GARY BEEBER – SYLVESTER MANOR
2020-12-28When living in Sag Harbor, NY one of my great pleasures was taking the 10 minute ferry trip to Shelter Island (whose sleepy beauty starkly contrasts with the glitz and glamor of the Hamptons) and exploring/documenting Sylvester Manor. The island was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples, but was officially established as a slave holding provisioning plantation in 1652 by Nathaniel Sylvester, a sugar merchant from Barbados, who purchased the entire island for 1600 pounds of sugar.
Sylvester Manor has been in the Sylvester family for 11 generations. Descendants of Nathaniel Sylvester used slaves to work the plantation until early in the 19th century when slavery was abolished in the north. Sylvester Manor is almost 368 years old. What will this historic property be like in 50 or 100 years?
Opposite – Fallen tree
Exhibition runs through to January 12th, 2021
Griffin Museum of Photography
67 Shore Road
Winchester
MA 01890
