Before European colonization the 88.5-acre island was stewarded by the Nacotchtank tribe. Their traditional territory encompassed much of present-day Washington DC. The Nacotchtank people moved to and inhabited what would become known as Analostan Island through the early 1700s. This is Theodore Roosevelt Island today.
Theodore Roosevelt Island a living memorial to the 26th president is a unique place. It’s accessible only by a footbridge from a nearby Virginia riverbank. Few visitors know about this island in the Potomac River. It’s a far cry from the imposing marble monuments of the National Mall.
The island’s natural appearance is an illusion. It obscures a long history of human settlement. Before its reforestation in the 1930s the island was far different. Before becoming a park it served many purposes.
In 1663 colonists seized the riverbank lands. They broke treaties with the Nacotchtank. Later in 1717 the Mason family acquired the island. It became a summer hotspot for Washington’s elite. They built a sizeable mansion on the island’s highest point. The Masons’ agricultural success was the cultivation of Analostan Island. Their British head gardener David Hepburn created famed gardens. He planted avenues of poplars and locusts. This cultivation relied heavily on the labor of enslaved Black people.
The Mason family’s violence extended beyond the island. James Murray Mason John Mason’s son served as a leading advocate for slavery in the Senate. He introduced the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
In 1833 John Mason lost the island. It became a commercial garden until the Civil War. Then the US Army moved in. The United States Colored Troops 1st Regiment trained there. Self-emancipated Black families sought refuge in overcrowded camps on the island. These were known as contraband camps. Prominent abolitionists visited these camps. Sojourner Truth even spent a week on Mason’s Island.
After the war the Columbia Athletic Club leased the island. They used it for sports. Later the Washington Gas Light Company bought it. They planned gas tank storage. This never happened. The island became overgrown.
The Roosevelt Memorial Association bought the island. They aimed to create a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. They hired Frederick Law Olmsted Jr to restore the island’s landscape. The Civilian Conservation Corps planted thousands of trees. They cleared the cultivated landscape including the remains of John Mason’s house. The Historic American Buildings Survey documented the house before its demolition. This was the largest HABS project in DC to date.
In 1967 the memorial plaza and Roosevelt statue were unveiled. Today only historic maps show where the Mason house once stood. The Civil War-era barracks and the Black contraband camp are also gone. The island’s history is complex. It tells a story of Native American stewardship colonial exploitation Civil War refuge and ultimately a memorial to a complex figure Theodore Roosevelt. The island itself stands as a monument to its layered past.