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Bulloch Hall
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Bulloch Hall is where Theodore Roosevelt's parents were married in December 1853
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| Location: | Bulloch Avenue, Roswell, GA |
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| Built: | 1839 |
| Built by: | Ball,Willis |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 71000276 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | May 27, 1971 |
Bulloch Hall is a Greek Revival mansion in Roswell, Georgia built in 1839. It is one of several historically significant buildings in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is where Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President, lived as a child. It is also where she married Theodore Roosevelt's father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
The Hall was built by Martha's father, Major James Stephens Bulloch. He was a prominent planter from the coast who was invited to the new settlement by his friend Roswell King. After the death of his first wife Hester Amarintha Elliott, Bulloch married the widow of his first wife's father, Martha (Stewart) Elliott and had four more children Irvine Bulloch, Anna Bulloch, Martha Bulloch, and Charles Bulloch, who died young. In 1839 Bulloch and his family moved to the completed house.
Soon Bulloch also owned land for cotton production and held enslaved African-Americans to work his fields. According to the 1850 Slave Schedules [1], Martha Stewart Elliott Bulloch, by then widowed a second time, owned 31 enslaved African-Americans. They mostly labored on cotton and crop production, but some would also have worked in Bulloch Hall on cooking and domestic tasks to support the family.
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In 1835 while on a visit to Hartford, Connecticut, James' wife gave birth to a daughter, also named Martha. She was known affectionately as Mittie. Mittie was raised at Bulloch Hall. When Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was 19, he came to Roswell, Georgia with his friend Hilborne West, who had married Mittie's oldest half sister, Susan Elliott. Mittie was 14 at the time, and did not like Theodore very much. "Thee", as he was called, met Mittie again when she went to Philadelphia in January 1853 to stay with her sister Susan. They fell in love and were married in the dining room of Bulloch Hall on December 22, 1853. The marriage was a gala affair with people coming for many miles and staying for a week. Mittie's friend and bridesmaid, Mrs. William Baker, left a recollection of the wedding in an interview by Margaret "Peggy" Mitchell of "Gone with the Wind" fame, in the Atlanta Journal, June 10, 1923.
After the marriage, the couple moved to New York City. In 1856, Martha, Anna and Irvine moved to Philadelphia to live with Martha's daughter Susan West. Anna and Martha later moved in with Mittie and Thee in New York. The Roosevelt couple became the parents of Anna; Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States; Elliott and Corinne. Later Elliott married Anna Rebecca Hall, and his daughter was First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt, who had begun his presidency on reasonably good terms for a half-northerner president, had infuriated the South by inviting Booker T. Washington to dine in the White House. Consequently, he waited a few years until the episode blew over and finally saw Bulloch Hall for the first time while visiting the South in 1905. He was the first sitting President of the United States to visit the South since the end of the American Civil War.
President Roosevelt and his wife Edith arrived in Roswell, Georgia on October 20, 1905. At Bulloch Hall, he spoke as follows:
In 1974, director Monte Hellman used Bulloch Hall to film several scenes from the movie Cockfighter, starring Warren Oates.
Bulloch Hall is located at:
This historic home is owned by the City of Roswell Georgia's Historic and Cultural Affairs Division and managed by Friends of Bulloch, Inc. a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
Bulloch Hall is open for tours seven days a week. Tour Schedule as of May 2006:
For more information and tours call the Hall at 770-992-1731 in the US. The official site of Bulloch hall is http://bullochhall.org/index.html