OYSTER BAY, New York — Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s Long Island home that he used as his “Summer White House,” reopened July 12 after an extensive four-year, $10 million renovation.
All of the 12,000 items in the house, now managed by the National Park Service, were removed and cleaned or repaired while renovations to the house including replacing the roof, repairing the foundation and rewiring the entire electric system.
The three-story Queen Anne Shingle style house, built in 1885, has 15 bedrooms and three bathrooms, along with sitting rooms, offices and a large porch. It sits on 83 acres atop a hill overlooking an inlet leading to Long Island Sound.
The personal items, which include thousands of books, Roosevelt’s rifle and Rough Rider hat and several elk and buffalo heads, were replaced where he left them.
“We hope that if he walked through the front door right now, he would think he was back during the presidential years,” Susan Sarna, curator at Sagamore Hill, told The Associated Press.
