Sylvester Manor Project
Creolization on a Northern Plantation
The Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research
at the University of Massachusetts Boston
Sylvester Manor, an estate on Shelter Island, New York, offers an extraordinary and rare opportunity to investigate life on a 17th century northern plantation, where European settlers, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans lived and worked, forging a piece of New World society. The project is designed as an interdisciplinary endeavor in Historical Archaeology, combining traditional aspects of field excavation, material culture analysis and documentary research with an entire suite of environmental analysis, remote sensing and geographic information systems, as well as several specialized forms of physical analysis.
Site History
Established in 1651, Sylvester Manor was the chief source of provisions for two Barbadian sugar plantations, owned in partnership by Nathaniel Sylvester and his brother, Constant, and two others, Thomas Middleton and Thomas Rouse. At the time it was established, the northern plantation encompassed the entire island (8,000 acres) that sits between the north and south forks of eastern Long Island. Woodlands on Shelter Island and Robins Island, also owned by the partnership, and other properties on eastern Long Island provided the much needed resources for the thousands of barrel staves needed to construct containers for transporting foodstuffs, wine and molasses. The islands also provided safe grazing pastures for livestock including cattle, sheep, pigs and horses, as predators such as wolves and foxes would have been eliminated. The rich soils also provided excellent land for growing crops. Given the long term occupation by Native Americans there seems little doubt that some parts of Shelter Island were cleared, as was common in the prehistoric northeast, by the Manhasset who eventually sold the land to Europeans.
The 1680 will of Nathaniel Sylvester reveals a great deal about additional production on the plantation as well as the landscape and structures present. The will mentions a mill, cider presses and orchards, in addition to stock and fowl. Twenty African slaves, all grouped by family units, are noted in the document; these were probably skilled and semi-skilled laborers working as coopers, carpenters, blacksmiths, domestics and field hands. The dwelling house and its numerous associated structures, including a barn and a warehouse, are also noted. This complex may have included a separate kitchen and possibly servants' quarters. A house inventory of 1688 suggests a considerable main dwelling.
After the death of Nathaniel Sylvester in 1680, the plantation was maintained by his wife Grissell and their eldest son Giles. A reading of the will indicates that Nathaniel considered himself sole owner of the island at that time; though the document states that he owned half part of the island and all joint stock, including the Africans, it also stated that due to outstanding financial obligation on the part of both Constant Sylvester and Thomas Middleton, Nathaniel assumed the right to convey the entire estate to his wife and children. Therefore, upon his death the property was divided among them, with his wife Grissell maintaining control over the manor house and much of what today represents the core of the estate. Upon her death the property was inherited by her son Giles Sylvester, who himself died childless. After a court contest, Brinley Sylvester, Giles' nephew, gained possession of the manor and is thought to have directed construction of the second manor house in 1735, which still stands today.
The current estate property is comprised of a 250 acre parcel on Shelter Island and includes the second manor house. An addition to this house was built in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Sylvester Manor