Visitors gather at Sagamore Hill for a house tour, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

HOUSE TOUR DETAILS

The only way to get inside Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s home in Oyster Bay, New York, is on a Ranger-guided tour. There is a fee, and tickets must be purchased by phone or online at Recreation.gov (phone number is given on the website). The current fee is $15 for those 16 and older. Kids 15 and under are free, though tickets are still required. There is a $1 service charge per ticket. Those with any type of interagency pass also get in free (except for the $1 service charge). Interagency passes include the standard National Park Annual pass. You must show your pass when you arrive for your tour. Ticket prices can always change, and the latest fees will be on the reservation website.

Tours are typically given Thursdays through Sundays at various times of the day. How far in advance you order tickets dictates which time slots are available. For example, if you buy tickets a month in advance—the maximum advance sale period—your only choices are early morning tours. If you buy them the day before or the day of, there may be tours later in the day if the early tours are sold out. As with ticket prices, available time slots are given on Recreation.gov. Note that you can buy tickets right up to tour time, assuming you have a phone, credit card, and can get cell service, which isn’t a problem at the park.

House tours last about an hour and meet at the front porch of the house. Just show up before the group heads inside. You will need either a printed copy of your ticket or the ticket on your phone.

Ranger gives a guided tour of Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s home in Oyster Bay, New York

HOUSE HISTORY

Theodore Roosevelt purchased 155 acres in Oyster Bay, New York, in 1880, the same year he graduated from Harvard and married Alice Lee. Four years later he had plans in order for the construction of a Queen Ann-style house in which he and Alice would live, but she died on April 14, 1884, two days after giving birth to a girl, also named Alice.

Realizing he still needed a house, construction began later that year under the supervision of his older sister, Anna, and was completed in 1885. However, he did not move into the house at that time. In May 1884, he left Alice with Anna and headed west to try his hand at cattle ranching in the Dakota Territory on two ranches he had purchased earlier in 1883. He did come back to the east coast often for business and to see Alice, and during these times he reconnected with a childhood friend of his sister’s, Edith Carow. They began a relationship and were married in December 1886, thus ending his time in the west. The couple and Alice moved into Sagamore Hill in 1887.

Roosevelt originally planned to name his house Leeholm, but without Alice the name was not appropriate. He ended up calling the home Sagamore Hill.

Northwest side of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Roosevelt did not like change. The house had gas lighting even after electricity came to Oyster Bay in 1895. Electricity wasn’t installed until 1918, just a year before Roosevelt died in the house on January 6, 1919. He wouldn’t even allow automobiles to come up the driveway, that’s how much he didn’t like change. As a result, not a lot of updates were made to the house, so what you see today is pretty much the way it was when Roosevelt was alive. Edith lived in it until her death in 1948, and she was cheap, so she didn’t make many changes either.

Most of the changes to the house came when Roosevelt was president (1901-1909), because he decided that the government was going to be run from his Oyster Bay house in the summer. This was the first time a president left Washington to run the country for an extended period of time. He had telephone service installed and enlarged one room to accommodate the guests who constantly came to see him at what became known as the Summer White House. Bathrooms were also added.

The Roosevelt Memorial Association (RMA) was established by Congress in 1920 to preserve the memory of Theodore Roosevelt. One of the organization’s goals was to acquire Sagamore Hill, but Edith did not want the house turned into a museum. It wasn’t until she died that the RMA was able to negotiate a sale with the Roosevelt heirs. Only three of the six Roosevelt children were still living at the time—Archie, Alice, and Ethel. Ethel was actually on the board of the RMA, and she convinced the others to sell the property. The deal was finalized in 1950, and it not only included the house and all of the land, but also most of the furnishings and other contents of the house. Sagamore Hill was opened to the public in 1953.

As with many historical homes in the National Park System, the non-profit societies eventually run out of money and turn to the federal government to take over. Such was the case with Sagamore Hill. John F. Kennedy authorized both Sagamore Hill National Historic Site and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site (in Manhattan, New York) in July 1962. A year later the parks were approved by Congress.

HOUSE TOUR

East side of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

The tour of Sagamore Hill is a very thorough tour. Nearly every room in the house is covered, and this is a big house with a lot of rooms.

FIRST FLOOR

FRONT HALL

The front hall was originally a smaller sitting room. As mentioned earlier, when Roosevelt became president he made some additions, and turning the sitting room into an expanded front hall was one of them.

Front Hall of Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Water buffalo head and elephant tusk chime in the Front Hall of Sagamore Hill, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

LIBRARY

Theodore Roosevelt spent most of his time in the library either working or socializing with family and guests. This was his office when he used the home as the Summer White House.

Library of Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Theodore Roosevelt’s desk in his library, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

EDITH’S DRAWING ROOM

This was considered Edith’s room, but many guests who came to see her husband were entertained here. The bear-skin rugs on the floor were not typically so conspicuously displayed. When magazines sent journalists to the house, they often wanted photos of the rooms. Edith would go all out on the decorating, which included making sure her husband’s hunting trophies were prominently shown.

Certainly Edith changed things over the thirty years she lived in the house after her husband’s death, so when the RMA took over, it often referred to the old photos when attempting to arrange the furnishings as they were when Theodore was alive. This is why the bear-skin rugs now appear in places—here and in other rooms—where they’d certainly be tripped over if the room were actually being used.

Edith Roosevelt’s Drawing Room at Sagamore Hill, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

NORTH ROOM

The North Room was the room that was added to the house in 1905 to accommodate all the people who came to see Roosevelt when he was working here as president. Prior to the addition, this would have been an outdoor porch and part of the yard. The room is now filled with many gifts given to the Roosevelts from emperors, sultans, and kings from around the world. When Roosevelt died in 1919, his wake was held in the room.

North Room of Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Library nook in the North Room of Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

DINING ROOM

All evening meals were formal in the Roosevelt house, and they were taken in the main dining room. The table and chairs were purchased by the Roosevelts when in Italy on their honeymoon in 1887. The screen at the far end of the room blocks the view of the pantry where the servants waited while serving meals. It was a gift to Edith from the Empress of Japan.

Dining Room of Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

KITCHEN

All meals were prepared in the kitchen by a full time cook the Roosevelts employed at all times when they lived at Sagamore Hill. If any of the children were late to dinner in the main dining room, they had to eat by themselves at a little table in the kitchen.

Kitchen of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Small table in the kitchen of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

SECOND FLOOR

Second floor hallway of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

THEODORE AND EDITH’S BEDROOM

Despite Theodore and Edith both living in this room, the children always referred to it as Mother’s Room because their mother spent more time here than their father. The room faced north and was the coldest room in the house. The bedroom is connected to the upstairs porch, and Edith often sat outside. In the second photo below, the bedroom porch is at the archway on the upper floor.

Theodore and Edith Roosevelt’s bedroom at their Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

The Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

ROOSEVELT’S DRESSING ROOM

The dressing room is connected to the Roosevelts’ bedroom, but it was used only by Theodore.

Theodore Roosevelt’s dressing room at Sagamore Hill

NURSERY, SOUTH BEDROOM, AND GATE ROOM

Three rooms were used for the children during the 1890s. Theodore Roosevelt had one daughter, Alice (1884-1980), with his first wife. He had five other children with Edith: Theodore Jr. (1887-1944, died of a heart attack a month after landing in France on D-Day), Kermit (1889-1943, died by suicide), Ethel (1891-1977), Archie (1894-1979), and Quentin (1897-1918, killed during World War I).

The Nursery is where all the children started out.

Nursey on the second floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Nursey on the second floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

The South Bedroom was the night nursery. Once out of the cradle, the children slept here under supervision of their nurse. After Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919, Edith moved in here and stayed for the remainder of her life. She died in this room.

South Bedroom of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

The Gate Room was a playroom and day nursery when the children were young, and when older, Ethel’s bedroom. The room got its name from a wooden gate across the doorway that kept the kids from getting out and possibly falling down the stairway in the hall. Theodore Roosevelt was using the Gate Room as a sick room at the end of his life, and this is where he died. He was sleeping here because the room was warmer than his own.

The Gate Room on the second floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

When the children were grown up, the rooms were used for visiting family members and other guests.

GUEST ROOMS

Main Guest Room at the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Single Guest Room at the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

ROOSEVELT BOYS’  ROOM

All of the Roosevelt boys stayed in this room at some time in their lives.

The Roosevelt Boys’ room at Sagamore Hill

ALICE’S ROOM

Alice is the only Roosevelt child who always had her own room. The bedroom set was originally her mother’s. Kermit moved in when Alice got married in 1906 and moved out.

Alice Roosevelt’s room at Sagamore Hill

BATHROOM

Second floor bathroom of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Second floor bathroom of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

THIRD FLOOR

STAFF BEDROOMS

The third floor was where single female staff had rooms. There is a separate house on the grounds for married staff, and single farmhands lived in the stable and lodge also on the grounds. The stable and lodge burned down in 1944, but the staff house is still standing.

Staff room on the third floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Staff room on the third floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

TED JR’S ROOM

Ted Jr. moved into his own room on the third floor when he turned 14 years old. As one boy got older and moved out, a younger one moved upstairs into this room.

Ted Roosevelt Jr’s room on the third floor of Sagamore Hill

GUN ROOM

The gun room was originally a billiards room. The room had many uses: Roosevelt’s private office and overflow library, study room for the kids, playroom, storage room, gun room, and staff work room. Most of Roosevelt’s books were written by him dictating to a secretary, and then the notes were transcribed into pages in this room.

Gun Room on the third floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Gun Room on the third floor of the Roosevelts’ Sagamore Hill home, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Back to the Top