Sylvester Manor

United States historic place


Sylvester Manor
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

The gateway to Sylvester Manor
41°04′49.4″N 72°20′28″W / 41.080389°N 72.34111°W / 41.080389; -72.34111
Built	c. 1737^[2]
NRHP reference No.	15000178^[1]
Added to NRHP	April 28, 2015

Sylvester Manor is a historic manor on Shelter Island in Suffolk County, New York, USA.

History

The land, spanning 8,000 acres on Shelter Island, was acquired by English-born colonist Nathaniel Sylvester in the 17th century.^[3] Sylvester and his brother owned two plantations in Barbados and over 200 enslaved Africans.^[3] When he died in 1680, the estate and 23 enslaved people were inherited by his descendants.^[3]

The manor on the estate was built in 1737 for Nathaniel Sylvester's grandson, Brinley Sylvester.^[4] Enslaved Africans and European indentured servants built it.^[3] The last enslaved person was freed in 1820.^[4] The grounds include a cemetery of unmarked graves for enslaved people.^[4]

Later, the manor was inherited by Mary Gardiner Horsford, the wife of renowned Harvard University professor Eben Norton Horsford after her mother brought it back into the family.^[5] They entertained often, one of their guests being Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.^[5] After her death, he married her sister, Phoebe Dayton Gardiner, with whom he had a fifth daughter, Cornelia Horsford.^[6]

In recent years, it was the home of heiress Alice Fiske.^[4] More recently, it was inherited by an 11th generation descendant, Bennett Konesni.^[4] With his uncle, Eben Fiske Ostby, he co-founded the Sylvester Manor Educational Farm^[7] with the help of the Peconic Land Trust.^[4]^[8]

Architectural significance

The manor has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 28, 2015.^[9]

References

^ "Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 4/27/15 through 5/01/15". National Park Service. May 8, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
^ William E. Krattinger (February 2015). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Sylvester Manor" (PDF). New York State Cultural Resource Information System. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jennifer Schuessler (August 12, 2015). "Confronting Slavery at Long Island's Oldest Estates". The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Anne Raver (April 10, 2013). "Life on the Plantation: Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island Returns to Its Roots". The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b "The House — Sylvester Manor". Retrieved December 25, 2022.
^ "Horsford, Cornelia". The Biographical Cyclopaedia of American Women. New York: The Halvord Publishing Company. 1924. p. 169.
^ Sylvester Manor https://www.sylvestermanor.org/home
^ "Sylvester Manor Educational Farm".
^ Sylvester Manor: Sylvester Manor Placed on the National Register of Historic Places

Bibliography

Mac Griswold. The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island (New York City: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013).
Katherine Howlett Hayes. Slavery before Race Europeans, Africans, and Indians at Long Island's Sylvester Manor Plantation, 1651-1884 (New York City: NYU Press, 2013).