Oyster Bay’s most famous resident
Wednesday October 7, 2020
After a late start with a fabulous breakfast, we pulled up the anchor and ..... moved to the other side of Oyster Bay. Our new location puts us closer to the shore thus reducing the fetch with the wind out of the southwest - northwest. With another gale warning in place for this evening, a good position seems important.
Once we were sure that the anchor was holding, we readied the dinghy and went to shore. While the village of Oyster Bay may be known for it’s Oyster Festival, it was Teddy Roosevelt who brought it into the limelight. Roosevelt’s home—Sagamore Hill—became the summer White House while he was president. We set out walking and arrived at the National historic site. Signs around the grounds provided some background to our visit. It seems that Teddy purchased some 155 acres of land near to his Roosevelt relatives. He told his future wife that they would live in a ‘neighbor of Roosevelts’. I wonder if that was an attractive prospect for her? The house was not open, so we enjoyed the grounds.
On our way back to town we happened upon the Roosevelt burial site. The graveyard is called the Young’s Memorial Cemetery. It’s a small place and according to the sign, the 26th President is buried at the highest point. We had a small debate about the value of climbing up there and decided to stop being lazy. A short walk up the hill followed by twenty-six steps lead to the fence that surrounds the headstone. There is a view of the bay through the trees. On the way back down we noted many simple white crosses. These marked the graves of “faithful slaves of the Young family”. I counted twenty-seven crosses but saw no names or further information. It’s painful to see these unmarked graves, as if no cared who they really were. It seems such a stark contrast to the Roosevelt gravesite.
Gloria
40 52.405 N, 73 32.407 W
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