Sylvester Manor

06/09/2026

On this day in history: June 9, 1651

Three hundred seventy-five years ago today, New Haven merchant Stephen Goodyear sold Shelter Island and Robins Island to Nathaniel Sylvester, Constant Sylvester, Thomas Middleton, and Thomas Rouse for 1600 lbs of muscovado sugar.

The purchase was not simply the beginning of a family story on Shelter Island. It was a business decision made by men deeply involved in the Barbados sugar trade. As sugar became an increasingly valuable cash crop, plantation owners devoted all available fertile land to its cultivation. Foodstuffs, livestock, timber, barrel staves, and other raw materials had to be imported from elsewhere. With its natural resources and strategic location between New England, Long Island, and the Atlantic trade routes, Shelter Island was well suited to serve that purpose.

Within a year, Nathaniel Sylvester and his partners began organizing Shelter Island and Robins Island as provisioning plantations for their Barbados interests. Nathaniel would settle here and establish a northern plantation tied to the labor and profits of Caribbean sugar.

The story that began this sale is not a simple founding story. It is a history shaped by trade, family, land, labor, migration, and enslavement, and by the Indigenous Manhansett people whose homeland this had long been.

Today, as we mark the 375th anniversary of that sale, we reflect on the many layers of Shelter Island’s past and the responsibility of continuing to research, preserve, and share its full history.

Researchers note: The original deed of sale appears to have been lost to time, or at least misplaced, but the date and terms of sale are cited in later agreements with Manhansett leaders. The deed was once believed to have been kept among the Southold records, but the pages that referenced this sale were later described as “despoiled.” Additional records from the 1651 New Haven Colony, which recorded many East End deeds during this period, are also missing, possibly due to fire.

06/08/2026

Join us on July 25th & 26th at 6pm on the Manor House lawn for a performance of Twelfth Night!

Gabriel Portuondo will be portraying Malvolio in the upcoming performance of Twelfth Night for Shakespeare at the Manor. Gabriel is local to Long Island, and he holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University. Notably, his one-man show The Rime, a theatricalization of the epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, has run at the Montauk Lighthouse, among other venues.

Brian Linden returns for his third year at Shakespeare at the Manor to portray Sir Andrew Aguecheek. He lives in NYC and has performed at Shakespeare festivals in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, California, and Idaho, and with Eno River Players in Brooklyn, the Shakespeare Forum in El Barrio, and Stairwell Theater on Pier 40 on the Hudson River.

To purchase tickets and for more information, visit https://buff.ly/mZHcgJf

06/04/2026

Thank you Shelter Island Union Free School District for giving the 5th grade class the opportunity to engage with our curriculum, Whose Voices Have We Not Yet Heard. This multidisciplinary, inquiry-driven social studies project places Sylvester Manor and the Indigenous people of Shelter Island at its center.

06/04/2026

Allen O'Reilly returns this summer to direct this year's Shakespeare at the Manor performance of Twelfth Night! This is O'Reilly's third year directing Shakespeare at the Manor, with additional directing credits including Shakespeare's As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing for Robin Aren Productions, and Macbeth for Bay Street Theater, among many others.

Kea Trevett also returns to Shakespeare at the Manor for her third year, starring as Viola/Cesario in this summer's production of Twelfth Night. Her NY stage credits include Roundabout, Classic Stage Co., Lincoln Center, Arts Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Sheen Center, New Georges, The Lark, Page 73, and Cherry Lane. Kea holds an MFA from Columbia, and teaches acting at Circle in the Square and Sarah Lawrence College.

Join us on July 25th & 26th at 6pm on the Manor House lawn for an outdoor performance of Twelfth Night.

To purchase tickets and for more information, visit https://buff.ly/mZHcgJf

06/01/2026

Save the Date–Join us on July 25th & 26th at 6pm for the return of Shakespeare at the Manor! Robin Aren Productions and Bay Street’s present Twelfth Night, a tale of twins thrown to opposite shores by a shipwreck, a lovesick duke who can’t stop writing bad poetry, and a clever young woman who disguises herself as a man–with spectacular consequences. Spread your blanket on the lawn, uncork something cold, and let one of the greatest love stories ever written unspool as the summer sky dims around you.

New this year, in addition to the two outdoor performances, Sylvester Manor will host two special events to meet the cast and celebrate all things Shakespeare! Join us on July 23rd at 6:30pm for Shipwrecked with Shakespeare, an evening of music and revels at The Shipwreck, and on July 26th at 11am for a morning of family fun at the Shakespeare Fair at the Windmill.

To purchase tickets and find more information, visit https://buff.ly/mZHcgJf

05/16/2026

A fresh look at the Farmstand.

If you’ve stopped by recently, you may have noticed a few changes around the Farmstand. We’ve updated the layout to create a more maneuverable, easy-to-shop space where you can better explore the season’s harvest, Manor Made goods, and products from local makers.

From just-picked produce to pantry staples and handmade goods, every item at the stand reflects the work happening across the farm and throughout our local community.

We hope the new layout makes your visits feel even more inviting this season. Stay tuned for another exciting addition to our stand, set to debut Memorial Day Weekend.

The Farmstand is currently open Friday through Sunday from 9am–5pm through late June, when we’ll transition into summer hours- open 7 days a week.

We look forward to welcoming you this season- stop by, explore the new space, and see what’s fresh from the farm.

05/14/2026

Congratulations, Claire Ross!

This , we congratulate Claire Ross on defending her thesis (today!) entitled "Gendered Labor and Dairying at a Northern Plantation." Claire's research is part of new work supported by the Mellon Foundation that continued the study of Sylvester Manor into the 19th century. From Claire's thesis: In the early nineteenth century, the work of dairying was primarily done by and associated with women. Dairy products like butter and cheese were an important part of everyday life and almost all women, especially those living in the rural North, engaged in dairying. Past studies of dairying as gendered labor have focused on the role of dairying in the lives of white, middle-class women. This thesis builds on that body of work by specifically studying the dairying labor done by free Black women working at Sylvester Manor, a former northern plantation in Eastern Long Island. In the context of emancipation-era New York State, free Black women had to navigate the social and economic reforms of the nineteenth century while also being subject to marginalization based on their race and gender. This thesis uses documentary and archaeological evidence from nineteenth-century Sylvester Manor to better understand the ways in which free Black women used dairying to support themselves and their families during this transformative period. By highlighting the fact that free Black women engaged in the skilled labor of dairying, this work aims to disrupt narratives that erase their presence from rural northern landscapes and obscure their work as competent, independent farm women.
With Sylvester Manor

05/01/2026

For May, the Artifact of the Month is this needlepoint sampler crafted by Frances Huntington when she was just seven years old, in 1807. At the time, young girls’ education was often limited to the skills considered appropriate for women such as music, watercolor painting, comportment, and sewing. This craft introduced young girls to the alphabet and numerical system. Additional text and imagery was selected to represent the values and aesthetics of a girl’s family to potential suitors, and the samplers were often on display within the home to communicate the creator’s obedience, patience, and skill.

Frances Huntington (1799-1841) is the daughter of Catharine Mary Havens, depicted in the portrait here, and Henry Huntington. Frances went on to marry Nicoll Havens Dering (1794-1867) in 1825, and together they had seven children before she passed away. Her only son Sylvester Dering, named after Nicoll Havens Dering’s father, inherited these heirlooms among many others, and in 1915 gifted them to Cornelia Horsford so they would remain associated with Sylvester Manor.

04/30/2026

Thanks to a generous donor, we are offering a 50% discount to year-round, local resident children. The discount can be used for the Traditional Summer Youth Program (ages 2-8) or Fig & Forest Culinary Arts Program (ages 9-11).

Email [email protected] to apply. Include your name, your child's name and birthday, which week/program you are interested in and your home address. Notifications will be made by May 15 and are based on availability.

Learn more about our Summer Youth Programs at https://buff.ly/K2LziXn