Theodore and Edith Roosevelt’s grave in Youngs Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York

Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, along with their son and daughter Ethel and Archie, are buried in Youngs Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York. The cemetery is not part of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, but it is just a 5-minute drive from the park. It is located at 134 Cove Road and is open from 9 AM to dusk year-round. Parking for the cemetery is next to the entrance gate. To get to the Roosevelt gravesite, you must walk up a steep hill on a paved path and then up stairs. There is no handicap access.

It is interesting that Roosevelt’s grave is no more elaborate than that of a common citizen and that there is no mention of him being president of the United States on his tombstone. In fact, his body wasn’t even taken to Washington, D. C., to be laid in state in the United States Capitol building, and lying-in-state was a practice when he died in 1919. His wake was held in the North Room of Sagamore Hill.

There is a marker at the gravesite for Roosevelt being awarded the Medal of Honor as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War. However, Roosevelt died without knowing about it because he wasn’t awarded the medal until 2001. He was recommended for the award after the battle of San Juan Heights, but the request was ultimately denied by the War Department. The main problem stemmed from the fact that those making the recommendations didn’t see Roosevelt in action—neither did those who awarded him the medal in 2001.

There was always a theory that Roosevelt was not awarded the medal due to a rift with the War Department after he publicly denounced the conditions endured by the sick and wounded U. S. soldiers in Cuba after the battle, so this must have swayed the military to award the medal 100 years later. However, Roosevelt wrote in 1907, “I was recommended for it [Medal of Honor] by my superior officers in the Santiago campaign, but I was not awarded it; and frankly, looking back on it now, I feel that the board which declined to award it took exactly the right position.” Regardless, Roosevelt always considered that his greatest moment in life was fighting at San Juan.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor marker at his grave in Youngs Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York

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