Major work planned at Shelter Island’s Sylvester Manor: Improving access, sharing historic lore

Stephen Searl, Executive Director of Sylvester Manor, has announced that work is about to commence on the rehabilitation of the 1737 Manor House, acknowledging the support of generous donors that will make it possible.

The project will be coordinated by Julia Brennan, who has been named to oversee this and other capital initiatives. Among them are improvements to entrance ways, and parking; adaptive reuse of existing historic structures; and future development of new facilities on the Sylvester Manor’s 236-acre campus.

A former board member, Ms. Brennan assisted with the creation of the Comprehensive Landscape Plan for the Manor.

Once the ancestral home of Native Americans with hunting, fishing, and farming traditions, Sylvester Manor, from 1651 to 2014, was passed down through 11 generations of its original European settler family.

Now owned and governed by a nonprofit, the site reflects a remarkably intact history of North America’s evolution.