Roosevelts in Maine

The Roosevelt family maintained close connections with Maine across several generations—from Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s friendship with a Maine woodsman to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s summers and public work near the state’s eastern boundary.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Jr.

As early as 1878, Theodore Roosevelt began his long relationship with Maine and his personal guide, William Wingate “Bill” Sewall of Island Falls in Aroostook County. They spent substantial time exploring the country now associated with Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

The two maintained their connection into Roosevelt’s presidency. On August 27, 1902, Roosevelt visited Bangor for a speech and invited Sewall into his railroad car for a reunion.

At Bangor, Maine, an old loyalty reawakened. Roosevelt called for Bill Sewall of Island Falls, and the woodsman who had helped toughen him as a teenager made his way through the crowd to meet him.

This account, reported by Edmund Morris, illustrates the endurance of a relationship begun in Maine’s woods decades earlier.

During the same 1902 Maine tour, Roosevelt also visited the home associated with James G. Blaine and stopped in Waterville, where he addressed a large crowd.

The Progressive campaign of 1914

As a supporter of the Progressive Party, Roosevelt wrote to Halbert P. Gardner, its candidate for governor of Maine, on July 8, 1914. The letter promised support and a campaign appearance in the state.

Roosevelt followed through on August 18, 1914, visiting Portland and Lewiston and riding on the new Portland–Lewiston Interurban electric railway. Contemporary newspaper reports described crowds gathering and cheering at stations along the route.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Campobello Island is in Canada but can be reached by land from Lubec. A large cottage there served as the summer retreat of Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt before Franklin became president. Franklin spent summers on the island from 1885 until he was stricken by polio in 1921.

In the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Lewiston home of John D. Clifford, then U.S. Attorney for Maine and an organizer within the state’s Democratic Party.

A visit to Eastport

In her June 23, 1941 “My Day” newspaper column, Eleanor described traveling by water to Eastport and visiting the National Youth Administration resident project at Quoddy Village.

Yesterday morning, on the water, it was cool and we had a grand breeze on our way over to Eastport, Maine. Once landed there, we visited various old friends in the fruit store, the drug store and the bank. Then we took a taxi and went out to Quoddy Village to visit the NYA resident project.

I was impressed by the excellence of the workshops and by the tremendous interest which the boys show in the work they are doing in aviation mechanics and the regular machine shops.

On February 7, 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt visited women working in the Portland and South Portland shipyards. Her attention centered on the practical difficulties of managing a household while participating in wartime industrial work.