Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt Bulloch Hall

		T.R.
.

Bulloch Hall
Roswell, Georgia
www.bullochhall.org

"Everything was just as I thought it would be - lovely old fireplace, splendid proportions
and a beautiful view from the same back porch.... and when I picked a piece of ivy from
the same tree where my mother had gathered wet leaves for her lovely hair, my heart felt
tender beyond words."

- Corinne Roosevelt
describing Bulloch Hall in 1912

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In 1838, Martha and James Bulloch moved their brood of six children and two slave couples to a place on the Chattahoochee River, 13 miles north of Atlanta, named Roswell. Boasting a waterfall which could power the local cotton mill, settlers quickly built makeshift quarters while mansions like Mimosa Hall and Barrington King House were built.
James and Martha Bulloch eschewed grandeur for practicality, and built a house planned more towards coping with the suffocating summers than the relatively short and mild winters.
The home features Doric columns, a spacious main hall and a grand staircase leading to the second floor. The driveway, shaped to form a valentine, leads visitors on a loop from the road up to the wide veranda, then loops again back onto the road.

In 1856, the widowed Martha Bulloch moved to New York to reside with Mittie and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.; thus forcing her to rent Bulloch Hall.
In 1864, General Sherman's army ransacked Bulloch Hall, but mercifully did not burn it (perhaps because the soldiers chose the respect the home of a fellow Mason, whose Masonic symbols were prominently displayed on each side and over the entrance of the house).
During his tenure at Harvard, Theodore Roosevelt was presented with a pocketbook containing paper silhouettes of his Southern relatives and a list of instructions for entertaining guests. The gift came from a friend whose father had fought under General Sherman and had taken the book as a memento of the Southern campaign of 1864!

Sources:
Betty Boyd Caroli, The Roosevelt Women
US Library of Congress: Built in America, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hhhtml/hhhome.html