Sylvester Manor, Denton Homestead recommended for State and National Register of Historic Places

Sylvester Manor, Denton Homestead recommended for State and National Register of Historic Places
Updated September 19, 2014 10:16 PM
By WILLIAM MURPHY william.murphy@newsday.com

Two Long Island properties are among 22 around the state that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended Friday for inclusion on state and national registers of historic places.

One is Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, which has remnants of an 8,000-acre plantation that originally encompassed the island. It was the homestead of Nathaniel Sylvester, who in 1651 became the island’s first owner, after American Indians.

“It is believed that as many as 200 African-Americans and Native Americans are interred in the burial yard” on the grounds, according to a history of the manor prepared by the state.

The Suffolk property is now home to an organic farm and historic plantation, and offers arts and education programs.

The other recommended site is the Denton Homestead in Nassau, built in East Rockaway about 1795. It’s described in state documents as a “rare surviving former tavern and farmhouse from the village’s early period [that] served as a base for four generations of the Denton family’s extensive real estate development activities.” It is currently a private home.>