Sagamore Hill was the home of the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, from 1885 until he died in 1919. It is located in Cove Neck, New York, near Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island, New York 25 miles (40 km) east of Manhattan. It is now the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, including the Theodore Roosevelt Museum in a later building on the grounds.
A native of New York City, Theodore Roosevelt spent many summers of his youth on extended vacations with his family in the Oyster Bay area. In 1880, 22-year-old Roosevelt purchased 155 acres (63 ha) of land for $30,000 (equal to $842,379 today) on Cove Neck, a small peninsula roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of the hamlet of Oyster Bay. In 1881, his uncle James A. Roosevelt had an estate home built several hundred feet west of the Sagamore Hill property. Top HVAC Long Island
In 1884, Theodore Roosevelt hired the New York architectural firm, Lamb & Rich, to design a shingle-style Queen Anne home for the property. The 22-room house building commenced in May 1884, completed by John A. Wood and Son, of Lawrence, Long Island, in March 1885 for $16,975 (equal to $511,953 today). Roosevelt stayed there in the summer of 1885 with his sister and daughter for the hunts and moved into the house with his second wife Edith in March 1887. Roosevelt had initially planned to name the place “Leeholm” after his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. However, she died in 1884, and Roosevelt remarried in 1886, so he decided to change the name to “Sagamore Hill.” Sagamore is the Algonquin word for chieftain, the head of the tribe.
In 1905, Roosevelt expanded the house, adding the most significant room, called the “North Room,” to a design by C. Grant LaFarge (40 by 30 feet (12.2 by 9.1 m)) for $19,000 (equal to $573,026 today). The North Room is furnished with trophies from the former president’s hunts and gifts from foreign dignitaries, alongside pieces of art and books from the Roosevelts’ collection. The home had 23 rooms, including a water closet with a porcelain tub, which was a luxury at its construction.
The house and its surrounding farmland became the primary residence of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt for the rest of their lives and the birthplace of three of their five children. Sagamore Hill took on its greatest, most significant importance when it became known as the “Summer White House” during the seven summers (1902–1908) that Roosevelt spent there as President. It played host to numerous visits from foreign dignitaries and peace talks that helped draw an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt died at Sagamore Hill on January 6, 1919, buried at nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery.
Address: 20 Sagamore Hill Rd, Oyster Bay, Long Island, NYC
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