6/12/10: Today was a day well spent! We ventured to the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States. At first glance, the property is beautiful; very lush, green, and surrounded by a variety of flora and fauna! The house was very large and while on the tour of the inside, I was struck by the size of the rooms. The staircases were larger (wider) than some we’ve seen over the years, and the upstairs rooms were large in size and had plenty of windows, making the rooms bright and cheery. I knew Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman but had no idea the scope of his love of animals, hides, heads, etc. Touring the home, it became apparent that T.R. also was an avid reader, as evidenced by the number of books found throughout. We asked our guide about this, and she stated that T.R. had over 6,000 books at one time. Most of the books were stored in various places around the property and some were displayed in the study upstairs (aka the gun room). It seems as though we had a great understanding of T.R. by the time we left. The guide spent a good deal of time talking about his love of family, children, grandchildren, and the fact that every evening the family would dine together and talk about the day’s events. She also pointed out that T.R. would stop each day, promptly at 4:00, and spend time with his children. They would take rides or walks, play games, and he was very close to his family. Another thing I was reminded of was the fact that T.R’s first wife passed away two days after giving birth to their daughter, Alice. T.R. named the baby Alice, after her mother, but he would call her “Sister” the rest of his life, never wanting to refer to his late wife. The same day T.R’s wife passed away his mother also died. It would be hard to imagine the grief he would have felt.
I believe that our guide said there was a website for the Sagamore Hill home, and I think students would gain a clear understanding of Theodore Roosevelt if they could view this website. I did purchase a small book and some postcards to show to students, in case nothing else is available. One lesson that would be fairly easy to teach would be to compare and contrast the life of T.R. He had many faces; father, grandfather, rough rider, president, politician, husband. It would be fascinating to delve more into his life as a rough rider. If I remember correctly, this was the area where he felt he was the most use during his life.
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