PINE KNOT, the rustic retreat of our 26th President Theodore, and First Lady Edith, Roosevelt and their family during his presidency, is nestled deep in the quiet woods of southern Albemarle County, Virginia woods, 13 miles south of Charlottesville off S.R. 20. Edith purchased Pine Knot in 1905 as a place for “rest and repairs” with a small cottage described as “probably quite the most unpretentious habitation ever owned by a president of the United States” with no electricity, heating, plumbing, insulation or interior finish. 

The cottage, still as it was in 1905 other than restoration is centered on more than 90 acres of wildlife habitat, surrounded by several thousand acres of preserved lands of adjacent farms, a tribute to the first, and country's greatest, conservationist president, Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt committed more than 230 million acres to conservation, created 150 national forests, 51 federal bird preservations, 21 reclamation projects, seven conservation conferences and commissions, five national parks, four national game preserves and preserved natural wonders by passage of the National Monuments Act and usage of the Antiquities Act to preserve parks and lands. Pine Knot uniquely exhibits the character and principles of the Roosevelts, reflecting the President's love of and joy in wilderness, the natural world and especially birds, flora and fauna; his favorite pastime at Pine Knot being birding.