Huntington and Oyster Bay
Long Island
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th
President of the United States, was always known as a man’s man. This, like Che
Guevara, was cultivated as a response to a sickly, asthmatic childhood. A few
years ago I had the pleasure of attending a private event at the Yale Club and
came face to face with several animals Teddy had shot on safari in Africa. He
was born into the prestigious Roosevelt philanthropist family who had amassed a
fortune importing plate-glass. His birthplace, in the high-end neighborhood of
Gramercy Park, Manhattan, is a National Historic Site, as is his private home,
Sagamore Hill, which he built on Cove Neck, just east of Oyster Bay where his
family spent their summers when he was a boy.
As an adult Theodore and
his young bride designed a Queen Anne-style home with the idea of raising their
children there. Construction began in 1884 but soon halted following the death
of his wife two days after giving birth to their first child. Friends later
convinced the grief-ridden Roosevelt to finish the home as a place to raise baby Alice (named after her mother), and in 1887 he moved into the home with
his new wife, Edith. Sagamore Hill served as the family’s home over the next
thirty years, including the President’s Summer White House from 1902 to 1908.
In total six Roosevelt children were raised at Sagamore Hill, which the
President decorated as something between a hunting lodge and a temple to
manliness.
President Roosevelt died
at Sagamore Hill in 1919. His eldest son Teddy Jr. hoped to take over the home
and raise his family there, but Edith wanted to remain in the home and gave Junior a few acres of land where he built his own residence known as Old Orchard, which
now serves as the site’s museum. Edith died at the home in 1948 and the 84-acre
estate was purchased by the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and nonprofit
founded in 1919 to preserve Teddy’s legacy.
For the past two summers
Sagamore Hill has been closed due to a massive rehabilitation project. The
Visitor Center, Theodore Roosevelt Museum (Old Orchard), and park grounds
remain open, but low visitation numbers have caused the site to maintain winter
hours year round. The only way to see the inside of Sagamore Hill is through a
video displayed at Old Orchard.
Despite not being able to
enter the home (hopefully the project will be completed by the summer of 2015),
a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt estate is not a total waste. The building
exterior is rather impressive, as is the windmill, museum, pet cemetery, and
remains of the grass tennis courts. A small nature trail leads across a
boardwalk to Cold Spring Harbor. Watch out for the wild turkeys in the area.
Just across Oyster Bay on
Lloyd Neck north of Huntington is Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve, which
holds the remains of a 1600-acre English-style estate designed by Marshall
Field III (grandson of the department store pioneer) who along with some fellow
wealthy friends dreamed of creating a self-sufficient home (including its own
water and electrical supply) that was a cross between a country club and a
hunting preserve. Marshall III began construction in 1921 and by the time he
was done the estate had a herd of 80 prize cattle and a complete dairy farm
(still operational) and facilities for tennis, horseback riding, shooting,
fishing, swimming, and boating—everything but golf. In the 1930s the Marshall
Field family hosted polo matches and extravagant parties on the estate,
including a famous circus-themed one that boasted Fred Astaire and George
Gershwin as guests
The privileged dream
didn’t last—they spent more time in Chicago than New York and were also aware
that throwing lavish balls in the midst of a depression was bad press for the
founder of The Chicago Sun. The New
York State Park system bought the land in 1961. People can still ride horses on
the bridal paths, either on their own horse or one from the riding stables.
They can also bike, fish, scuba dive, cross-country ski, hike, and bird watch. Unfortunately, the homes—the Summer Cottage, Winter Cottage, and
Marshall Field House—are not open to visitors. One must be contented to admire
them from the outside.
The park is too large to
explore on foot unless you plan on spending the entire day there. It’s much
friendlier for biking. Also, most of the paths are paved and the landscape is
so well-maintained that you never actually feel like you’re surrounded by
nature; nature doesn’t get mowed every two weeks. I could see how people who
want to bike without the worry of traffic might enjoy Caumsett, but true
history buffs or nature seekers will be disappointed.
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