Theodore Roosevelt Island ⓘ

Theodore Roosevelt Island is a small part of the much larger Potomac River Valley, an area that has been used by people for over 15,000 years. Archeology has long been used to better understand human life and communities not recorded in the written record, with evidence of thousands of years of human occupation on Theodore Roosevelt Island literally written in the earth. Archeological investigations here show that different groups of people from eastern North America settled in this part of the Potomac River Valley as long as 13,000 years ago and that the earliest people moved in and out, probably only staying in a region for a few days or weeks at a time before moving on. [1]

During these earliest years of human activity, the island didn’t exist—it was connected to shore because sea level was 300 feet lower than what it is today. [2] It wasn’t until 13,000 years ago that the climate began to warm and glacial melt raised sea levels creating the Potomac River Valley. With this warming climate, different plants and animals that were able to support early hunter-gatherers.

The first archeological record for human activity at Theodore Roosevelt Island comes from excavated projectile points that are about 9000 years old. [3] Early people on the island were most likely staying for short amounts of time to fish, hunt animals (deer, turkey, duck, rabbit), collect shellfish, and harvest plants (such as forest nuts provided by oak-hickory forests at this time) before moving to a new location for the same purpose. During much of this early human occupation of the island there is very little evidence of large or permanent settlements. Instead, these early people made “base camps” that would serve as home while they harvested food and other resources in the area before moving on to a new location. Archeologists suspect that these kinds of settlements were revisited time and again over generations as part of seasonal subsistence activities, as evident by recent archeological work along the Rappahannock river. [4]

After this early period of human activity at the island, people of the Savannah River Culture migrated from present-day Georgia and South Carolina into the Potomac River Valley around 2000 B.C.E. (about 4000 years ago). These groups brought with them distinct materials such as projectile points and soapstone bowls not previously seen in the area. Soapstone is not a naturally occurring rock on Theodore Roosevelt Island but has been found on the island from this time period suggesting that the Savannah River Culture people used this island, probably as a main hunting camp. Soapstone used by these people was most likely sourced from ancient quarries located in nearby Washington, D.C. and throughout the Piedmont region of Virginia.

Following soapstone bowls came the first recorded use of pottery in the region around 1400 B.C.E. During this period people began to live in more permanent settlements on the banks of rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, while still using Theodore Roosevelt Island as a base camp for hunting deer and turkey. These trends would continue throughout much of the history of this area with the peak of population at Theodore Roosevelt Island coming during the Middle Woodland Period (700 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E.). In fact, archeologists think these were the largest recorded settlements at the island until after the American Revolution.

After the Middle Woodland period the island saw a decline in human settlement. During the Late Woodland Period (1000 to 1607 C.E.), large permanent settlements are documented throughout the Potomac Valley, but located away from Theodore Roosevelt Island. It was at this time that many of the tribes in the region were organized. These tribes included the Powhatan coalition in Virginia and the Piscataway and Nanticoke in Maryland. One of the theories archeologists have that explains this lack of human occupation in the region surrounds the status of the falls of the Potomac River serving as a border between different Native American villages. Another theory states that ecological reasons could explain the absence of settlements in this area. [4]

During this time, these settlements were getting larger and larger because of the introduction of maize agriculture. Maize (corn) is a plant native to Mexico that was introduced in this area, providing a more secure source of food which allowed these settlements to grow and become more socially stratified. By the time the first Europeans arrived in this area, settlements were big enough that more complex political relationships emerged to navigate issues between villages, an example of what archeologists call a ranked society. For example, John Smith’s map of the Chesapeake Bay Area from 1607 and 1608 records the settlements of Namoraughquend and Nacotchtanck located near Theodore Roosevelt Island.

This map marked the beginning of a new era for Native American occupation in the Potomac valley. John Smith and other Europeans were part of the English colonization of what is now Virginia. Their encroachment on Indigenous land disrupted the economies and social structures of Virginia tribes, causing increased conflicts and violence. While some Native Americans moved further west, many stayed on their ancestral lands and endured oppression by these newcomers and struggled to retain their cultural heritage. Many native people still live in the Potomac valley today. In Virginia, there are eleven state-recognized tribes, seven of which are also federally-recognized.

Beginning in 1632 Cecilius Calvert, Second Lord of Baltimore, was granted a land patent over much of the colony of Maryland which included Theodore Roosevelt Island, then known as “My Lord’s Island.” The first colonist to own the island was a man by the name of Capt. Randolph Brandt who was granted the island by the Third Lord of Baltimore as payment for protecting colonists during conflicts with Native Americans. [1] The deed that was placed on the island for Capt. Brandt referred to the island as Barbadoes. That name would not last long though, with maps being made at around this time referring to the island as Analostan. Eventually, ownership of the island would fall into the hands of George Mason III of the Virginian Mason family in 1717. [2]

The island remained in the care of the Mason family throughout the 1700s and came to be known by some as Mason’s Island. Although owned by the Masons, no member of the Mason family would live on the island until much later, and the only use reported was the start of a ferry service from Georgetown to the island in 1748. It wasn’t until 1792 that a member of the Mason family would live permanently on the island. It was in that year that John Mason, the fourth son of George Mason IV, would begin planning the construction of a plantation on the island. Beginning in 1793 John Mason posted an advertisement in local newspapers stating his need for “12 to 15 stout young Negro Fellows for a year’s employment in the neighborhood of my Ferry-House opposite Georgetown.” [3] John Mason was seeking enslaved workers to help build a plantation mansion on the island that would come to be known as the Mason House. The Classical Revival style mansion was completed in 1802, built as a one-story house with a basement and an H-shaped floor plan. The house contained a drawing room, bedrooms, dining rooms, a bathroom, and in the basement, kitchen and storage rooms. There were also separate support buildings such as an icehouse, outhouses, and enslaved peoples' lodgings. The Masons became well known throughout the Washington, DC area for throwing lavish parties. They hosted dinners, picnics, and dances and for guests that included presidents and the future King of France Louis-Philippe in 1798. The island was also used by the Masons as a plantation, using enslaved labor to pursue many agricultural ventures set out by John Mason. John Mason was not a planter by profession but was a businessman by trade. During his lifetime he speculated in many business ventures such as Fenwick, Mason & Company established in 1788 which sold tobacco to European agents.4 John Mason’s agricultural activities on the island included cultivating different colors and textures of cotton and breeding different breeds of sheep after an embargo on wool by the British in the years 1809-1812. [4] These agricultural activities were located towards the northern side of the island where extensive fields dotted the landscape. The Masons were also avid gardeners and dotted the southern end of the island with extensive vegetable gardens and pleasure gardens that played host to many of their parties.

Little remains of the house today. Some of the support buildings are still visible today like the well and icehouse, but the foundation is barely visible and much different than what would have been found in the time of the Masons. The foundation has changed since the time of the Masons because of a fire that destroyed the east wing of the home in 1806. Thomas Jefferson visited the island after the fire and documented the visit in his journal that day describing damage done to the east wing and the arrest of a servant suspected of starting the fire. The east wing was never rebuilt and the foundation that remains today reflects this. The Masons lived on the island until 1833 when the island was sold. Some speculated the island was sold to settle debts or that the damming of the Little River on the western side of the island created unhealthy living conditions. The island remained a hot spot for local picnics and even a hot air balloon demonstration in 1834. Some tenant farmers made their homes on the island during this time as well, but the most lasting remnant of the island from the time of the Masons was the continued operation of the ferry from the island to Georgetown. With the coming Civil War though, the island would change forever.

James F Duhamel, "Analostan Island," Records of the Columbia Historical Society 35-36 (1935): 133-145.

John Bedell, Tiffany Raszick, and Gregory Katz, Analostan: The Archeology of Theodore Roosevelt Island. Volume 1 (Washington DC: WSP USA Inc., 2020).

Columbian Mirror and Alexandria Gazette, January 16, 19, and 23, 1793; February 2, 6, 9, and 16, 1793.

Jonathan Pliska, Historic American Landscapes Survey, DC-12, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Photographs, Written Historical and Descriptive Data, Reduced Copies of Measured Drawings, Field Records (Washington, D.C.: Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 2008), 8-9.

Although Theodore Roosevelt Island was purchased by the Mason family in 1717, the family did not use it until they opened the Mason ferry in 1748. [1] The ferry became a mainstay of the island and stayed in operation for over 100 years until 1867. The ferry was operated by a pull chain that connected the island to Georgetown, carrying passengers across the Potomac River. Over this period, the armies of Rochambeau and Lafayette used the ferry on their way to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Even George Washington used it for travel and wrote about his journey over the river on the Mason ferry in 1785. [2] One of the most notable uses though was when James Madison fled the destruction of Washington, DC by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812.

Several paintings and maps from the early 1800s show a ferry house located on the northeastern part of the island. This ferry house would most likely have been used by the operator of the ferry, ensuring travel between the island and Georgetown flowed smoothly throughout the year. Archeological evidence of this ferry house however is limited. The only definitive physical evidence of a ferry on the island are wooden planks indicating a ferry landing on the banks of the northern side of the island. In addition to this ferry landing, there is also evidence of stone piles and a terrace wall near the old location of the ferry house. These features are visible in a painting from 1840 that shows the ferry house as seen from the banks of the Potomac River in Georgetown. The ferry would cease operations shortly after the Civil War following the construction of more bridges spanning the Potomac River that put ferry services out of business. Due to the longevity of the Mason ferry and its use by presidents throughout its history, the ferry remains a lasting legacy of Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Pliska, Jonathan, Historic American Landscapes Survey, DC-12, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Photographs, Written Historical and Descriptive Data, Reduced Copies of Measured Drawings, Field Records (Washington, D.C.: Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 2008), 6.

One of the most interesting phases of the history on Theodore Roosevelt Island occurred during the Civil War when the island was still called Analostan Island or Mason’s Island. In 1863, Analostan Island was the location of Camp Greene where the 1st Regiment of United States Colored Troops (USCT) were mustered. This was the first time African Americans could enlist in the Union Army for the fight against the Confederacy.

The possibility of Black military enlistment was brought to the attention of Union leadership shortly after the start of the war following the liberation of formerly enslaved people. Army officers frequently reported a surge in desire from formerly enslaved people to serve in the Union army, despite this being illegal at the time. Soon, some Union army officers took it upon themselves by extra legal means to enlist the help of newly freed African Americans, such as the actions of Gen. Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe, Virginia. [1] From the beginning of the war up until 1862 African American leaders like Frederick Douglass advocated for legally permitting African Americans to serve in the army. Frederick Douglass’ manifesto Men of Color, To Arms proved to be influential in the efforts for African Americans to enlist in the military. In late 1862 some movements began to ensure the enlistment of African Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863 finally cleared the way for African Americans to enlist in the Union military. Although it was now legal for African Americans to enlist in the Union military, law forbade them from attaining higher rank as officers, which left the all-Black regiments in the command of White officers. Furthermore, their pay was established at seven dollars per month, compared to equally ranked White servicemen who were paid 13 dollars per month. [2]

Some of the first federal all-Black regiments were mustered in Massachusetts with other states quickly following suit. The District of Columbia mustered their first regiment in May 1863 commanded by Missourian Col. John H. Holman. By the end of the war some 3,500 Black men from the District of Columbia would enlist. The newly mustered 1st USCT were soon placed in a newly constructed camp on Analostan Island that was eventually named Camp Greene, named after the Chief Quartermaster for the Department of Washington Lt. Colonel Elias M. Greene. Camp Greene was mainly concentrated on the northern end of the island and consisted of a series of tents used to house the new regiment. The regiment’s time at the island was used for their training and preparation for deployment to join the fight against the Confederacy. Walt Whitman, the notable American poet, assisted the camp during this time and wrote a recollection of life on the island:

I write this on Mason’s (otherwise Analostan) island, under the fine shade trees of an old white stucco house, with big rooms; the white stucco house, originally a fine country seat (tradition says the famous Virginia Mason, author of the Fugitive Slave Law, was born here.) I reach’d the spot from my Washington quarters by ambulance up Pennsylvania avenue, through Georgetown, across the Aqueduct bridge, and around through a cut and winding road, with rocks and many bad gullies not lacking. After reaching the island, we get presently in the midst of the camp of the 1st Regiment U. S. C. T. The tents look clean and good; indeed, altogether, in locality especially, the pleasantest camp I have yet seen… [Whitman 1863]. [3]

On July 30, 1863, the 1st USCT left Analostan and made their way south to assist in the siege of Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia. They also participated in the Siege of Wilmington, North Carolina. By the end of the war 178,000 Black men had volunteered for the Union Army, and 19,000 for the Union Navy. About 20 percent of African Americans serving in the Union military would die during the war, with 185 enlisted members of the 1st USCT losing their lives fighting3. As the war came to a close, the United States entered the postwar phase of reconstruction and the 1st USCT was decommissioned in 1865 ending a substantial part of the history of African American involvement in the Civil War.

“Fort Monroe and the ‘Contrabands of War,’” National Park Service, last modified August 15, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/articles/fort-monroe-and-the-contrabands-of-war.htm .

Norwood P. Hallowell, The Negro as a Soldier in the War of Rebellion (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1897), 17.

Walt Whitman, “Paying the 1st U.S.C.T.,” In Walt Whitman: Complete Poetry and Collected Prose, ed. Justin Kaplan (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1982), 1181-84.

“United States Colored Troops 1st Regiment Infantry,” National Park Service, last modified February 26, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/1stusct.htm .

After the establishment of Camp Greene and deployment of the 1st United States Colored Troops (USCT), the camp was used for the housing of newly drafted servicemen and officers before deployment. During this time, Camp Greene was expanded to include new permanent structures such as barracks, hospitals, cookhouse, mess house, guard house, officers’ quarters, stables, and an icehouse. In November of 1863, over 800 enlisted men and 33 officers were living on the island preparing for deployment. As the draft was coming to an end in the spring of 1864, the camp on the island was closed to newly enlisted men and vacated.

From May 1864 until June 1865 the camp was repurposed for housing people newly freed or escaped from enslavement who were searching for employment in Washington, DC. It quickly grew to be grossly overcrowded and the War Department did little to maintain it. The conditions at Camp Greene were so bad that hundreds of people died due to malnutrition and disease. The camp was not set up to handle the large numbers of people who sought refuge there. This led to the War Department allowing some of the camp inhabitants to practice subsistence farming on the island to alleviate these conditions. Camp conditions improved slightly with assistance from the Quaker Association of Friends who provided food, clothing, hospital support, a school, and other basic needs to those living on the island.

By late 1865, many had fled the poor conditions of the camp and only 500 refugees remained on the island. The War Department made plans to relocate those remaining to the nearby Freedman’s village at Arlington House. After the camp was closed the government returned the land to the previous owner, William A. Bradley, and some of the buildings were either repaired or sold off to settle losses sustained by Bradley during the war. Maps and photographs from this time show a large number of buildings on the island, and records from the island describe work done to repair these buildings. Although there is significant documentation of where these buildings were located, little evidence of these buildings exists today. Archeologically all that remains of the extensive infrastructure built during this time are the foundations of the stables and some large stones that could have been used for building foundations at the camp. More could have been preserved of the camp if not for the significant work done on the island during the 1930s as part of work done preparing the island as a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. Following the Civil War, the use of the island declined significantly, but it still remained as a focal point for local activities and events.

Following the Civil War and Freedman’s Camp, the island reverted back to its state before the war as a home for many locally-organized events like picnics and dances. In 1865 following the closure of the Freedman’s Camp, a medieval style joust was hosted on the island followed by a moonlight dance near the Mason House. This was probably the most extravagant event hosted at the island after the war. For the remainder of the 1800s, most of the other activities were picnics and dances hosted by various clubs and organizations based in Washington, DC, like the Oldest Inhabitants of DC Club and the Steam Fire Engine Company. Towards the end of the 19th century the island was host to many athletic competitions and sporting club activities. Beginning in 1887 the Columbia Athletic Club held events on the island. The club set about to lease land and lay out a baseball, football, and cricket ground as well as half a dozen tennis courts on the island. The final product was a large 200-yard track end-to-end that was surrounded by three large grandstands for athletic competitions. This track was constructed where the current Theodore Roosevelt Memorial stands today. It is also said that a clubhouse was built in the vicinity, but the location of the clubhouse remains unknown. The Washington Canoe Association and various shooting clubs also held events on the island during this time continuing the use of the island as a gathering place for the local community. To facilitate access to the island, the Columbia Athletic Club revived the previously defunct ferry in 1887 that used to run from Georgetown.

The Columbia Athletic Club would not last long on the island though as their newly constructed clubhouse burned down within a year of being constructed. Shortly thereafter, in 1892, the club left possibly due to economic conditions during this decade. Following the club’s departure, the island declined into a state of abandonment and disarray. The vacant buildings on the island fell into significant disrepair and were home to squatters.

During the Spanish-American War of 1898, the island was used for testing of a new experimental chemical explosive. The chemical Joveite was tested on land for its potential to assist in the construction of trenches and was also tested on the abandoned Mason House to assess its impact on infrastructure. [1] These tests would lead to more damage to an already abandoned Mason House.

The most numerous archeological items remaining today from the late 1800s and early 1900s are remnants of clay pigeons and spent shotgun shells that mark the use of the island by sporting clubs. The track, grandstands, and various building of the Columbia Athletic Club no longer remain. By 1900, the island was left abandoned and misused. Locals characterized it as a place where illegal activities were common. This would begin to change though with discussions for a newly designed National Mall that were starting with the McMillan Plan in 1902.

By the start of the 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt Island had fallen into dereliction and neglect. Although abandoned by many of the organizations who used it in the decades prior, and frequented only by squatters, the federal government proposed buying the island in 1902 to serve as a connecting point between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House. These plans were never acted on though, and the government did not purchase the island until later. Other plans by speculative real estate developers for the island at this time included amusement parks, apartments, a university stadium, and a new jail and workhouse. In 1913 the Washington Gas Light Company purchased the island and was planning to use the island for the construction of a new gasworks. These plans were never acted upon though, with the company retaining the unused island for 17 years.

In 1927 the federal government began to fear that the company might finally begin construction on a gasworks at the island which would have had an impact on the newly proposed Monument Core for the National Mall. In 1931 the Roosevelt Memorial Association began to develop plans for the construction of a memorial for Theodore Roosevelt. One such location proposed for this memorial was along the Tidal Basin, but that location had already been set aside for the Jefferson Memorial. This left Analostan Island as a prime location for the placement of this memorial.

In 1932 the Roosevelt Memorial Association purchased the island from the Washington Gas Light Company. The association would turn the island over to the federal government later that same year, beginning the process of transforming the island into its current state as Theodore Roosevelt Island.

The association felt that the island’s character as an overgrown and wild place matched the character of “Roosevelt the rugged outdoorsman.” [1] They advocated that when the memorial be built, the wild nature of the island be preserved as a place of sanctuary from the modern world. In 1932 the island was renamed one final time as Theodore Roosevelt Island and planning began for how the memorial would take shape. The Association hired notable landscape architects the Olmsted brothers, to redesign the island. The Olmsteds’ plans maintained that the island should be kept wooded and covered in native vegetation to meet the goals of the memorial as a natural sanctuary from the modern world.

Alan Having, “Presidential Images, History, and Homage: Memorializing Theodore Roosevelt, 1919-1967,” American Quarterly 30, no. 4 (1978): 514–532.

Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States: With Remarks on their Economy (New York: Dix & Edwards, 1856).

Once the Roosevelt Memorial Association owned the island and had hired the Olmsted Brothers as landscape architects, work could finally begin on redesigning the island as a natural sanctuary and memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. The plans laid out by the Olmsted Brothers included the planting of 35,000 native trees, shrubs, and other plants. In addition, the Mason House and other ruins on the island would be demolished. Lastly, various walking paths would be planned to make this natural sanctuary easily accessible to the public. Construction started in 1935 and was undertaken by the federal government’s newly established Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal era organization designed to provide work and development of trade skills to unemployed White men. Early work for the CCC on Theodore Roosevelt Island included the grading of walking paths and removal of nonnative vegetation. Part of the CCC work was conducting one of the first archeological investigations of the island. This involved an excavation of the foundation of the Mason House. These excavations began in 1936 and involved a joint effort by CCC workers and the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). With direction by HABS, the CCC workers provided the labor with excavations revealing a detailed map of the foundation, photographs of the ruins, and field notes. The scale of this excavation led to the preservation of the house foundation instead of its complete removal. The basement was filled in after these excavations and covered with soil, as it remains to this day.

Work by the CCC at Theodore Roosevelt Island was not completed though, because Frederick Law Olmsted Jr’s ill health and lack of funds halted the project. With the onset of the Second World War, this all but ensured progress on the island would not begin anytime soon. War once again brought the island into use, this time by the Office of Strategic Services who used the island for training agents. The OSS heavily graded the island with the building of a road disrupting some of the original landscape designs. Following the war, the NPS added a causeway in 1955 from the Virginia shore to the northern end of the island, which was eventually replaced by the footbridge in 1979 that remains today. The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge was also constructed across the southern end of the island in 1964 as part of highway improvements with the newly implemented interstate system. Part of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr’s original plans for the island included a boathouse and viewing platform on the southern end of the island. With the construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge though, these plans were never completed.

Up to this point there was still no memorial dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt in Washington D.C. The Roosevelt Memorial Association wanted a memorial to be in place by the centennial of Roosevelt’s birth in 1958, but this would not happen until 1967. This delay was in part caused by a controversy over the original design of the memorial by Eric Gulger, who had proposed lights and a parking lot as part of the memorial on the island. The Association felt this violated the intended purpose of the island as a retreat of nature and in 1961 a final version of the memorial was approved, with parking eventually moved to the Virginia shore accessible by the footbridge. In 1967 the memorial was finally finished and dedicated by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As it stands today, Theodore Roosevelt Island has 2 miles of footpaths and remains a retreat from the surrounding urban environment and a staple of the extensive park lands throughout Washington, DC.

Archeologists do many things, but their main task is to excavate archeological sites and uncover information about the people who once lived there. Archeological sites are places that show evidence of previous human activity that can help archeologists learn about the past. These sites are often times buried and no longer visible or covered up by new buildings. Examples of archeological sites include sunken ships, Native American villages, churches, farms, and even battlefields.

The primary way that archeologists gather information at archeological sites is through excavation or field work. Excavation is the process of retrieving, defining, and recording cultural and biological remains. The most common archeological findings at a site are artifacts and features. Artifacts are materials that have been left behind by the people that used to live there. The most common types of artifacts discovered are projectile points (which you may know as arrowheads), pieces of stone that were “flaked” off to produce those projectile points, pieces of old pottery and ceramics (archeologists call these sherds), or even bullets fired during the Civil War. Features are elements of human activity that are permanently embedded into the landscape such as ditches, berms, and raised foundations. Most features created by humans in the past served as some kind of function for a structure or building.

You may be wondering how archeologists conduct these excavations. They do so through what is called the archeological process. The archeological process is a series of steps that are necessary so that the greatest amount of information can be collected from an archeological site. This will provide archeologists with the best information possible to answer questions about how people lived and used the land before us. The steps of the archeological process are as follows:

The first step involves a research design and hypothesis. This is possibly the most important step to the archeological process because without it the information collected at a site will be useless and you won’t know what to look for when conducting field work. The types of questions that archeologists ask about an archeological site are often concerned with the people that lived there and what they did. Specifically, questions seek to answer what resources they used, how they practiced their religion, what their culture was, and how they structured their settlements. As archeologists write these questions, they begin to construct a research design that will guide them towards answering these questions. This research design can include what kind of excavation will be conducted, how many people will be needed, and whether or not special accommodations and support will be needed to assist in the excavations. Furthermore, tribal consultation begins in this step so that an ethical dialog between Native Americans and researchers is performed. Often times, tribal consultation will assist archeologists in asking informative questions about a site.

The second step involves getting permission to perform field work. It is illegal for archeologists to dig on land that they don’t have permission to dig on first. There are federal laws, such as the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) that prevents unnecessary destruction to sites and lay a foundation for ethical excavations. Not only is the federal government contacted in this step to get permission but so are the Native American tribes whose land is often times a focus of archeological research. Tribal cooperation is an important part of the archeological process.

The third step in the archeological process is collecting background information on the site. During this process archeologists will gather information from previous archeological excavations, written and oral histories of the site, geological maps/surveys, historical documents, and historic maps of the archeological site and area. This information will assist the archeologist in deciding where to spend most of their time on field work.

The fourth step is actually conducting the field work at the archeological site. Usually, field work is conducted by a field crew who are assigned to the project. Their job is to excavate the archeological site through a variety of methods. Methods include digging shovel test pits (STPs) which are small foot-wide holes that are excavated until the archeologist reaches subsoil, or soil that no longer shows evidence of human activity. Next, the dirt removed from these STPs goes through a mesh-wire screen, to remove dirt and reveal any artifacts found. It is important to remember that archeology is a destructive process and permanently disrupts the context of the artifact in the ground. This is why documentation of where the artifact came from is so important so that dating can be accomplished. Other methods of excavation include test units which are square cuts into the archeological site that take a significantly longer amount of time to excavate than STPs. Test units are more precise and oftentimes an STP with a lot of artifacts will lead the archeologist to “open a unit.” This allows the archeologist to better asses the condition of the artifacts and allow for better answers for the archeological site. Another, and more advanced excavation technique is a trench which is a long test unit that cuts through many periods of occupation at the site. Throughout this process the lead archeologist with the most experience will take extensive field notes each day that explain what was done. Field notes will include great detail on where the artifact was recovered, how deep in the ground it was, and what other artifacts may have been found surrounding it. These field notes are important in the later step of presenting this information.

The fifth step is curating the artifacts recovered at the site. Not all artifacts will be kept from excavation. Some artifacts may be modern and not important to answering the questions that archeologists asked. The artifacts that are kept need to be properly washed, bagged, labeled, tagged, cataloged, and archived so that future archeologists conducting background research, or historians, may understand what was uncovered during the excavations. Another important part of this process is to store the field notes so that these records are not lost.

The sixth step is the longest and most time-consuming step of the archeological process. You may imagine archeologists as always being in the field, but most of their time is actually spent indoors in archeological labs. This is where the archeologist puts together a site report or research paper that presents the findings from the site. It is here where the hypotheses are tested and more information on the site is gathered. Sometimes the hypotheses may not have been answered and it is necessary to conduct another round of excavations. Once the information is put together it is presented to the public or others interested in the findings of the archeologists.

As president, Theodore Roosevelt was notorious for dragging diplomats and government officials on tough hikes through the area's "wild" lands. Here are just a few ways you can live up to his legacy during your visit.

Ranger-led Programs Ranger-led programs are a great way to get the inside story on Theodore Roosevelt Island, whether you are a local who visits every day or a tourist in town for a few hours. Check the calendar to find out when and where to meet for programs.

Wildlife Viewing Birders will find habitat for wading birds, raptors, and warblers. Wildflowers put on a spectacular show in spring and early summer.

Walking or Running A variety of trails lend themselves to different activities. The Swamp Trail is mostly flat with a boardwalk section. The Woods and Upland Trails are surfaced with pea-sized gravel.

Canoeing or Kayaking An easy flat water paddle around the island is the best way to see how it is shaped by the Potomac River. If you bring your own craft, you can put it in the water near the footbridge that leads to the island or near the culvert between the two parking lots. If you rent your craft in Georgetown, be prepared to paddle across the wide, busy river.