Even Theodore Roosevelt Jr.’s former home is not safe from the federal government’s sweeping rounds of cuts.
The Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in the Oyster Bay community of Cove Neck is having its hours shortened due to the Trump administration’s continued reduction of federal employees.
The property, which the National Park Service operates, announced on its website on March 17 that its hours and days of operation had been shortened to Fridays to Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The site had been open to the public from Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sagamore Hill was Roosevelt’s home from 1885 until his death in 1919. He was the 26th president, serving from 1901 to 1909. The Sagamore Hill property covers 83 acres in Cove Neck and has been listed as a national historic site since 1962.
State Assembly Member Charles Lavine (D-North Shore) wrote a letter to President Donald Trump on March 30 about the changes to the historic site.
“I have been in the New York State Assembly for two redistrictings,” he wrote. “When asked what I preferred to remain in the 13th District, my only request has been that the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay stay in the community I am privileged to represent.”
In February, Trump’s administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut roughly 1,000 employees from the National Park Service across the country. The administration has laid off thousands of federal workers in the first few months of Trump’s presidency.
Lavine directly blamed the president in his letter for the reduced hours at the site.
“Its hours are now restricted because you fired 1,000 National Park Service workers,” Lavine wrote.
Lavine said in his letter that Republican U.S. Rep. to Oklahoma Tom Cole was able to keep a social security office in his district open due to his connection with the president.
“While I certainly lack Tom Cole’s personal relationships with either Musk or you, I sense that you would agree that Sagamore Hill is at least as nationally significant as an Oklahoma Social Security office, and I therefore respectfully urge that you order a full restoration of its hours,” Lavine wrote.
The National Park Service reported a record-setting 331,863,358 visits to national parks in 2024.
The Sagamore Hill National Historic Site is in U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi’s congressional district, and he has raised concerns about DOGE’s actions in the past.
Suozzi co-signed a letter to the Social Security commissioner raising concerns about DOGE’s authority. He also held a tele-town hall in March to talk to residents about DOGE’s widespread effects.
Efforts to reach the site’s superintendent were unavailing.
