The DC Traveler

A memorial statute of Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President of the U.S. stands on Theodore Roosevelt Island. The 88-acre island sits in the Potomac River and is accessible by a footbridge from the Virginia side.

The island has had several names, including My Lord’s Island, Barbadoes, Mason’s Island and Analostan Island; as well as several owners starting as early as the late 1600s, including founding-father, George Mason. Mason’s son, John, built a mansion with gardens on the island but the family left the island after 30 years when the pathway leading to the island caused the river’s water in that area to stop flowing and back up on to the island, turning it marshy. In 1906, the mansion burned to the ground, but some of the foundation can still be seen. The next owner was Washington Gas Light Company (now Washington Gas) which allowed the vegetation to return to it’s natural state, as it is today.

The island honors Republican progressive, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who became the youngest president in history, at 42 in 1901 and served for two terms.

He achieved early prominence for organizing and being one of the commanding officers of the Rough Riders, part of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, during the Spanish-American War. The 4-month war ultimately led to the U.S. winning, through treaty with Spain, three of her colonies - Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.

Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1899 and two years later was elected Vice President, under William McKinley. Six months later, Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as President after McKinley was shot in Buffalo, New York and died 8 died days later. Roosevelt took the oath of office in Buffalo, but did not swear on a Bible, which was the usual tradition.

Roosevelt’s legacy includes:

• Busting up business trusts and monopolies.
• Creating 42 million acres of national forests including the Grand Canyon, and the U.S. Forest Service.
• Construction of the Panama Canal.
• Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.
• Introduction of the Lincoln penny, replacing the Indian Head penny.
• Officially changing the name of the “The Executive Mansion” to the “White House”.
• The appointment of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. to the Supreme Court
• Having a stuffed animal, the Teddy bear, named after him.

He also had a list of firsts, including the first:

• American to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
• President to ride in an automobile.
• Official to invite a black person to dine in the White House, educator and author Booker T. Washington
• President to travel outside of the U.S., when he visited Panama, during the building of the canal.
• President to coin a business trademark, after making a comment about a cup coffee - “good to the last drop,” at the Maxwell House hotel in Tennessee.

Remaining active in politics after his presidency, an assassination was attempted in Milwaukee. Roosevelt was shot in the chest minutes minutes before he was to give a speech. He assumed the bullet hadn’t penetrated the lung, so he decided to deliver his 90-minute speech. Fearful of causing more damage, doctors decided not to remove the bullet.

Roosevelt was also a professional historian, attorney, naturalist and Amazon explorer. He wrote 35 books on the outdoors and natural history, the American frontier, as well as naval and political history. His face is also carved on Mount Rushmore with Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington.

Roosevelt Island park includes a memorial with a 17′ statute of the President, four large tablets with some of Roosevelt’s famous quotes and two fountains. You can also walk the roughly 4 miles of trails and boardwalks. You can get a unique view of the The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts just across the river from the east side of the island, as well as one of Georgetown from the footbridge at the entrance.

The park is also a great place for bird watching.

Although part of DC, it is only accessible by a footbridge off of the northbound side of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, just north of the Roosevelt Bridge.

Roosevelt Island
Northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, between I-66 and the Key Bridge
Arlington, VA (map it)

Dates and Times - open daily dawn to dusk

Admission - Free. Cars or bicycles are not permitted on the island.

Nearest Metro Subway Station - Rosslyn line, then a 6-block walk.

Parking - free parking is available, but my be limited on weekends or during events.

Images - 1 & 2 personal collection, 3 Flickr

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