Owner Donates Sylvester Manor To Shelter Island Nonprofit

Who among us from off “the Rock” knew that all of Shelter Island was purchased in 1651 for 1,600 pounds of sugar by a Dutch trader named Nathaniel Sylvester?

The island’s first white settler, Mr. Sylvester established a slave plantation to provision ships sailing for international trade. He and his business partners built Sylvester Manor in 1652 as several homes for themselves, their families, and their slaves and indentured servants to live in.

Fast forward through a 1737 replacement of the manor for gentrification purposes, the incorporation of Shelter Island Town, the Revolutionary War, the freeing of slaves, and a transformation of the Sylvester estate from farmland to a weekend retreat for the likes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—coupled with a whittling down of the acreage, through sales and other transfers over centuries, from 8,000 acres to about 150.

Throughout those 360 years, the manor and what was left of much of the surrounding property somehow remained in the hands of Nathaniel Sylvester’s descendants.

Until now.

At the end of June, Eben Fiske Ostby, a 10th-generation descendant of Shelter Island’s original European settlers, donated the manor house, as well as its barns and 141 acres of land, to the nonprofit Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, whose goal is to farm and preserve the land and to share Sylvester Manor and its history with the public. The nonprofit, which has an educational center on the property dedicated to “inviting new thought about the importance of food,” was formed in 2009 when Mr. Ostby and his nephew Bennett Konesni were contemplating the future of the estate and how best to take care of it.

Mr. Ostby, who inherited the manor from his uncle, Andrew Fiske, on Sunday explained in an email a little of what came after the windfall.

“When this happened I had no idea how to support the property,” he said. “My first priority was to keep the property from being cut up and developed.”

According to the Sara Gordon, the strategic director at Syvester Manor Educational Farm, if he had developed his land instead of giving it away, up to 95 homes might have been built on the 236 acres he originally inherited.

“Fortunately, I got some great advice from John [v.H.] Halsey at the Peconic Land Trust,” Mr. Ostby said. “It was a long process, but we eventually created the educational farm to sustain the manor.”

In 2009, Mr. Ostby donated a 22-acre conservation easement to the Peconic Land Trust. Then, in 2012, he donated another 83 acres to the educational farm, which then sold the development rights for those fields and pastures to town, county and federal conservation programs.

According to Sara Gordon of the educational farm, another two family members separately own about 4 acres on two outparcels. Mr. Ostby will retain 11.7 acres of woodland on a creek for his own use.

Preserved lands now comprise 103 of the non-profit’s total 225-acre expanse. Some acreage is not at this time permanently protected to allow the educational farm some flexibility in its use of the property, according to Mr. Halsey, who said that helping the family put conservation options in place had been “an amazing opportunity for the trust.”

Last month’s transfer of the 141 acres culminated with a closing at the Sylvester Manor on June 23. A “farm-to-table” dinner followed on June 28, at which Mr. Ostby and Mr. Konesni were celebrated.

This week, Mr. Konesni said the donation will allow the educational farm to raise funds directly to preserve the Sylvester Manor’s buildings and grounds.

“On a symbolic level,” he said by email on Monday, “the burden and honor of stewardship has now been placed on the strong shoulders of the entire community, and our family could not be more proud of this shift and more confident in its success.”

With ownership, the educational farm will be able to seek historic preservations grants to restore the house. It is also exploring getting it registered as a National Historic Landmark. In the meantime, Sylvester Manor Educational Farm will continue to include the community through school field trips, history tours, arts performances, farm-based education, festivals, community-supported agriculture and a farm stand, according to a release. More information can be found at www.sylvestermanor.org.