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The exterior of Pine Knot is shown head-on from across a wooded lot in winter. The broad porch runs the full width of the house with a gable at the center. Pine Knot, located in Albemarle County, Virginia, was a country home for the Roosevelts during the presidential years.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Unknown
Theodore Roosevelt is shown timing a children’s race around Sagamore Hill farm.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Unknown
Formal portrait of Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Archibald Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and Ethel Roosevelt on the lawn at Sagamore Hill.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
1903
Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Lee Roosevelt miss Martha Bulloch Roosevelt and want her to visit as often as she wants to come. Roosevelt is anxious to discuss the new addition to the family, Anna Hall, who will be marrying Elliott Roosevelt. He thinks it is great that Elliott is to “marry and settle down with a definite purpose in life.” Roosevelt sends his love to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson and her young son, Theodore Douglas Robinson.
1883-07-08
Portrait of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of Theodore Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
1874
Theodore Roosevelt appreciates the many letters he has received from home. He also received a letter from his uncle, James Dunwody Bulloch. Roosevelt has kept his father’s first letter and will try to deserve his trust. He has not found it difficult to avoid drinking and smoking. Roosevelt requests a petition that will allow him to attend the local Congregational church and join a mission class. Initial college expenses have been heavy, but Roosevelt should not need to draw on his father’s finances until Christmas.
1876-10-22
Theodore Roosevelt is suffering from an attack of the measles, which he finds amusing as he has always associated the measles with babies. He is under the care of Dr. Wyman. Roosevelt asks if Martha Bulloch Roosevelt received his letter of last week and requests $100 to “provide for accidents.”
1877-01-18
Theodore Roosevelt misses his family and wishes he could be with them to mourn the death of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. His busy schedule has prevented him from feeling the loss as strongly as the rest of the family. Roosevelt looks forward to spending ten days with his family in April.
1878-03-10
Theodore Roosevelt has returned from a hunting trip and had a pleasant two weeks. He learned how to manage snowshoes and found the northern woods beautiful. Roosevelt visited two lumber camps and was interested to see “a particularly unique type of life.” The hunting and trapping was also a success. Roosevelt will try and be more diligent with his letter writing.
1879-03-16
Theodore Roosevelt hopes that Martha Bulloch Roosevelt is feeling better. He visited the dentist and his teeth did not require any work. Roosevelt asks that Elliott Roosevelt tell him how he will send Theodore’s bridle and saddle to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Roosevelt will send his sisters the photographs this week.
1879-04-13
Theodore Roosevelt wants to invite all of his New York friends and acquaintances to the wedding. He requests a visiting list of relevant people. Roosevelt is pleased that Martha Bulloch Roosevelt likes his future relatives.
1880-03-11
Everyone is excited about Ethel Roosevelt’s engagement to Richard Derby. Theodore Roosevelt has concluded that he has “mighty nice children.” Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is feeling better and keeps Roosevelt under rigid discipline.
1913-02-14
Theodore Roosevelt hopes that Quentin Roosevelt’s trip is going better. He thinks it is nonsense to start a trip by traveling ninety-four miles in two days. Even though the trip has been difficult, he hopes that Quentin has been able to do some rifle practice and believes that overall it will be a good experience. Belle Roosevelt contracted typhoid fever but is doing well. Kermit Roosevelt was “nearly wild” with concern for his wife. Roosevelt is being sued by William Barnes for libel.
1914-08-02
Theodore Roosevelt encloses an article entitled “Education in Science as a Preparation for Industrial Work” that he feels expresses his views and Quentin Roosevelt’s practices. Ethel Roosevelt Derby will be undergoing an appendectomy, and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is recovering from a “tough worm.” Roosevelt is finishing a book that will be published next spring. Some of the chapters pertain to the trip they took, along with Archibald Roosevelt, to Arizona, and the book will be dedicated to Quentin and Archie. Roosevelt loves all of his grandchildren and is not concerned whether they are sons or daughters.
1915-10-18
Flora Whitney, Quentin Roosevelt’s fiance, visited for dinner, and Theodore Roosevelt found her to be the “dearest girl.” Quentin is very fortunate. Roosevelt has been disappointed that he could not join the war effort but these feelings have been swept away by “immense pride” in his sons. He hopes to continue working until his sons come home so that he can start Archibald Roosevelt and Quentin out all right. Then he will retire because an “elderly male Cassandra” can do little work and is more of a nuisance. Roosevelt’s new book, The Foes Of Our Own Household, will soon be published and dedicated to his children and their spouses. Flora will receive her own copy with a special inscription.
1917-09-01
Theodore Roosevelt has been receiving letters from all his sons, except Quentin Roosevelt. However, Quentin’s movement have been tracked through the use of outside sources and information from Flora Whitney. Roosevelt is pleased that Quentin will be near Tommy Hitchcock and he dined with Hitchcock’s parents yesterday. Ethel Roosevelt Derby and Richard Derby will be returning at the end of the week. Richard is fretting at his inability to get overseas and Roosevelt is going to speak with Surgeon General Gorgas to see if anything can be done. Roosevelt has been kept busy with speeches and articles but feels that now is a time when only action counts.
1917-09-10
Theodore Roosevelt encourages Quentin Roosevelt to stick with the “uncongenial work” even though he would rather be flying. If Quentin truly decides that he is being mistreated, Roosevelt can try and help as long as he knows exactly what Quentin wants. Roosevelt visited the Mineola aviation ground and was taken up on a plane with a new engine design. He thought it was better but is unsure how it compares to planes at the front. Richard Derby is at Yaphank, New York, where the new draftees are arriving. Roosevelt is sending a copy of his new book. A copy was also sent to Flora Whitney.
1917-09-17
Grace Stackpole Lockwood Roosevelt visited, and Flora Whitney came to see her. Flora wrote a nice note in response to the book she received from Theodore Roosevelt and is “just as good as she’s pretty.” Roosevelt’s trip through the northwest ended in fine style with large, enthusiastic crowds. He is opposing Germany in the war as they are an “abhorrent foe.” However, he also believes that Great Britain preferred an American policy of feebleness rather then strength. Roosevelt wants the United States to “prepare her own strength.” He has also been speaking in New York about the war and campaigning for Mayor Mitchel.
1917-10-08
At Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s suggestion, Theodore Roosevelt has traveled to Stamford, Connecticut, for two weeks of exercise. The camp is run by Jack Cooper, a former boxer, who is one of the professional athletes that keep one hand in the underworld and one in the wealthy sporting world. Roosevelt received a nice letter from General Duncan regarding Ted Roosevelt and Archie Roosevelt. War preparation continues slowly and Roosevelt is bitter that “ordinary foresight and patriotism” in the country’s leaders could have already ended the war.
1917-10-15
Theodore Roosevelt encloses one of Flora Whitney’s kind letters so that Quentin Roosevelt can see her kindness towards his parents. Five of the grandchildren are staying at Sagamore Hill. Roosevelt takes the older children to visit the “fascinating pigs” and is often driven to distraction by the babies because he just wants to play with them. Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is well and Roosevelt will continue to hold down his “second rate job” until his children return from overseas. He is still trying to help the war effort and make things unpleasant for “Hearst and La Follette and the other Huns within our gates.”
1917-10-30