Gay Vietske, superintendent of Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, the home of 26th President Theodore Roosevelt, introduced their new General Management Plan (GMP) at the April 13 meeting of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association. She said a brochure was mailed out to local residents so that they will be able to read about, and consider, the renovation plans for Sagamore Hill. Their input is being sought by the Sagamore Hill GMP planners.

Ms. Vietske said she has been involved with creating the GMP for the past two years determining the purpose, significance and goals for the future of the site for the next 20 to 30 years. Somehow, she said Sagamore Hill managed to "slip through the cracks" and doesn't have a management plan. The plan is important because, nowadays, funding is linked to having a plan. She added that there had been no unified vision for Sagamore Hill, and said, "The house is considered the focal point of visitation, but there are more parts to the story of this very influential and forward-looking president and family man."

The GMP offers four management plans, and Ms. Vietske said, "We are very interested in what you think about them." She indicated that there were tables set up in the back of the room where Ellen Carlson and Curator Amy Verone were waiting for visitors to record their comments about the plans. During the next few months, the planning team will refine and revise the preliminary alternatives and present them in a draft plan that will be available for public review in the fall.

She said the focus of the GMP is to highlight Sagamore Hill as the summer White House of President Theodore Roosevelt; the house as the place where Mr. Roosevelt raised his children; TR's family values; his conservation ethic; his love of the strenuous life and the his love of the outdoors. Ms. Vietske said the place survives intact on 85 acres in Cove Neck and has 26 historic structures on it. "It is a cultural landscape that reflects a way of life when TR was here." There are about 8,000 artifacts in the house and over 100,000 archival documents and memorabilia on site that are available for research purposes.

There are four plans for the future of Sagamore Hill. The first is to keep the status quo with no changes. The successive plans add features such as creating a new visitor's center, reducing the parking by one-third (actual daily use), creating a better maintenance facility and re-creating the gardens.

The fourth plan is the most extensive as it moves the parking lot to the south of the entrance road and builds a visitor's center there. That frees up the center of the site to re-create the working farm (without animals). The Old Orchard museum would be expanded to create offices for the NPS and the TRA staff offices, curatorial storage and research space. The TRA would bring their historical collection to the museum. There would be additional parking at the Old Orchard and that building would become a research center. There is no presidential library for Mr. Roosevelt, but this site would contain a valuable collection of TR research material. The woodlands, croplands, pasturelands, and hedgerows would be re-established by historic experts, as feasible.

Ms. Vietske said the tidal creed and beach area with nature trails, a large bird population, a diverse amphibian population with frogs and salamanders will be maintained in a natural setting for the public to visit. "There will be no swimming on the site," she added.

They also plan to strengthen the links to the hamlet of Oyster Bay. She was aware of the TR statue coming to town, the carousel proposal and the Talk of the Town tours. "We'd like to be more active with the town," she said.

Ms. Vietske expects a plan to be complete by the summer of 2006. Then they will look at the implementation strategies. The first and second plans would be financed with federal money but the third and fourth will need outside money. She said the TRA and the Friends of Sagamore Hill will raise funds for the chosen plan. Attending the meeting were the newly appointed TRA executive director, Edward Rennehan, author of The Lions Pride and Norm Parsons, the TRA president.