Getting Your Three Cents’ Worth
It’s almost time. Quietly, behind the scenes, organizations and businesses all over town are preparing for the big day. It’s a celebration on a national scale. Our own royal wedding, except in this case it’s American royalty and the bride is Sagamore Hill.
You are cordially invited to the home of President Roosevelt, Sunday, July 12, for the re-opening of the National Historic Site. Since late 2011, the house has been closed to the public while craftsmen, conservators, and experts in art, antiques and textiles have come to assist in a massive undertaking: a complete cleaning, refurbishing and restoration under the supervision of the National Park Service.
This is not the first time Sagamore Hill came to be the center of a celebration. The home originally opened as a museum in 1953, nine years before it became a National Historic Site, thanks to the care and devotion of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). To commemorate the occasion the postal service commissioned a three-cent stamp, and a ceremony was held on Monday, Sept. 14, 1953. A donation of photographs taken that day allows us to see the residence trimmed in patriotic bunting; the Boy Scouts lined up and looking smart; and the Oyster Bay High School Band ready to rouse the crowd with the National Anthem.
Per the official program, the invocation was delivered by Reverend John N. Warren, past Rector of Christ Church. The Honorable Albert J. Robertson, Assistant Postmaster General, presented albums (like a photo album, but for displaying stamps) to Mrs. Richard Derby, Mr. Archibald B. Roosevelt, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt, Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, Mr. Oscar S. Straus II, the 1953 President of the TRA, and Admiral William F. Halsey. Early in his service, Admiral “Bull” Halsey had sailed aboard the battleship USS Kansas as part of the 1907-1909 global circumnavigation of T.R.’s Great White Fleet.
The program donated to the Society bears the stamp, canceled on the first day of issue, from the Oyster Bay Post Office. The .84” x 1.44” stamp is vibrant in bright green ink and over a million were issued. A simple search on the Internet shows a booklet of four currently priced at less than $5.
Sixty-two years later we gather together to join in a new celebration: to praise the efforts of the National Park Service and to delight in the home that Roosevelt built and greatly loved. Not since Roosevelt moved in with his family in 1887 has the residence dazzled as it does now. Join us on July 12 and be a part of history…or forever hold your peace.
Nicole Menchise is the librarian/archivist at the Oyster Bay Historical Society. Her degrees include studies in geography, cartography and history at the University of Memphis and library science at Long Island University, where she also received the Advanced Certificate in Archives and Records Management. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the North Shore Historical Museum in the Glen Cove Justice’s Courthouse.
