Presenting Rough Rider David Leahy, Mrs. George Washington Vanderbilt, and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt from the Gilded Age, at the end of the 19th century.
Here are many of the books we studied and movies we watched.
First we met Rough Rider, David Leahy.
The bandana is a reproduction I purchased while at the
Sagamore museum when we visited Theordore Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay, Long Island a few years ago.
Rough Riders is one of our favorite movies. Of course this became the regimental of choice for this era of history. The Rough Riders even became the centerpiece of our presentation and we incorporated much of what we learned from our studies to every aspect of all three interpretations.
The scene opened by my reading some of the
letters David Leahy had written about the war. The words I read brought back the imagery we had seen of the war in the movie.
Then David Leahy told his story about what made this war significant. Was it for glory? Perhaps in the beginning, but it became more than that. He clearly and emphatically pronounced the necesities of declaring war and how this war defined the era.
By trade Leahy was a lawyer. He opened one of his "law" books to read the
Monroe Doctrine to press his point.
Then Mrs. George Washington Vanderbilt gave a reading of the famed poet William Butler Yeats', "The Lake Isle of Innisfree."
Here is Mrs. Vanderbilt of the
famed mansion, the Biltmore Estate, in the foyer to welcome guests to her home. Biltmore Estate is the largest home in America, modeled after three 16th century French chateaus. This house with
"4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces" sat on 125.000 acres.
We heard rumors that Mrs. Vanderbilt is a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant and was cousin to Hamilton Fish. We are still verifying that information.
After her presentation, she was asked about the architect of her home, to which she innocently replied, "Which one?" She was so rich, she had more than one architect, an indoor architect and an outdoor architect.
Then Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt met the guests with flowers in her hands. It has been reported that she held flowers in order to avoid shaking so many hands. She enjoyed people, but was a bit of an introvert. Can you imagine shaking thousands of hands a day?
Although she was raised in high society, her years before marriage were of the frugal sort after her father died. She grew up as a neighbor and best friend of Theodore's sister, Corrine. She was often a guest of the Roosevelt family while they were growing up.
Mrs. Roosevelt shared a bit about her husband's involvement with the Rough Riders. She particularly talked of
Hamilton Fish of the "5th Avenue Contigent," who was the first to fall in Cuba. She talked about
his funeral in New York, describing the crowds of devoted well-wishers as well as fellow Rough Riders who attended. All the pall bearers were Rough Riders.
Mrs. Roosevelt shared how she and her family were recently vacationing in the Adirondacks when her husband received word that President McKinley had passed away. He boarded a nearby train so he could take the oath of office as President of the United States.
Mrs. Roosevelt explained that the family was in the process of moving to the White House. With six highly active children with whom she enjoyed spending time, she was hoping for some help with her social resposibilities at the White House. With her husband's activity level, she envisioned a White House that might play a greater factor in the social life of government. She clearly understood the importance of finesse, diplomcy, and social graces while opening her home to important dignitaries, yet her children also called to her. As familiar as she was with protocol and such, the White House was a most important environment with the most important of guests to host. Upon whom could she call to aide her with such a task of representing America, socially, in the best light? This might call for a new appointment, a new position on the White House staff. Hmmm...
(Stay tuned for our next history presentation because I have my next interpretation excitedly planned out!)
Then we listened to a partial reading of one of the many sermons of the great preacher of the Gilded Age, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. That was followed by singing a song written during this time, "How Great Thou Art." As much as certain people were famed for their greatness during the Gilded Age, God is the truly great one.
Then we enjoyed a cowboy dinner, representative of the age. Cattle trails reigned in the West to allow cowboys to transport Texan longhorns (and other breeds) to the railroads of the midWest. They were then butchered for steaks to transport to fine restaurants in the east.
Sparkling apple pomegranate cider to represent California wineries (and not that I'm sure that they had vineyards yet) at a time when America has reached her borders. By the end of the Gilded Age the West was considered fully explored.
Coconut cream pie to represent new American possessions in the Pacific...
And thus we have closed out our studies of the 19th century.