and location, the propagule died in summer of 2011. For visitor safety, the park removed a 

large red maple from a picnic area located to the west of visitor contact station in 2005. 

Between 2005 and 2006, the park installed a stonedust path across the pasture connecting Old 

Orchard and the visitor parking lot. As part of a Federal Highway Administration project, the 

park resurfaced the Macadam Road in 2008, followed by another project that reset the dry-laid 

stone retaining wall and removed woody vegetation near the top of the wall (Layton and Brown 

2010: 60,62,71-73; E-mail correspondence with Amy Verone, 2/7/2013).

With guidance from the finalized updated treatment plan, the park has in recent years 

undertaken several projects to restore the landscape to the Roosevelt period, removing 

successional vegetation and rehabilitating circulation routes and small-scale features. An Eagle 

Scout project added two stiles along the pasture fence in 2009. That same year, the park 

worked with the Historic Preservation Training Center to rehabilitate the brick paving under the 

porte-cochere. The park also planted 40 new apple trees and 3 new pear trees in the historic 

orchard in 2010 to reestablish the geometric form of a feature from the Roosevelts’ working 

agricultural landscape. In 2011, the park removed a non-historic metal arbor and wood bench 

configuration at the pet cemetery and replaced them with a new arbor and benches that are 

compatible in scale, form, and materials with historic images of those features. They also 

removed woody vegetation from historic fields and reconstructed fence lines throughout the 

property. Additionally, the park contracted with a company to complete the removal of 2.17 

acres of successional woody vegetation from historic fields and the installation of 613 linear 

feet of historic fence lines to improve the delineation of agricultural spaces from the Roosevelt 

tenure (e-mail correspondence with Layton, 12-6-2012).

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Analysis & Evaluation of Integrity

Analysis and Evaluation of Integrity Narrative Summary:

Landscape characteristics identified for Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS) include natural 

systems and features, spatial organization, land use, topography, vegetation, circulation, buildings and 

structures, views and vistas, small-scale features, and archeological sites. Of these, natural systems 

and features, vegetation, circulation, buildings and structures, and views and vistas are the most 

important characteristics and include features that contribute to the site’s overall historic character. The features that contribute were either present during the period of significance or are in-kind 

replacements of such historic elements.

The physical integrity of the Sagamore Hill landscape is evaluated by comparing landscape 

characteristics and features present during the period of significance (1885–1948) with current 

conditions. Many of the historic characteristics and features still remain today. The natural systems, 

topography, and native vegetation that initially drew Theodore Roosevelt to the property still survive. Landscape features including the field patterns, woodlands, ponds, and Cold Spring Harbor beach 

retain their appearance from the time of the family’s occupancy. The main house (1885) on the hill, 

the most important building associated with Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, has been preserved and 

opened for tours, and is still surrounded by trees, shrubs, and lawns. The stable and lodge building was 

lost in a 1944 fire, but most of the other buildings and structures associated with the Roosevelts remain, 

including the ice house, pump house, gardener’s shed, farm shed, chicken house, Gray Cottage, and the 

New Barn. The Old Orchard house (1938), part of the estate of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his wife 

Eleanor, is now a museum while other support buildings of the Old Orchard property are utilized for 

park operations. Although no longer used, the Macadam Road and circular drive that end under the 

house’s porte-cochere still remain, and traces of the old carriage road, service road, and farm roads 

are still visible. Unique small-scale features such the Sagamore Hill rock, pet cemetery stone, and 

rocks along the circular drive also remain in the landscape. Paths and trails traverse the grounds and 

into the woodlands, offering views of the historic fence lines and fields that complemented this rural 

country home.

Since 1948, Sagamore Hill has not functioned as a working farm, which has allowed successional 

vegetation to encroach on the formerly open fields and create an increased sense of enclosure. The 

property’s historic sweeping views of Oyster Bay Harbor to the west and Long Island Sound to the 

south are now obscured by vegetation growth on neighboring properties. In the 1950s, the Theodore 

Roosevelt Association transformed this private property into a public park, adding several features 

related to visitor services. A new entrance road, parking lot, and souvenir shop were built, displacing 

much of the flower and vegetable garden and several outbuildings. The National Park Service has 

retained many of these additions, and now uses the souvenir shop as a visitor center. Some historic 

trees have been lost to old age or removed due to hazardous conditions. Since the mid-1990s, the park 

has completed several projects of clearing woodlands in order to reclaim and redefine the historic open 

spaces. Despite the changes in land use and the addition of visitor services, the Sagamore Hill 

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INTEGRITY

Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance. A property must not only be significant 

under National Register of Historic Places criteria, but it also must have integrity. The evaluation of 

integrity is sometimes subjective, but it must always be based on an understanding of the physical form 

of the property and how it relates to the significance. In this case, Sagamore Hill NHS must retain the 

physical form from 1885–1948, the years Theodore and Edith Roosevelt were associated with the site. The Sagamore Hill NHS landscape retains overall historical integrity in terms of its location, design, 

setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

Location:

Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event 

occurred. None of the buildings at Sagamore Hill have been moved or relocated, and most of the 

character-defining features have not been relocated. The original location of the character-defining 

features of the landscape are important to recapture the historic character related to Roosevelt during 

his tenure.

Design:

Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a 

property. Although Sagamore Hill was not a “designed” landscape, conscious decisions made to 

maintain the place as a working farm influenced the form of the property during the period of 

significance. The Roosevelt home, as a resource in and of itself, retains integrity of design and has 

been preserved in its original form as designed by Lamb & Rich (and the later addition by Grant 

LaFarge). The development of the Old Orchard estate, directed by Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. between 

1937 and 1938, also retains integrity of design. Construction of the parking lot, county road, and 

souvenir shop (now visitor center) modified the organization, proportion, materials, and style of the 

property. As a result of this development, the historic function of the farm is not prominent, but the 

underlying form of the farm has been retained. Most of the buildings have been maintained in their 

historic condition and mature vegetation around the house and in the woodlands still exists. The pet 

cemetery rock, split rail fences, retaining walls, and parts of the circulation system also have been 

maintained.

Setting:

Setting is the physical environment of a historic property. The character of the surrounding landscape, 

although no longer agricultural, is primarily estate land consisting of large tracts of woodlands and 

residential homes. The village of Cove Neck is still somewhat isolated. Physical features that 

constitute the setting of the historic property include topography, pasture, woodlands, beach, 

relationship between historic buildings, and circulation systems. Although the amount of open space on 

the site today has decreased compared to the period of significance and detracts from the agricultural 

setting, the overall rural character of the property and surrounding landscape is still present.

Materials:

Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time 

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and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Integrity of materials is evident 

in the extant buildings and structures, as well as individual trees, fruit trees, shrubs, and planting beds. 

However, some original materials related to the circulation system and vegetation features in the 

garden have been lost.

Workmanship:

Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given 

period in history or prehistory. The extant buildings and structures at the site reflect the construction 

efforts of John A. Wood & Son, the various caretakers at the site, and other builders who completed 

projects for the Roosevelt family.

Feeling:

Feeling is a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. Feeling is achieved when historic physical features are present and together convey the historic 

character. The underlying form of the nineteenth and early-twentieth century working farm is 

retained, as are later developments that reflect the transition to a country estate in the 1930s.

Association:

Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property. 

Sagamore Hill was where Roosevelt lived for thirty-five years, where he raised his children, conducted 

Presidential business, worked and played, and died. His love for the site, the woodlands, beach, 

wildlife and plant habitats, farm, and views is evident in the documentation. The association between 

Roosevelt and the landscape is evident in the documentation of his life on the farm and outdoors at 

Sagamore Hill. He took part in many outdoor activities including haying, chopping wood, rowing on the 

harbor, riding through the woodlands, and sitting many nights on the piazza gazing across the landscape 

watching the sunset. The fact that he paid farm managers year-round to maintain the farm indicates 

the importance of its function to Roosevelt and his family. There are several extant physical features 

that also directly relate to historic events, including the piazza where he officially was notified of his 

nominations for Governor, Vice President, and President, and the North Room where he met with 

Russian and Japanese envoys in an attempt to bring them together in peace. Sagamore Hill retains 

built and natural features from the Roosevelt tenure that connect to the family and the important 

events that occurred at the property.

Landscape Characteristic:

This section presents an analysis of landscape characteristics and their associated features and 

corresponding List of Classified Structures names and numbers, if applicable. It also includes an 

evaluation of whether the feature contributes to the property’s National Register eligibility for 

the historic period (1885–1948), contributes to the property’s historic character, or if it is 

noncontributing, undetermined, or managed as a cultural resource. Information for this section is 

extracted primarily from the 1995 “Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill National 

Historic Site, Vol. 1: Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis” by Regina M. Bellavia and 

George W. Curry, and the 2010 “Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill National 

Historic Site, Vol. 2: Treatment” by Timothy Layton and Margie Coffin Brown. In the tables of 

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features below, those identified with a (*) are described in National Register documentation.

Natural Systems and Features

Historic and Existing Conditions: 

Sagamore Hill’s natural systems and features attracted Theodore Roosevelt to Cove Neck and 

the home and farm he named Sagamore Hill. The site is located within the Long Island Coastal 

Lowland and Moraine Subsection of the North Atlantic Coast Ecoregion. The underlying 

bedrock is largely Cretaceous-age strata overlaid with glacial till, over which are soils that 

transition from beach sand along Cold Spring Harbor, to Pawcatuck mucky peat, and to a series 

of sandy loams as the elevation increases farther inland (Vegetation Classification 2008: 5-8). 

The close proximity of beaches, woodlands, and abundant wildlife were an important reason 

Roosevelt stayed at the property throughout his life. Eight-hundred feet of beach comprised the 

eastern boundary of his 87-acre property. Running almost parallel to the north-south beach line 

were a salt water marsh and a drainage named Eel Creek. Farther uphill to the west was a 

small spring-fed pond called Lower Lake (sometimes referred to as Heron Lake). In the 

northeast corner of the garden was Woodpile Pond, and to the east near the north boundary of 

the property was a small spring. Relying on these natural systems for survival were many plant 

and animal species that Roosevelt recorded on the grounds of Sagamore Hill. Theodore 

observed at least 42 bird species within the surrounding woodlands and pastures. He and his 

family also documented many smaller plants including bloodroot, mayflower, shadblow, 

anemone, cherry, apple, dogwood, lily, cardinal flower, marshmallow, pale beach rosemary, 

goldenrod, and aster (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 24-25).

The beach today is dominated by American beachgrass and northern bayberry, although there 

is encroachment from invasive woody vegetation such as black locust. Eel Creek and the tidal 

marsh provide a unique habitat between the beach and woodlands, although the southern 

portion of the creek and marsh is dominated by phragmites that if left unchecked may increase 

sedimentation in the marsh, alter the flow of the creek, and reduce plant species diversity that 

contributes to a variety of wildlife (Figure 18). The spring located in the woodlands no longer 

exists, but Lower Lake is still present and subject to fluctuating seasonal water levels. The 

area surrounding the lake supports understory shrub species, like winterberry, that are not found 

in other locations in the woodlands as well as invasive non-native species like multiflora rose 

and Asiatic bittersweet. Woodpile Pond, while still present, receives runoff from the visitor 

parking lot and development on adjacent property, which has threatened the quality of the water 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 162,223; Layton and Brown 2010: 63-65).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: Cold Spring Harbor Beach *

Feature Identification Number: 169455

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

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 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Eel Creek *

Feature Identification Number: 169457

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Lower Lake *

Feature Identification Number: 169459

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Woodpile Pond *

Feature Identification Number: 169461

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Landscape Characteristic Graphics:

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Figure 18. View looking east at the reconstructed boardwalk 275 feet south of the historic 

bridge location. This photograph was taken prior to severe damage from Hurricane Sandy 

in October 2012 (OCLP, DSC_0260, 2012).

Spatial Organization

Historic Condition:

Sagamore Hill was separated spatially into four major spaces: the house lot, working farm, 

woodlands, and beach. The house lot was the highest point on the property, and was where 

Theodore had the house constructed so as to take advantage of the outward views. Scattered 

trees helped shade three sides of the house and visually separated it from the surrounding farm, 

while the west side was more open and sloped down into an expansive lawn area defined by 

the service road and woodlands to the south, west, and north. The Roosevelts used an open 

space in the southwest corner of the house lot for playing tennis. The carriage road and later 

the Macadam Road separated the house lot from the working farm area to the east, which 

consisted of various farm buildings, fields, and fence lines. To the northeast of the house lot 

were the parallel rows of plants in the flower and vegetable garden, while to the southeast of 

the house lot was the target and rifle pit situated in a natural ravine. An orchard comprised the 

westernmost space associated with the farm area. The remainder of the Roosevelt property 

was comprised of woodlands and the beach (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 80-83,224).

Although the four major spaces were maintained during Mrs. Roosevelt’s tenure, some of the 

spatial relationships changed with the construction and demolition of buildings, the growth of 

vegetation, and changes in land use. In the orchard area, the Roosevelts’ youngest son, Theodore Jr., constructed a house and associated buildings in 1938, naming the four-acre estate 

Old Orchard. Though many of the fruit trees and the organization of the orchard remained, the 

new development disrupted the historic character of this formerly agricultural space. At the 

same time, an entrance road was built to access Old Orchard, which divided the flower and 

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vegetable garden into two parts. In 1947 the stable and lodge was destroyed by fire, leaving a 

void in this area (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 121-123).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

The transition of the property from a working farm and country home into a park by the 

Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in the 1950s affected some of the spaces at Sagamore 

Hill. In the farm area, the TRA oversaw construction of a parking lot and access road, souvenir shop, as well as development of a newer and smaller garden space. Several new 

ornamental vegetation species were also introduced throughout the property. Successional 

woodlands began to take hold along fence lines and field edges, gradually reducing the amount 

of open space. These processes continued after the National Park Service began managing the 

property in 1962, but have recently been addressed. Despite the changes in vegetation and the 

overlay of developments, the overall spatial organization remains intact (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 150-152,194-197,224; Layton and Brown 2010: 50-54).

Land Use

Historic Condition:

One of Theodore Roosevelt’s principle reasons for settling at Sagamore Hill was its agricultural 

landscape. When he purchased the property in the 1880s, he acquired productive farmland with 

associated buildings and structures that could maintain the land’s agricultural function. In 

keeping with his aspirations for a “strenuous life,” Roosevelt hired a farm manager to oversee 

cattle, pigs, and horses as well as nearly forty acres of pasture, cropland, and orchard spaces. 

He occasionally worked in the fields alongside his farmhands. The surrounding woodlands 

were used as recreational areas conducive of riding, walking, bird-watching, camping, and 

shooting, while the beach provided opportunities for sunbathing, rowing, and swimming. After 

the Roosevelt tenure, the agricultural use of the land shifted toward that of a public park. The 

active management of agricultural open spaces ceased and allowed the growth of successional 

woodlands to begin (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 105; National Register 2013, Draft: Sec. 8: 23).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

After Edith Roosevelt’s death in 1948, the TRA transformed the landscape from what had been 

a modestly productive agricultural complex into a public park. Farming and gardening ended in 

favor of ornamentation, traffic management, and historical interpretation and education. The 

National Park Service has continued this legacy, preserving, and in some cases rehabilitating, 

the agricultural landscape but not the agricultural use (Layton and Brown 2010: 15,51-60).

Topography

Historic Condition:

Theodore Roosevelt built his home on the highest point on Cove Neck. From the house 

location, at around 168 feet, the landform sloped down on three sides and with a gentle, rolling 

grade towards the coast to the east. A hillock upon which the orchard was located interrupted 

this grade. A ravine began southeast of the house, running south and east off the property, and 

is where Theodore and his family would take target practice. The construction of Sagamore 

Hill house in the mid-1880s, and the Old Orchard house and entrance road in the late 1930s, 

required some grading, but their impacts were minor relative to the broader landscape. North 

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of Roosevelt’s house was a glacial kettle hole called “Devil’s Punch Bowl” where the 

Roosevelts frequently skied (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 25-26).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

There have been minimal topographic changes to the property since minor grading associated 

with the construction of Sagamore Hill Road and the parking lot in the 1950s. Erosion has been 

minimal, though filling in of a drainage leading out of the north boundary has caused issues with 

the water level of Woodpile Pond. Present elevation change is from sea level up to 168 feet 

(Vegetation Classification 2008: 5; Layton and Brown 2010: 62,65,74).

Vegetation

Historic Condition:

By the time Theodore and Edith Roosevelt occupied Sagamore Hill, the vegetation of the 

property had already undergone a transition as a result of European colonization. Farm fields 

filled with English clover and bluegrasses met forests filled with native oak, maple, and pine. 

Woodlands surrounded the working farm during Roosevelt’s tenure, containing oak, chestnut, 

hickory, linden, locust, tulip-tree, and beech, including an unusually large beech near the north 

property boundary, named “Cousins’ Beech.” The understory vegetation in the woodlands 

included: bloodroot, mayflower, shadblow, anemone, dogwood, pipsissewa, laurel, lily, cardinal 

flower, pale beach rosemary, goldenrod, and aster. Farthest east on the beach were eel grass 

and a few evergreen trees. The landscape contained a mixture of native North American and 

naturalized European plants that conveyed a history of rapid transition in the seventeenth and 

eighteenth centuries that had stabilized by the late-1800s (Cronon 1983: 19-33; Crosby 1986: 

146-170; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 55).

When the Roosevelts occupied the farm, they installed new trees and shrubs in proximity to the 

house, such as white pine, Canadian hemlock, European beech, red cedar, white oak, and elm. 

Within the lawn in the center of the circular drive, they planted American elm, Scotch elm, and 

tulip poplar, and another American elm to anchor the southwest corner of the house. Primarily 

the south side of the house, the Roosevelts also planted shrubs such as bridalwreath spirea, 

barberry, viburnum, and yew as well as autumn olive, Japanese barberry, umbrella magnolia, 

California privet, lilac, and Japanese honeysuckle. Boston ivy covered the north façade of the 

house until 1905 when the family added the North Room. Shortly after its completion, the 

Roosevelts planted wisteria vines that covered the North Room as well as two portions of the 

piazza, and the wall beneath the bay window on the south side of the house. Fiveleaf akebia 

grew on the porte-cochere, while climbing roses, clematis, and moonflower vines were trained 

on the arbors at the pet cemetery and garden. Lawns provided the backdrop for the trees, 

shrubs, and vines, the largest of which was the west lawn that extended from the house toward 

the southwest corner of the property. Grass nearest the house was cut shorter than areas 

down the hill, which was allowed to grow into meadow that features oxeye daisies (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 57-65; Layton and Brown 2010: 41,44,49).

The Roosevelts’ gardener and farm staff cultivated several acres of flowers and vegetables. A 

3.2-acre flower and vegetable garden to provide produce for the family and contained fruits, 

vegetables, and also annual and perennial flowers for cutting. Fruit trees included peach, plum, 

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pear, raspberry, and cherry, and vines included Concord, Niagara, Catawba, and Delaware 

grapes. Vegetables ranged from corn, beans, potatoes, and beets to carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, 

and asparagus. Edith also maintained an array of flowers for cutting including black-eyed 

Susans, bellflowers, sunflowers, and roses, as well as two boxwood cuttings from the Lincoln 

Memorial (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 72).

Beyond the garden were the fields maintained by the family and the grounds superintendent. 

There were four main crop fields that generally ran west to east along the southern tier of the 

property. Though the westernmost three do not appear to have been named, the Roosevelts 

sometimes referred to the easternmost field as the pasture, or cow pasture. To the north of the 

garden was a fifth field, named Smith’s field. The fields yielded crops such as grain, timothy, 

and corn. The Roosevelts used three of the fields, one where the New Barn was located, and 

those south and east of it, for grazing and haying. The family also maintained the orchard that 

had been present prior to their purchase of the property. Though the exact number of trees is 

unknown, records show it was a rectangular space aligned southwest-to-northeast, bounded by 

a fence line shared with the pasture to the west and woodlands on the remaining three sides. It 

contained apple, pear, and peach trees. The construction of Old Orchard estate in 1938 

required the removal of a significant number of trees in the orchard (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

56,71-72,78; Layton and Brown 2010: 52-54,59).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

Vegetation has been introduced and removed since 1948. On the grounds around the main 

house several historic trees remain, including European beeches, red cedar, and white oak, as 

well as several Canadian hemlocks and white pines that are potentially historic. A white oak, present when Roosevelt purchased the property in 1880, still stands near the service road. A 

purple beech east of the porte-cochere and an American elm and a sugar maple near the North 

Room are still present from the Roosevelt tenure. There are also many non-historic shade and 

ornamental trees that were added by the TRA in the 1950s, including dogwoods, maples, and 

locusts. In the location of the historic elm at the southwest corner of the house, there is now a 

honeylocust tree. The original trees within the circular drive lawn are no longer present, having 

been replaced by two cherry trees planted by Japanese Premier Nobusuke Kishi in 1957. In 

2011, the park completed the removal of 0.87 acres of successional woody vegetation from the 

west lawn and the area is now comprised of warm season native grasses and forbs as well as 

oxeye daisies (Figure 19). A woodland area occupies the southwest corner of the property 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 62-65; Layton and Brown 2010: 41,43,45-46).

Shrubs are mostly non-historic replacements, with the exception of groups of privets on the 

north side of the house. Other non-historic additions include barberry, mockorange, and lilac on 

the south side of the house and groups of forsythia, spirea, barberry, lilac, and yew north of the 

house. Planted during the TRA’s tenure at the park, plants such as pieris, leucothoe, and 

forsythia surround the ice house. Littleleaf holly and yew planted by the TRA surround the 

visitor center, and other miscellaneous non-historic shrubs surround the New Barn and Gray 

Cottage. Most of the historic vines have been lost. Climbing roses grow on the pet cemetery 

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arbor, wisteria grows near the southeast corner of the porte-cochere, and invasive vines such 

as Asiatic bittersweet and poison ivy grow in the woodlands. Vines which historically grew on 

the Theodore Roosevelt home were removed, presumably during the NPS period, for 

preservation purposes (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 62-65,189; Layton and Brown 2010: 

41,43,45-46).

Construction of a new entrance road and visitor parking lot in the early 1950s by the TRA 

bisected the flower and vegetable garden. Several areas of the original garden were salvaged 

and developed into a smaller garden that now contains ornamental shrubs such as slender 

deutzia, common lilac, Bumald spirea, Carolina allspice, weigela, and beautybush. A few 

perennials and bulbs have been planted in the foreground of the planting beds. A Kwanzan 

cherry and a crabapple border what remains of the historic garden pathways. One of the two 

“Lincoln Boxwoods,” located west of the entrance road, still exists. The construction of the 

visitor parking lot included the planting of cherry trees that now line the garden to the south. In 

1990, the Horticultural Society constructed a memorial rose garden in memory of the park’s 

first curator, located west of the parking lot. However, the park removed the garden in 2007 

due to its encroachment on the historic core of the property (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 240-43; 

Layton and Brown 2010: 50-52,59).

Cultivation of fields ended after Edith Roosevelt’s death, allowing successional forest growth to 

gradually take over. As a result, the farm fields (named Southeast, South, and North in CLR, 

Vol. 2) do not follow the boundaries maintained during the Roosevelt tenure. Between 2010 

and 2011, the park completed the removal of 2.24 acres of successional woody vegetation from 

the historic fields to improve the delineation of agricultural spaces from the Roosevelt tenure. 

The pasture retains its boundaries and is generally open, but has been bisected by a stone-dust 

path connecting the parking lot and Old Orchard (Figure 20). Smith’s field, now mostly outside 

the park’s boundary, is overgrown. Sections of the orchard were retained following the 

construction of Old Orchard and the entry road in 1938. In 2010, the park planted 40 new 

apple trees and 3 new pear trees to reestablish the geometric form of the orchard (Kaufman 

2007, 181; Bellavia and Curry 1995: 240-43; Werier 2006: 17-18,32-33; Layton and Brown 

2010: 50-52,59).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: North Field *

Feature Identification Number: 169463

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Orchard *

Feature Identification Number: 169465

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Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Outer Acreage Woodlands *

Feature Identification Number: 169467

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Cow Pasture *

Feature Identification Number: 169469

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Sagamore Hill Trees in Open Lawn *

Feature Identification Number: 169471

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: South Field *

Feature Identification Number: 169473

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Southeast Field *

Feature Identification Number: 169475

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

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Feature: West Lawn *

Feature Identification Number: 169477

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Flower and Vegetable Garden *

Feature Identification Number: 169479

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Landscape Characteristic Graphics:

Figure 19. View looking east at the west lawn and Sagamore Hill (SAHI, 2004).

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Figure 20. View looking northeast at the pasture, tree line, and fence. In the distance are the garage and foreman’s cottage built in 1938 as part of the Old Orchard estate (OCLP, 

DSC_0337, 2012).

Circulation

Historic Condition:

A circa 1880 sketch of the 155-acre property drawn by Theodore Roosevelt indicates several 

farm roads connecting the existing agricultural fields. At that time, the roads were compacted 

soil and just wide enough for a carriage and farm equipment to pass through. Roosevelt 

retained the farm’s original entrance road that ran along the northwest portion of the property 

to access his 87-acre parcel. After Roosevelt built his home in 1885, other roads and paths 

were developed (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 86-87).

The first new road constructed was a carriage road, which began at the southwest corner of 

the 87-acre property and terminated at the top of the hill as a circular drive under the house’s 

porte-cochere. The carriage road was 12 feet wide or more and built with compacted soil, and 

negotiated the steep slopes in this area by use of switchbacks and a mortared stone retaining 

wall. A culvert ran under the carriage road near the property’s southwest corner and featured 

inlets on either side of the roadbed. Under the porte-cochere, builders paved the circular drive 

with red brick in a herringbone pattern. By 1905, an extension was added from the 

porte-cochere to the stable and lodge and the farm shed. The advent of the automobile brought 

changes to the site’s circulation system, as the carriage road’s tight turns and narrow widths 

made it difficult for automobiles to maneuver and visitors began using the more practical 

approach of the service road. Uncomfortable with the service road as the entrance to the 

house, the Roosevelts hired an engineer named Hans Rude Jacobsen in 1912 to design a new 

entrance drive constructed with macadam. The Macadam Road was without switchbacks 

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because it made use of William Emlen Roosevelt’s land southwest of the carriage road where 

the grade was not as steep. The road offered a good view of the house and eventually 

connected to the circular drive, but did so in a slightly different location than the carriage road. The Macadam Road featured stone and concrete gutters and a wood retaining wall, later 

replaced by a stone and concrete retaining wall sometime after 1916. The Roosevelts 

abandoned the carriage road upon completion of the Macadam Road. In 1938, a second 

entrance road to the property was developed to access Old Orchard, the new estate of 

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. This paved road was constructed from Cove Road, located north of 

the property, along the eastern boundary of Smith’s field and to the estate where it terminated 

as a circular drive. Other secondary roads of compacted soil and variable widths provided 

general access to the fields and pastures of the farm. However, by 1948, many farm roads in 

the outer parts of the property had been abandoned as agricultural land uses declined (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 87-90,127; Layton and Brown 2010: 70-71; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 

7: 11).

Pedestrian paths were developed around the house and beyond so that the family could enjoy 

the outdoors. A four-foot wide path from the north side of the house ran north to the pet 

cemetery near the north boundary of the property. When the family constructed the North 

Room in 1905, they moved this path slightly to the west. Within the flower and vegetable 

garden were a total of seven paths of compacted, raked soil. The main north-south path lined 

the garden’s western edge, flanked by two smaller north-south paths to the east. There were 

two east-west paths splitting the garden that were six feet wide. On the southern edge was a 

10-foot wide walk that extended to the east into another path called “Baby’s Walk,” which 

narrowed to only four feet. The construction of the road to Old Orchard in 1938 covered a 

portion of the route of “Baby’s Walk.” Trails also led to the “Nest” and through the woodlands 

to the beach area. To access the beach, the Roosevelts constructed a wood bridge 

approximately 250-feet long that crossed Eel Creek around 75 feet south of the northern 

property boundary (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 28,87,90,127,137; Layton and Brown 2010: 39).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

The circulation system at Sagamore Hill was modified by the TRA in the early 1950s as they 

transformed the property into a public park. To move and accommodate large numbers of 

visitors to the site, a new county road named Sagamore Hill Road was constructed. The paved 

24-foot wide road generally followed the route of the service road but with a broader curve. A 

portion of the service road that was not overlaid by the new road is visible today as a trace 

surrounded by woodland vegetation. The service road trace is maintained free of vegetation 

and is currently surfaced with a thick layer of wood chips. At the new road’s connection with 

the entry road to Old Orchard, the TRA built a 150-car paved parking lot over part of the 

flower and vegetable garden. Another shorter road was built to connect the parking lot to the 

New Barn (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 153; Layton and Brown 2010: 48). 

The historic carriage road remains visible today, is periodically cleared by the park, and like the 

service road trace features a mulched roadbed. The 1912 Macadam Road was closed after 

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Sagamore Hill Road was built and is not currently used for vehicular traffic (as noted earlier, it 

crosses private property at the park’s southwest corner). However, in 2008 the park repaved it 

through a Federal Highway Administration project, and in 2009 masons from the Historic 

Preservation Training Center reset the stone retaining wall and cleared trees adjacent to the 

road (Figure 21). The circular drive remains intact and the park rehabilitated the deteriorated 

brick paving under the porte-cochere between 2009 and 2010 (Figure 22). The road to the 

farm shed is extant and paved with asphalt, while other farm roads are currently overgrown 

with vegetation, although indents in the landforms still reveal their locations (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 245-48; Layton and Brown 2010: 40,47-48, 62,66,69,71; National Register 2013, Draft, 

Sec. 7: 11).

Trails and paths on the property remain or have been restored or reconstructed, though their 

condition varies (Figure 23). A woodland trail was constructed in 1968 to provide access to the 

beach after the area was designated as a Natural Environmental Study Area, but its relationship 

to the original path to the beach is not known. The trail is compacted soil approximately four 

feet wide, and forms a loop through the woodlands. The bridge across Eel Creek was gone by 

1962 but was rebuilt in the early 1980s around 300 feet from the northern property boundary. 

The bridge was approximately 360 feet long and 5 feet wide, constructed of wood posts, 

decking, and a handrail and is 225 feet south of the original bridge location (see Figure 18). In 

October 2012, Hurricane Sandy severely damaged this bridge and a project is currently 

approved [PMIS 195058] to replace the bridge in the same location with more resilient 

materials (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 137,245-48; Layton and Brown 2010: 59,72-73; National 

Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7:12).

The pet cemetery path remains in its post-1905 location. The TRA surfaced the path with 

crushed gravel and installed metal edging in the 1950s. Of the garden path network, only the 

main north-south path forming the western boundary of the garden remains, consisting of 

compacted soil and measuring approximately six feet wide. The TRA added another six to 

eight-foot wide path in the 1950s, which is still extant, and runs east-west, leading to a gazebo. 

The TRA also constructed a walk to the ice house in 1951, which is approximately four feet 

wide and made of brick laid in a common bond pattern. Park staff added a small, mulched 

extension path leading visitors from the sidewalk along Sagamore Hill Road to the tennis court. 

As a component of the line-item construction project for the Theodore Roosevelt Home [PMIS 

077375], the pet cemetery path and walk to the ice house will be resurfaced with a chip seal 

pavement to provide a durable, accessible surface and reflect the historic appearance of 

compacted soil. To improve pedestrian access to Old Orchard, the park installed a stonedust 

path across the pasture in 2006 (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 245-48; Layton and Brown 2010: 59, 

72-73).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: Service Road Trace (HRtMR) *

Feature Identification Number: 169489

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

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Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40946

Feature: Carriage Road (HRtCR) *

Feature Identification Number: 169491

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40945

Feature: Stone Retaining Wall (on Carriage Road) (HRtCRRWL) *

Feature Identification Number: 169493

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40952

Feature: Culvert (on Carriage Road) (HRtCRCUL) *

Feature Identification Number: 169495

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40951

Feature: Circular Drive (Rt400) *

Feature Identification Number: 169497

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40947

Feature: Farm Road to Farm Shed *

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Feature Identification Number: 169499

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Macadam Road (Rt400) *

Feature Identification Number: 169501

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40947

Feature: Retaining Wall (on Macadam Road) (HRtCRRWL) *

Feature Identification Number: 169503

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40952

Feature: Concrete Gutters (on Macadam Road) (Rt400CDG) *

Feature Identification Number: 169505

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40950

Feature: Old Orchard Road *

Feature Identification Number: 169507

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Pet Cemetery Path (HTRAIL-2) *

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Feature Identification Number: 169509

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40949

Feature: Main Garden Path (HTRAIL-1) *

Feature Identification Number: 169511

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40948

Feature: Sagamore Hill Road

Feature Identification Number: 169513

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Parking Lot

Feature Identification Number: 169515

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Baby’s Walk

Feature Identification Number: 169517

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Walk to Ice House

Feature Identification Number: 169519

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Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Bridge*

Feature Identification Number: 169521

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Path to Gazebo

Feature Identification Number: 169523

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Path to Tennis Court

Feature Identification Number: 169525

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Path to Old Orchard

Feature Identification Number: 169527

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Woodland (Nature) Trail

Feature Identification Number: 169529

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

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Landscape Characteristic Graphics:

Figure 21. View looking southwest at the Macadam Road and its gutters and stone retaining 

wall (OCLP, 2013).

Figure 22. View looking northwest at the circular drive and the house’s porte cochere 

(OCLP, DSC_0430, 2012).

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Figure 23. View looking south along one of the trails in the woodlands (OCLP, DSC_0273, 

2012).

Buildings and Structures

Historic Condition:

When Roosevelt purchased Sagamore Hill in 1880, it was a largely agricultural landscape with 

minimal formal development. There were fields, fences, roads, and an orchard with which to 

produce food, but only one building—a barn constructed near the center of the farm that was 

around 100 years old. The wood-framed barn was located approximately 400 feet southeast of 

where Roosevelt would construct his house, and survived until 1904 when it collapsed (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 32-33; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 7).

Within this agricultural landscape, Roosevelt added his own layer of development. The first 

building, constructed in 1883–1884, was the stable and lodge, located several hundred feet to 

the northeast of the highest hill on the property. The two-story, wood frame, L-shaped building 

was designed by the architectural firm of Lamb & Rich and built by carpenters John A. Wood 

& Son. The stable provided shelter for carriages and horses and storage for hay and grain, 

while the lodge was the home of the farm’s caretaker, Noah Seaman. The second building 

constructed on the site was Theodore Roosevelt’s home located at the top of the hill (see 

Figure 22). Although designed by architects Lamb & Rich, Roosevelt greatly influenced the 

interior layout. Construction by Wood & Son began in 1884 and the building was completed 

and ready for occupancy in 1885. The two-and-one-half story house featured 22 rooms, an 

attic and full basement, prominent dormers and gables, a porte-cochere, and a piazza that 

extended on three sides. The massing and the exterior details of the house reflected the Queen 

Anne-Shingle style, as evident in the huge chimneys, large piazza, brick-faced first floor, 

decorative shingles on the second floor, and gabled ends with stylized decoration. Deciding he 

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needed a more spacious and dignified room in which to meet his distinguished guests when 

conducting Presidential affairs, Roosevelt commissioned his friend C. Grant LaFarge in 1905 to 

design a 40 by 30-foot room on the north side of the house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 34-37).

Other buildings were constructed to support farming operations and residential life at Sagamore 

Hill. Shortly after the completion of the house in 1885, a brick octagonal-shaped ice house was 

built just to the east of the house to store ice cut from the nearby ponds. To provide water, Roosevelt hired A.J. Corcoran to construct a windmill and pump house east of the house 

sometime between 1884 and 1886. The pump house had brick and concrete walls one foot 

above ground and six feet below ground. Roosevelt replaced the windmill in 1905 with a new 

tower, an improved wheel measuring 22 feet 6 inches, and a new pump house and system. In 

1885, Edith Roosevelt oversaw the construction of a timber-frame gardener’s shed with 

board-and-batten siding and a large sliding door to store gardening tools for the flower and 

vegetable garden. To the north of this shed was a small privy, and in the garden’s northwest 

corner were cold frames, but their construction dates are unknown. Northeast of the house, a 

cluster of outbuildings were arranged from north to south that supported farming operations. 

Furthest north stood a cow shed, constructed in circa 1885, and immediately south stood a farm 

shed, constructed in circa 1900. South of the farm shed, the Roosevelts added a frame chicken 

house with a dirt floor and clapboard siding in 1901. Sometime after, the family established a 

chicken yard south of the chicken house defined by seven-foot high chicken wire fencing. The 

histories of other agricultural features, such as a pig sty, are not well documented. The 

Roosevelts kept a pig sty near the northeast corner of the flower and vegetable garden that had 

wood rails approximately 20 feet on each side and drained into the Woodpile Pond (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 27-28,32-45,52; Lee 2010: 35,129; Layton and Brown 2010: 35).

In support of Theodore’s “strenuous life” outdoors, the family added several recreational 

buildings and structures. A bathhouse was constructed on the beach at Cold Spring Harbor by 

1888 and two years later, a dock was added. Another destination on the property was the 

“Nest,” a small wood gazebo raised on cedar posts and located in the southern portion of 

Smith’s Field. Edith supervised the construction of the “Nest,” built sometime between 1906 

and 1913. The “Nest” overlooked Oyster Bay Harbor and Long Island Sound (Bellavia and 

Curry 1995: 28).

The turn of the twentieth century saw the addition of other buildings and structures. After the 

old barn collapsed in 1904, Edith Roosevelt supervised the construction of the New Barn in 

1907, which featured a gambrel roof, central sliding doors, and a cupola. To meet the needs of 

an increasing number of support staff, the Roosevelts built the Gray Cottage and associated 

buildings in 1910 to accommodate the valet, coachman, and their families. The cottage was a 

two and one-half story, wood-frame building with clapboard siding, divided into two apartments 

with a porch on the rear. Sometime between 1919 and the late 1940s, a privy was located just 

south of the cottage. Edith had also seen to the construction of decorative structures around 

the flower and vegetable garden, including a wood garden arbor with benches on both sides and 

a grape arbor, completed by 1905. There was also an arched arbor at the pet cemetery with 

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two wood benches underneath it (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 27,42,45,115).

In 1938, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his wife Eleanor acquired four acres of land from Edith, 

which was primarily located in the orchard area. Theodore Jr. hired his son-in-law, William 

McMillan, to design a home that would be called Old Orchard, which was anchored by a brick 

two-story Georgian Revival style house and servants’ quarters. North of the Old Orchard 

house was a foreman’s cottage for housing the estate’s supervisor, as well as a garage and 

garage shed for the family’s vehicles. Also constructed near Old Orchard was a concrete cold 

cellar built into a slope (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 27,112-14). 

One of the last major developments of the historic period occurred just prior to Edith Roosevelt’

s death in 1948. Around 1947, following the destruction of the stable and lodge in a fire, the 

family redesigned the New Barn to accommodate living quarters. Builders replaced the cupola 

with a chimney, refitted the central sliding doors with a hinge-door, installed three garage doors 

on the east side, and added a two-story porch to the south façade (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

27,112-14). 

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

The TRA undertook several projects in the 1950s to preserve buildings and structures at 

Sagamore Hill and also provide facilities for visitors. Many infrastructure upgrades were made 

to the main house, as well as converting some rooms for use as offices and a souvenir shop. The interior of the ice house was altered to provide restroom facilities, but this use was 

abandoned after 1956 when a new souvenir shop with restroom facilities was constructed just 

west of the parking lot, in the chicken yard between the chicken house and New Barn. 

Designed by architect Piers Brookefield, the L-shaped one-story souvenir shop also included a 

snack bar. The Gray Cottage was in very poor condition when acquired by the TRA, but in 

1956 it was improved and rented to a tenant. Between 1950 and 1962, a two-car garage was 

built just to the west of the cottage. In 1963, the TRA bought Old Orchard and the associated 

outbuildings. Their intent was to use the main house as a museum, but this plan was not 

realized before the TRA donated the site to the National Park Service that same year (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 137,139-140).

Several buildings on the property were removed or lost during the TRA period. The cow shed, 

small chicken house, and privy were removed by 1954 when the parking lot was constructed. 

At the beach, the dock was lost at some point during this period, as was a small building at the 

end of the bridge over Eel Creek (either the boathouse or bathhouse). However, aerial 

photographs from 1962 show a building located on or just north of the Sagamore Hill property 

line, which may have been the boathouse or bathhouse. The “Nest” still existed when the TRA 

bought Sagamore Hill, but stewardship of it ended in 1961 when the Association sold the 

property that the structure was located on (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 137, 139, 229).

Since National Park Service stewardship began in 1963, the interior and exterior of Sagamore 

Hill has been preserved, with the exception of minor changes to accommodate visitors and staff 

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(see Figure 22). Currently in-progress, a line-item construction project for the Theodore 

Roosevelt Home [PMIS 077375] is addressing improvements to the building’s heating and 

ventilation, electrical and lighting, fire detection and suppression, and security systems as well 

as rehabilitation of historic building fabric and architectural features. As a component of this 

project, alterations made to the ice house in the 1950s have been removed and the building’s 

historic configuration has been restored. The New Barn, farm shed, and chicken house have 

been preserved with the New Barn presently providing staff housing and the two outbuildings 

hosting interpretive exhibits on historic farming operations (Figure 24). The park has also 

preserved the cold cellar at Old Orchard, as well as the gardener’s shed, utilizing the latter for 

storage (Figure 25). A two-story addition was added to the south side of the Gray Cottage in 

1964, and the enlarged building presently serves as the superintendent’s residence. Consistent 

with the TRA’s original plans, the park rehabilitated Old Orchard into a museum and 

administrative offices, while the east wing of the house and the foreman’s cottage now serve 

as housing for park staff (Figure 26). The Old Orchard garage was rehabilitated into a six-bay 

garage with an apartment on the second floor. The park has preserved the pump house and in 

1971, rebuilt the windmill. The windmill was subsequently rebuilt in 2010, but the park 

considers it as a noncontributing resource (Figure 27). Between 1992 and 1993, the TRA’s 

former souvenir shop became the park’s visitor center (Figure 28). The park built two wood 

frame privy-type restrooms in the woodlands near the northeast property boundary (west of the 

beach), possibly in the late 1960s when the woodlands were designated a Natural 

Environmental Study Area. They were not in use in the 1990s and have since been removed 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 139-42,161,165-73,231).

Several remains of former buildings and structures can still be found on the property. All that 

remains of the original farm barn is a pile of foundation stones. The foundation of the stable and 

lodge remains, except for two foundation stones that were removed to accommodate a water 

line. The foundation of the pig sty also remains.

Character-defining Features:

Feature: Sagamore Hill (B01) *

Feature Identification Number: 169531

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 1243

Feature: Ice House (B11) *

Feature Identification Number: 169533

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

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 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5441

Feature: Pump House (B12) *

Feature Identification Number: 169535

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40956

Feature: Gardener’s Shed (B08) *

Feature Identification Number: 169537

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5443

Feature: Farm Shed (B09) *

Feature Identification Number: 169539

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5445

Feature: Chicken House (B10) *

Feature Identification Number: 169541

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5444

Feature: New Barn (Q04) *

Feature Identification Number: 169543

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Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5442

Feature: Gray Cottage (Q05) *

Feature Identification Number: 169545

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 1244

Feature: Old Orchard (B02) *

Feature Identification Number: 169547

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 5447

Feature: Old Orchard Foreman’s Cottage (Q03) *

Feature Identification Number: 169549

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40954

Feature: Old Orchard Garage (Q07) *

Feature Identification Number: 169551

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40955

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Feature: Old Orchard Garage Shed *

Feature Identification Number: 169553

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Cold Cellar (B19) *

Feature Identification Number: 169555

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40957

Feature: Visitor Center *

Feature Identification Number: 169557

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Gray Cottage Garage *

Feature Identification Number: 169559

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Windmill (B18) *

Feature Identification Number: 169561

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 1245

Landscape Characteristic Graphics:

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Figure 24. View looking east at the chicken house and farm shed (OCLP, DSC_0369, 

2012).

Figure 25. View looking west at the gardener’s shed (OCLP, DSC_0513, 2012).

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Figure 26. View looking southeast across the pasture towards the Old Orchard estate, from Old Orchard Road (OCLP, DSC_0536, 2012).

Figure 27. View looking north at the windmill and pump house (OCLP, 9-22-05 142, 2005).

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Figure 28. View looking northwest at the visitor center (OCLP, DSC_0355, 2012).

Views and Vistas

Historic Condition:

The views from the top of the hill at Sagamore Hill were quite impressive, and very important 

to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1900, a writer for the New York Tribune wrote, “...the visitor has a 

beautiful view in every direction, especially to the north and east where the waters of the Sound 

and Cold Spring Harbor are seen.” The views were of such interest to Roosevelt that he 

cleared trees to maintain them. In 1906, he wrote to his son Kermit informing him that he 

chopped trees for this purpose, and to his sister Anna about his fortune in acquiring Smith’s 

field because it enabled him to cut a view to the Long Island Sound. Smith’s field was also the 

location of the “Nest,” which offered views of Oyster Bay Harbor, the sound, and on clear 

days, the distant shore of Connecticut. There also was a significant view to the house from the 

approach on the carriage road. However, this view may have been lost when the new 

macadam entrance drive was built in 1912 (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 83-85, citing footnote 

#158). In 1938, a new view was created from the road leading to Old Orchard, looking across 

the open pasture toward the Old Orchard mansion (see Figure 26) (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

124).

There were also views from Cold Spring Harbor Beach east toward Lloyd’s Neck, and several 

views throughout the property’s agricultural spaces to surrounding buildings, structures, and 

woodlands. These views from the agricultural spaces generally involved the openness of the 

central agricultural space to the surrounding areas. However, during the 1950s, successional 

woody vegetation began to emerge in the agricultural spaces and limited these views (Layton 

and Brown, 2010: 73-74).

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Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

After the historic period, the construction of the souvenir shop, parking lot, Sagamore Hill Road, 

and vegetation changes altered some views within the property boundaries. The growth of 

successional vegetation, both on-site and off-site, continued and increasingly limited some of the 

views to and from Sagamore Hill. The age and density of the vegetation in the formerly 

cultivated fields increased, and impacted the open character and views associated with the 

historic agricultural spaces. A landscape rehabilitation project completed in 2011, has removed 

successional vegetation from portions of the North, South, and Southeast fields, improving 

views from these spaces. Successional forest growth also currently blocks the entrance view 

from the carriage road. In the past decade, the view from the piazza has been enhanced by the 

removal of woody vegetation from the west lawn, but a wooded area in the southern portion of 

the lawn still limits the full expanse of the historic view. The views from the house to the 

surrounding water bodies are currently blocked by woodland growth that is mostly off-site and 

consequently out of the park’s control. Once agricultural land, the surrounding area is now 

residential, and open spaces not maintained as lawns have been allowed to become wooded. 

The view from the beach to Cold Spring Harbor is still clear and open, but residential 

development on Lloyd’s Neck has altered the content of the view since the historic period 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 152,199-200; Layton and Brown 2010: 73-74).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: View from Carriage Road to House

Feature Identification Number: 169563

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: View from Beach to Cold Spring Harbor

Feature Identification Number: 169565

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: View from Piazza across West Lawn

Feature Identification Number: 169567

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

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Feature: Views from Agricultural Spaces

Feature Identification Number: 169569

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Views from Sagamore Hill to Long Island Sound and Cold Spring Harbor

Feature Identification Number: 169571

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Small Scale Features

Historic Condition:

Throughout the Sagamore Hill landscape were several small-scale features associated with 

agricultural, residential, and recreational uses. Among the most numerous features were 

fences of post-and-rail, post-and-wire, and board construction. The post-and-rail was the 

predominant type used to surround fields, pastures, and the orchard and usually consisted of 

four wood rails with posts approximately 10 to 12 feet apart. Post-and-wire fences were used 

in some areas, consisting of wood posts and a wood top-rail with four strands of horizontal 

barbed wire running below the rail. A six to seven-foot high vertical board fence was 

constructed along the northern boundary of the garden from the gardener’s shed to the grape 

arbor. Also within the garden was a decorative fence of carved wood posts spaced four feet 

apart, with a top and bottom rail and a diagonal cross in the center of each section. To provide 

access from the garden to the baby’s walk and orchard, a gate approximately 10 feet wide 

consisting of five horizontal boards, with a vertical board in the center, was constructed. The 

gate included a cradle on one end filled with rocks to balance the gate. In 1938, the board 

fence in the garden was altered to accommodate the new road to the Old Orchard estate, and 

new stockade fences were constructed by the foreman’s cottage and garage to screen the 

outbuildings and service area from the new mansion (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 93-103,128).

Because of the abundance of fences around the farm and the potential to limit access, the 

Roosevelts constructed six stiles, used to ascend or descend steep slopes, or to cross over 

fences. The builders constructed the stiles of wood, with steps, a platform, and a handrail. 

There were two located on the east edge of the orchard, two on the southern property 

boundary, and two on the western boundary (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 28, 50, 116, 234).

Although the construction dates are unknown, arbors, cold frames, and water tubs were added 

at various locations on the property. There were two arbors in the flower and vegetable 

garden: a wooden structure with benches on both sides at the west end of the main path, and an 

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arbor for grapes near the center of the garden. An arched arbor with two benches underneath 

was located near the pet cemetery stone. Cold frames were located in the garden east of the 

gardener’s shed, and there was also a round wooden water tub approximately 24 inches high 

with a spigot above it in circa 1918. At least two similar water tubs were located on the west 

side of the New Barn along the split-rail fence (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 47,49,51,99). 

Several ornamental markers were installed by the Roosevelts. At the pet cemetery, there was 

a stone with the names and dates of deaths of the family’s pets carved in it. A rock with the 

words “Sagamore Hill” carved in it and painted white was located in the vicinity of the carriage 

road, and by 1912, decorative rocks were placed as a border around the circular drive. Other 

features in the landscape included a white marble bench that the family apparently moved 

around the grounds and an elkhorn chair that was also moved around and eventually discarded 

due to damage by animals. In the vicinity of the house was a cannon in the lawn near the 

North Room, a sand box underneath an oak tree, a bird bath under the elm tree at the 

northwest comer of the North Room, and a clothes drying ground somewhere on the northeast 

side of the house (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 98-100,102-03,128,154).

Post-Historic and Existing Conditions:

While many of the historic types of small-scale features remain in the landscape, there have 

been some modifications and some losses. The National Register draft notes that between 

1998 and 2012, the NPS installed 800 feet of fence along historic lines. A split-rail fence 

consisting of four wood rails with posts between 10 and 12 feet on center encloses the historic 

pasture located east of the parking lot. With some variation in the number of rails, this fence 

type also partially encloses the field south of the New Barn, and segments remain near the 

chicken house. There are also historic stockade fence lines south and west of the Old Orchard 

foreman’s cottage and garage and between the Old Orchard circular drive and the parking area 

for the servants’ wing. The park replaced these stockade fences in circa 2005–2006 and circa 

2010, respectively. Additional fences located on non-historic fence lines include several lengths 

of double-post split-rail fencing and non-historic split-rail fencing with posts having holes that 

receive the rails (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 12)

Two new fence types were introduced in the 1950s at Sagamore Hill, including a short metal 

post and chain fence along the circular drive, along the walkway to the restrooms in the former 

ice house, and around the Quentin Memorial. The fences along the circular drive and walkway 

to the ice house will be removed as part of the line-item construction project for the Theodore 

Roosevelt Home [PMIS 077375]. A short black wrought-iron guardrail was installed on the 

north side of the ice house in 1959 and will be replaced as a component of the line-item 

construction project. Additionally, post and rail fencing, the same type historically located 

throughout the site, was located on the north, east, and south of the garden in 1954. The 

post-and-wire and board fencing and the decorative garden fence with the balance gate are no 

longer extant. In 2009, two stiles were placed over the fence in the pasture to emulate the 

historic stiles constructed by the Roosevelts (Figure 29) (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 

139-42,154-55,165-73,204-13,234).

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The arbor and cold frames located in the garden were removed in 1953 when Sagamore Hill 

Road was built, and the grape arbor was removed in 1954 when the parking lot was 

constructed. None of the wooden tubs are present. In 2011, the park rehabilitated the pet 

cemetery arbor by installing a compatible metal arbor. The rehabilitation included installing two 

new wood benches that were installed symmetrically under the arbor and reflect the simple 

detailing seen in historic photographs. Rambler roses were planted on both side of the 

structure’s arched supports and trained to climb toward the top (Figure 30) (Bellavia and Curry 

1995: 142,176,251; Layton and Brown 2010: 33-34). 

The pet cemetery stone is still located in its historic location, and the Sagamore Hill rock is now 

located along Sagamore Hill Road near the southwest corner of the West Lawn. Decorative 

rocks will be reinstalled around the circular drive when renovation of the main house is 

complete. The white marble bench is still located outside the North Room, but the cannon that 

resided outside the North Room is now in the Old Orchard Museum. Some historic features 

that are no longer present include the sand box, bird bath, and clothes line in the drying yard 

(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 154,204,207,252; National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 7: 11).

After Edith’s death in 1948 and the subsequent transition from a private country estate to a 

public park, the Theodore Roosevelt Association and National Park Service added features 

related to visitor comfort. In 1956, the TRA installed benches along new pedestrian paths 

leading from the parking lot to the house, but the dimensions, materials, and exact number and 

location of the benches is unknown. Between 2003 and 2005, the park standardized benches to 

include teak benches with armrests located at Old Orchard, along the path through the pasture, 

at the visitor center, and at Sagamore Hill. Composite lumber benches set on tubular metal 

frames are located along the woodland trail and near the site of the tennis court. Other 

features added by the NPS include moveable wood picnic tables with metal frames in the area 

west of the visitor center, two exposed aggregate concrete drinking fountains that operate 

during the summer months, and animal-resistant metal containers to collect trash and recycling. 

A nine-foot diameter wood and flagstone gazebo built by the TRA in 1958 is still located at the 

end of the main path in the garden (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 142,154,176,208).

The TRA also installed signs, such as a small sign east of the house that identified the restroom 

location in the ice house. The sign plaque and post were wood and stood two to three feet high, 

and was likely typical of other such signs on the property. There are currently five different 

types of signs at the site. Interpretive signs are typically one or two brown metal posts that 

support an angled interpretive plaque. Other informative and directional signs consist of a metal 

or wood post and mount rectangular signs. A sign consisting of a pipe and heavy metal plaque 

was erected by the New York State Education Department and is located on Sagamore Hill 

Road. A stone pier and base support a sign at the entrance to the parking lot indicating that 

Sagamore Hill is a National Historic Site under the auspices of the Department of Interior, 

National Park Service. In 1968 a kiosk was built at the entrance of the parking lot as a 

response to the lack of a visitor center at that time, but this structure is no longer present 

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(Bellavia and Curry 1995: 155,173,208).

Several features have been installed on the property as memorials. In 1953, a metal flag pole 

was donated and erected on the west lawn southwest of the house by the Nassua County 

Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The 55-foot tall flagpole is extant and is painted white. 

In May 1956, the limestone grave marker of Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s 

youngest son who was killed during World War I, was relocated to the base of the flagpole 

from France, where it was part of much larger designed monument that included a grave 

enclosure, headstone, marble cross, and a large fountain. The rectangular-shaped cenotaph 

was dedicated at a Memorial Day service on May 30, 1956. In July 1959, a bronze plaque was 

installed and bluestone walks were set around the north and south sides of the marker, and soon 

after the TRA added a low post and chain fence. Today, the marker is surrounded by a 

one-foot high post and chain fence, bluestone walks, and an interpretive sign, but it is a 

noncontributing resource because it no longer possesses historical association with its original 

setting and design (Figure 31). Around 1989, the park allowed the construction of a memorial 

rose garden memorializing Jessica Craft, but management concerns led to its removal by 2007. 

A small white rock, cut to fit a metal plaque dedicated to Craft, was removed in 2008 (Bellavia 

and Curry 1995: 153-55,204-13; Layton and Brown 2010: 75; National Register 2013, Draft, 

Sec. 7: 17).

Infrastructure improvements at Sagamore Hill included the installation of fire hydrants and 

pumps throughout the site. Today, the fire hydrants are painted red and white. A water spigot 

is located along the north-south path of the garden, and is connected to an underground 

frostless hydrant (Bellavia and Curry 1995: 155,208,213).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: Fences and Fence Lines (HSPLITR1) *

Feature Identification Number: 169573

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40959

Feature: Pet Cemetery Stone (HMPCS) *

Feature Identification Number: 169575

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40960

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Feature: Sagamore Hill Rock (HMSHR) *

Feature Identification Number: 169577

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40962

Feature: Decorative Rocks at Circular Drive

Feature Identification Number: 169579

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: White Bench (HMWB) *

Feature Identification Number: 169581

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40953

Feature: Post and Chain Fence

Feature Identification Number: 169583

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Wrought Iron Guardrail

Feature Identification Number: 169585

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Stiles (2) *

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Feature Identification Number: 169587

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Pet Cemetery Arbor *

Feature Identification Number: 169589

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Benches

Feature Identification Number: 169591

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Picnic Tables

Feature Identification Number: 169593

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Drinking Fountains

Feature Identification Number: 169595

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Trash Receptacles

Feature Identification Number: 169597

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

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 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Gazebo *

Feature Identification Number: 169599

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Signs

Feature Identification Number: 169601

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Flag Pole *

Feature Identification Number: 169603

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Quentin Roosevelt Memorial (HMQM) *

Feature Identification Number: 169605

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – incompatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

IDLCS Number: 40961

Feature: Fire Hydrants

Feature Identification Number: 169607

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

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Feature: Water Spigot

Feature Identification Number: 169609

Type of Feature Contribution: Non contributing – compatible

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Landscape Characteristic Graphics:

Figure 29. View looking southwest at historic fence and a stile at the pasture (OCLP, 

DSC_0317, 2012).

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Figure 30. View looking northeast at the pet cemetery arbor (OCLP, DSC_0498, 2012).

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Figure 31. View looking southwest at the flagpole and Quentin Roosevelt Memorial in the 

west lawn (OCLP, DSC_0412, 2012).

Archeological Sites

According to National Register documentation, Sagamore Hill includes seven archeological 

sites, one of which meets all the criteria necessary to be considered a contributing archeological 

site. For more information on the park’s archeological sites, please refer to the National 

Register documentation (National Register 2013, Draft, Sec. 8: 35-39).

Character-defining Features:

Feature: Stable and Lodge Site *

Feature Identification Number: 169611

Type of Feature Contribution: Contributing

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Edith Roosevelt’s Garden Site

Feature Identification Number: 169613

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Gray Cottage Site

Feature Identification Number: 169615

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Gray Cottage Trash Midden

Feature Identification Number: 169617

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Old Barn Site

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Feature Identification Number: 169619

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Pig Sty Site

Feature Identification Number: 169621

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

Feature: Sagamore Hill Prehistoric Site

Feature Identification Number: 169623

Type of Feature Contribution: Undetermined

Latitude Longitude

 0.0000000000 0.0000000000

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Condition

Condition Assessment and Impacts

Condition Assessment: Good

Assessment Date: 08/20/2014

Condition Assessment Explanatory Narrative:

The condition of the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (NHS) landscape is “good.” There is no clear 

evidence of major negative disturbance and deterioration by natural and/or human forces. The cultural 

and natural values are as well preserved as can be expected under the given environmental conditions. 

No immediate corrective action is required to maintain its current condition.

Impacts

Type of Impact: Vegetation/Invasive Plants

External or Internal: Both Internal and External

Impact Description: There are several invasive species that impact the Sagamore Hill 

landscape and have altered the species composition of the 

surrounding woodlands. Norway maples and other exotic trees 

have invaded the historic woodlands and disrupted the 

oak-chestnut-pine forest witnessed during the Roosevelt tenure. 

Exotic shrubs and other plants have invaded the understory of 

those forests. Japanese honeysuckle and porcelain berry pressure 

native grasses in areas managed as fields and meadows and have 

the potential to alter historic landscape character.

Type of Impact: Adjacent Lands

External or Internal: External

Impact Description: Both to the north and the south of Sagamore Hill, 

suburban residential development in abutting private properties 

encroaches on the historic landscape. Homes, ancillary buildings, 

athletic courts, pools, and facilities for boating, all constructed 

after the end of the historic period, occupy formerly undeveloped 

land. The proximity of these developments to Sagamore Hill has 

the potential to impact views from the site as well as the integrity 

of setting and feeling.

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Treatment

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Treatment

Approved Treatment: Rehabilitation

Approved Treatment Document: General Management Plan

Document Date: 03/27/2008

In 2008, the park completed a “General Management Plan” (GMP) to serve as the new guiding 

document for planning and management at the park for the next twenty years. The GMP identified the 

preferred treatment approach as rehabilitation and emphasized that the historic character of the site be 

retained and preserved. In addition, the plan called for the removal of non-historic structures and the 

replacement of missing historic landscape and architectural features to enhance the park’s ability to 

interpret the Roosevelt tenure at Sagamore Hill (Layton and Brown 2010: 8).

The GMP defined the rehabilitation treatment of the site’s landscape through three management 

objectives. The first objective stated that, “Sagamore Hill’s cultural landscape in the historic core is 

rehabilitated to support interpretive objectives.” The second objective pertained to areas in both the 

historic core and outer acreage and stated that, “The park’s cultural landscape is managed in a manner 

that opportunistically encourages native species and natural diversity where possible.” The final 

management objective stated that, “Structures, grounds, and facilities at Sagamore Hill are made 

universally accessible to the greatest degree possible.” Each objective was accompanied by specific 

actions for rehabilitation of the cultural landscape (Layton and Brown 2010: 8-10). 

In 2010, a “Cultural Landscape Report, Volume 2: Treatment” was completed by the Olmsted Center for 

Landscape Preservation. The report built on the park’s 1995 “Cultural Landscape Report, Volume 1: 

Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis” and the original treatment plan completed in 1998. The 

goal in updating the plan was to ensure that the cultural landscape recommendations were aligned with 

the GMP. The treatment philosophy articulated the ultimate goal of treatment at the park: to improve the 

interpretation of Theodore Roosevelt, his life, and his family by preserving and/or rehabilitating the 

character-defining elements of Sagamore Hill as their residence and working farm, and improve visitor 

orientation, access, and circulation. As stated by the report’s authors, Tim Layton and Margie Coffin 

Brown: “To achieve a landscape character that better interprets the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and 

his family, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings in the historic core should be 

preserved. Fields and cultivated areas should be differentiated from manicured lawn and the woodlands 

in the outer acreage. The working farm should also convey that crops, fruit and vegetable production, 

and livestock were components of a maintained agricultural landscape. Circulation features should 

display surfacing compatible with the historic materials and an organized hierarchy according to 

transportation mode and use. Universal access to buildings and landscape features should be 

implemented to minimize impacts to the historic landscape and structures. Similarly, lighting and other 

contemporary structures needed for public safety should be selected that are small, minimize visual 

intrusions, and provide adequate coverage.

“The woodlands in the outer acreage should be preserved with tree and shrub removal taking place only 

for safety hazards along the Woodland Trail and invasive species management. Invasive species 

Approved Treatment Document Explanatory Narrative:

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management should focus on the seventeen targeted species identified in the Invasive Non-native Plant 

Management Plan. Care should be exercised in removing invasive species that have reached the canopy 

level as this will puncture the continuous canopy and with increased light penetrating to the woodland 

floor, may encourage the growth of additional invasive species. The Woodland Trail from Old Orchard 

and the boardwalk should be managed to provide a safe, durable, and clearly defined walking surface. 

Although research documents bathhouse and boathouse structures, their exact location on the Cold 

Spring Harbor beach is not known. Interpretative media should be used to inform visitors how Roosevelt 

and his family interacted with the beach and Cold Spring Harbor during the historic period.

The treatment plan recommended that the landscape be managed to preserve and enhance its character 

as it had developed through the end of the Roosevelt tenure in 1948. Managing for character based on 

1948 would not conflict with the cultural landscape’s ability to support interpretive objectives focusing on 

Theodore Roosevelt and his tenure at Sagamore Hill that ended in 1919. Following Theodore Roosevelt’

s death, Edith continued to oversee the operation of Sagamore Hill and agricultural production did not 

cease but was maintained, “...on a reduced scale, reflecting the reduced population of the property” 

during her tenure (Layton and Brown 2010: 14-16).

Approved Treatment Completed: No

Approved Treatment Costs

Landscape Treatment Cost: 608,993.00

Cost Date: 03/27/2008

Landscape Approved Treatment Cost Explanatory Description:

There are several proposed projects in the NPS Project Management Information System (PMIS) related 

to the rehabilitation of the park’s cultural landscape:

--Replace Historic Foundation Landscape around Old Orchard Museum (PMIS 191929), $21,280.72, 

funding request FY 2015

--Update Cultural Landscape Preservation Maintenance Plan for Sagamore Hill (PMIS 179077), 

$35,095.76, funding request FY 2015

--Treat and Eradicate Invasive Species at Sagamore Hill NHS (PMIS 171325), $36,499.59, funding 

request FY 2016

--Cyclic Repair & Replacement of Historic Split Rail Fence FY15-19 (PMIS 201562), $45,108.86, funding 

request FY 2015

--Hazard Tree Remediation FY15-19 (PMIS 195219), $49,914.61, funding request FY 2015

--Develop a Treatment Plan for the Rehabilitation of the Historic Roosevelt Garden (PMIS 162958), 

$133,698.67, funding request FY 2017

--Implement Historic Roosevelt Garden Treatment Plan at Sagamore Hill (PMIS 171672), $287,399.52, 

funding request FY 2019

Bibliography and Supplemental Information

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Site, Vol. 1: Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis

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Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Olmsted 

Center for Lands

Citation Author: Bellavia, Regina M., and David L. Uschold

Citation Title: Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill National Historic 

Site, Vol. 2: Treatment Recommendations Implementation Plan

Year of Publication: 1998

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Olmsted 

Center for Lands

Brands, H.W., Kathleen Dalton, Lewis L. Gould, and Natalie A. Naylor

Citation Author:

Citation Title: Theodore Roosevelt and His Sagamore Hill Home: Historic 

Resource Study

Year of Publication: 2007

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Author: Carden, Marie L. and Richard C. Crisson

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England

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Citation Publisher: Hill and Wang

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Citation Crosby, Alfred W. Author:

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Citation Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Edinger, Gregory J., Aissa L. Feldmann, Timothy G. Howard, John 

J. Schmid, Elizabeth Eastman, Ery Largay, and Lesley A. Sneddon

Citation Author:

Citation Title: Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Sagamore Hill National 

Historic Site, New York

Year of Publication: 2008

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Author: Greller, Andrew M., and Steven E. Clemants

Citation Title: Flora of West Hills Park, Suffolk County, New York, with 

Considerations of Provenance of Some Long-Distance Disjuncts

Year of Publication: 2001

Citation Publisher: Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 128(1); 

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Citation Hammond, John E. Author:

Citation Title: The Early Settlement of Oyster Bay

Year of Publication: 2003

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Citation Author: Kaufman, Ned

Citation Title: Home, Park, and Shrine: Theodore Roosevelt`s Sagamore Hill

Year of Publication: 2007

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Kline, Laura J., Stephen Olausen, Kristen Heitert Author:

Citation Title: National Register Nomination for Sagamore Hill National Historic 

Site (draft)

Year of Publication: 2013

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Author: Layton, Timothy W., and Margie Coffin Brown

Citation Title: Cultural Landscape Report for Sagamore Hill National Historic 

Site, Vol. 2: Treatment

Year of Publication: 2010

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Olmsted 

Center for Lands

Citation Lee III, James J. Author:

Citation Title: The Farm Buildings at Sagamore Hill: Historic Structures Report

Year of Publication: 2010

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic 

Architecture Pr

Citation Author: Merwin, Daria E., and Allison J. Manfra

Citation Title: Archeological Overview and Assessment of Sagamore Hill 

National Historic Site, Oyster Bay, New York, Vol. 1

Year of Publication: 2004

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Citation Niering, William A. Author:

Citation Title: Forces That Shaped the Forests of the Northeastern United States

Year of Publication: 1998

Citation Publisher: Northeastern Naturalist 5(2); http://www.jstor.org/stable/3858581

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Citation Author: Niering, William A., and Glenn D. Dreyer

Citation Title: Effects of Prescribed Burning on Andropogon scoparius in 

Postagricultural Grasslands in Connecticut

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Landscape Prior to Henry Hudson

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Citation Author: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Title: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Final General Management 

Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement

Year of Publication: 2007

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Author: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Title: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site General Management Plan

Year of Publication: 2008

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Citation Author: Werier, David

Citation Title: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Invasive Non-native Plant 

Management Plan

Year of Publication: 2006

Citation Publisher: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

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Citation Wines, Richard A. Author:

Citation Title: The Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Transition in an Eastern Long 

Island Community

Year of Publication: 1981

Citation Publisher: Agricultural History 55(1)

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