"Our shared outdoor spaces our attics of history and graveyards of sacrifice...are being overlooked. The physical embodiment of the American story are being ignored by too many," wrote Timothy Egan on The New York Times Sunday Opinion page, July 12, 2009.
This article caught my attention for a couple reasons: I love visiting these places, parks, birthplaces, museums and more, and, as recently as Saturday, a friend and I had visited Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace, a brownstone at 28 East 20th Street in the modern-day Gramercy Section of NY City. (The family lived here from 1854 until the fall of 1872 when Theodore, Jr. was fourteen.)
The focus of our guided tour of five period rooms was the 19th century lifestyle of the Roosevelts during the Civil War and into the Gilded Age, the period of TR's growing up years. Our guide encouraged us to imagine ourselves women of that era. This engaged us and our visit was lively!
I've already begun planning a trip to Sagamore Hill, TR's home on Long Island. Before I go, I expect to have read Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris. (It has been on the book shelf for a long time, but no longer.) That's how visits to historic sites work. One thing leads to another, and, before you know it, the adventure is under way!
*Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace is a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior, in cooperation with the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Admission is $3.
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