It was a day for children at the Theodore Roosevelt Museum at the Old Orchard at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site on Saturday, Jan. 24, as former students of Oyster Bay-East Norwich school teacher Richard Siegelman were invited by him to attend the Sunday, Jan. 25 from 2 to 4 p.m. It was the day when staff members would have a walk through the site.

Mr. Siegelman's invitation was offered by Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Ranger Charles Markis, chief of Interpretation and Visitors' Services. Mr. Siegelman had met both Superintendent Gay Vietzke and Chief Markis at the Oct. 27, 2003 birthday ceremony at the TR gravesite at Youngs Memorial Cemetery. The reason for the invitation to the opening of the new Old Orchard Museum was that Mr. Siegelman's students served as one of the classes that were in the focus group who were questioned by National Park Service staff when they were deciding how to refine the Old Orchard Museum. In 1999 Harris H. Shettel did a report on the research work.

Mr. Richard Siegelman said six out of the about 100 students he told of the museum opening showed up. "Maybe others will show up next Sunday," he said optimistically. [Direct mail results are considered successful if there is only a 1 percent response, so the number was high, in an area where children have full schedules.]

Those who attended the opening were:

Kayvon Mesbah, Cassie Klipera, Marshall Greenberg, John Mandelino, Joe Galizia, Richard Nibert (and his mother Linda Nibert) and Nicky Murray. Mr. Siegelman had educational goodie bags filled with TR material for the students.

"Three of those kids were in the focus group, Kayvon Mesbah, Marshall Greenberg and Joe Galizia," said Mr. Siegelman.

Mr. Siegelman said of his students: "They were third graders then and are now in eighth grade. The original focus group of students included: Jason Aarons, Sarah Bayer, Chris Belfiore, Peter Bertoli, Tom Capobianco. Amandeep Cattry, Travis Ferrufino, Joe Galizia, Marshall Greenberg, Victoria Gregory, Julia Kellogg, Stevie Labadorf, Kirill Lazebnik, Sara Lemar, Liska Lopez, Kayvon Mesbah, Alex Meyer, Mary Alice Miller, Tara Plastock, Sean Roach, Oneidy Velasquez, and Greg Gibson."

Mr. Shettel, the exhibit evaluation consultant said in his report: "A total of 22 students [in Mr. Siegelman's class], nine girls and 13 boys participated. "It should be noted that the preferred school-age group was planned to be selected from either a junior high school or high school class.

"On June 4, the focus group was assembled." Mr. Shettel said, "One could not help but be impressed by the spontaneous enthusiasm of the group of children. With very few exceptions, they all entered into the discussion (sometimes all at once!) and seemed to really enjoy talking about museums, and especially Sagamore Hill and TR. While they do not represent the age level of the younger target audience that was initially identified, their thoughts and ideas are worth noting and taking into consideration in planning for the new exhibits."

He added, "However, this class had made a recent visit to Sagamore Hill about which they were obviously excited and their teacher [Mr. Siegelman] pays special attention to local history with what appear to be excellent results. In short, this was not a typical third grade group.

"The group seemed to find famous quotes of TR to be of great value - they had even written out many of them on papers that they showed us. A number of the students had memorized some of them and said them out loud to the group. The idea that they could 'see' TR actually saying these things had a lot of appeal to them.

"The teacher whose class we used for the focus group stayed after the other teachers left to get feedback on what happened with his class, what they had to say, etc. He made a good point about the reading problem that came up so often in our discussion - have different levels of text, with the important information in a short and easy-to-read format, followed by more detail for the higher age groups. Of course, this notion has been promoted in the museum world for a long time, but the context of this museum and this age group, has much to recommend it.

"Another 'take' on the use of text in exhibits was made by the teacher whose class we used - write labels at different levels so that the younger children can get the main idea of the exhibit without having to digest lots of words. This is an 'old' idea that is seldom used, and thought should be given to its incorporation in the planned exhibits," concluded Mr. Shettel.

At the museum opening, Cassie Klipera had another reason for coming to the Old Orchard to see the Theodore Roosevelt Museum. She said, " June Klipera, my grandmother worked here at the gift shop. All the couples in the family met here." Her mother Betsy worked for her husband's mother in the gift shop and June's son Bob Klipera married Betsey. Tomas Schwind of Whaley Electric met Betsey's sister Suzanne there, at Sagamore Hill. Thomas Schwind explained, "I worked there as a park ranger, my wife Suzanne Elia Schwind worked at the canteen/gift shop.

"Betsey, who is Cassie's mother, volunteered as a member of the Student Conservation Association. The SCA works with all the national parks. Betsy (Elia Klipera) also worked for the canteen gift shop. Before I came into the National Park Service I was in the SCA and that was where I met Betsey and then my wife Suzanne, who is Betsey's sister," said Mr. Schwind.

Also attending the opening was the Murray family, Bob and Ruth Murray and their children Nicholas and Jillian. Mr. Siegelman said, "Ruth was a secretary at Vernon and Nicky was one of those students in my reading group that told TR anecdotes at one of the Oct. 27, [commemoration of Theodore Roosevelt's birthday] gravesite commemorations at Youngs Cemetery. Their younger daughter, Jillian, was one of those who I invited to come and pick as many books from my classroom collection as she wanted, when I retired from the OB-EN district," said Mr. Siegelman, who is enjoying his retirement by catching up on his reading.

The National Park Service (NPS) is developing a general management plan for Sagamore Hill. A first step in planning the future of the park is to gather the ideas and interests of visitors, park neighbors, elected officials, partners, and other interested groups and individuals. The public's input will help shape the goals, principles and strategies that form the core of the general management plan.

Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919. From 1902 to 1908, as the "Summer White House," Sagamore Hill was the focus of international attention, playing host to numerous individuals and events that had far reaching influence over domestic and world affairs. In the 1950s, the Theodore Roosevelt Association purchased the property from the Roosevelt family and later donated it to the National Park Service. Today, the TRA continues to play a key role in the park.

Recently the Friends of Sagamore Hill has been formed as a fund-raising arm of the historic site. They hosted the ribbon-cutting event that opened the newly restored Old Orchard Museum held on Saturday, Jan. 24, when elected officials and Roosevelt family members attended the ceremony.

The following day, Sunday, Jan. 25, volunteers at the site were invited to view the completed exhibit. At both events the management plan was provided to visitors. They are seeking feedback from the public and encouraged everyone to share their ideas and concerns with them. You can call, send a fax, write a letter, or e-mail your thoughts and suggestions to the planning team. Please include your name and address. Send your comments to:

Superintendent, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, 20 Sagamore Hill Road, Oyster Bay, NY 11771-1809. You can call them at 516-922-4788 or fax them at 516-922-4792. Their e-mail address is SAHI_information@nps.gov. Their website is www.nps.gov/sahi/gmp.

The planning process includes a scoping project to gauge what the future of the site will be. Next is a research, data collection and analysis project. The next steps will be to establish a foundation for planning; define goals; develop planning alternatives; prepare a draft general management plan/environmental impact statement; review and revise the draft GMP/EIS; prepare a final GMP/EIS; review the final GMP/EIS and approve the GMP/EIS.

The brochure said as follows:

The National Park Service is preparing a general management plan for Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. This "master plan," which will take about three years to complete, will lay out a vision for the future of the park and provide guidance for park management and development over the next 15 to 20 years.

A comprehensive management plan is needed for Sagamore Hill because no such formally approved plan exists for the site. Since the site's establishment as a unit of the National Park System in 1962, the types of visitors and the way in which they experience the site has changed. A great deal more is now known about how TR and his family lived, worked and played at Sagamore Hill and also about how this place was shaped by and reflected Roosevelt's personal philosophies - much of which is not yet adequately represented at the site.

The management plan states: "We are now celebrating the centennial of TR's Presidency which ushered the nation into the 20th century. It is an appropriate time to think about Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in the 21st century and how best to convey the relevance of Theodore Roosevelt to contemporary audiences. The National Park Service looks forward to working collaboratively with the park's partners and the public to develop a general management plan for the site."

The GMP will look at a full range of topics - for example, protecting resources, serving visitors, operating and maintaining the site. They will examine the following issues.

• In 1993, the typical experience of visitors at the park changed. Tours of the Roosevelt house, which had previously been self-guiding, became ranger - or docent - led with limitations placed on the number of participants per tour. Visitors often have to wait an extended period of time to tour the house and sometimes are unable to tour the house at all. Few well-developed park programs exist for these visitors, so visitors may leave without learning about or appreciating the significance of the site. As a result, these visitors may depart uninformed and dissatisfied with their experience.

• Sagamore Hill National Historic site was established by Congress in 1962 for the purpose of interpreting to the public "the spirit and image of Theodore Roosevelt, his family and significant events associated with him during his years at Sagamore Hill." However, current park facilities limit the interpretive potential of the site by focusing mostly on the house and not on the property as a whole.

• Sagamore Hill is located in metropolitan New York, home to a very large, ethnically and economically diverse population, yet Sagamore Hill does not seem to attract diverse audiences.

• Visitor service facilities are dispersed across multiple locations on the site making them difficult to staff and confusing to the visitor.

• Throughout most of its history as a National Park Service unit, the property has been treated primarily as a cultural resource with little attention given to its natural resource values.

• The site's vast collection of artifacts, both on display and in storage, is not adequately protected. The collection is currently housed in several locations on the property and not all storage is properly climate-controlled.

• A number of activities (e.g. interpretive offices, collection storage, and kitchenette) are located in the Roosevelt house and are not considered appropriate uses for that structure.

• Administration and other park operations functions are placed in numerous locations, which results in operational inefficiencies.

• The existing maintenance facility is overcrowded and does not meet current federal safety standards in some areas.

• There are numerous institutions, historic sites and monuments associated with Theodore Roosevelt located across the country. The desired relationship between Sagamore Hill and these sites has not been clearly defined and may present interesting opportunities.