Skip to main content
Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

The Roosevelt trail, from Maine to North Dakota

FILE - In this undated photo, the statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are shown at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt and two more Roosevelts who occupied the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his first lady, Eleanor, are the subjects of a new Ken Burns documentary for public television, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this undated photo, the statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are shown at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt and two more Roosevelts who occupied the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his first lady, Eleanor, are the subjects of a new Ken Burns documentary for public television, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” (AP Photo, File)

By Associated Press 5 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Ken Burns’ new documentary about the Roosevelts – presidents Theodore and Franklin, and Franklin’s wife Eleanor – is bound to stir interest in some of the places connected to them. Here’s a look at some major Roosevelt sites, including birthplaces, family homes, vacation retreats and national parks and monuments from Maine to North Dakota.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT SITES

THEODORE ROOSEVELT BIRTHPLACE: Theodore Roosevelt lived at 28 E. 20th St. in Manhattan from his birth in 1858 until he was 14. The building was demolished in 1916, but later reconstructed and decorated with original and period furnishings. A free half-hour tour tells the story of Roosevelt’s family: He was descended from Dutch traders who made their fortune in New York (Roosevelt means rose field in Dutch, and is pronounced “rose-velt”), and he was Eleanor Roosevelt’s uncle and Franklin Roosevelt’s distant cousin. A sickly child, Teddy became fit using a gym on a terrace off his bedroom here. Museum artifacts include a shirt with a bullet hole; Roosevelt was shot on the campaign trail in Milwaukee but finished his speech before getting medical care; http://www.nps.gov/thrb/ .

THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK: This park in the badlands of western North Dakota commemorates Theodore Roosevelt’s sojourn to the region in the 1880s, hunting bison and working on a ranch; http://www.nps.gov/thro/ .

MOUNT RUSHMORE: Theodore Roosevelt is one of four presidents whose faces adorn Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, along with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt’s legacy includes his leadership in conservation, creating national parks and wilderness areas, and preserving antiquities. He was also seen as a fighter for the common man, taking on corporate monopolies; http://www.nps.gov/moru/ .