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The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island Hardcover – July 2, 2013

by Mac Griswold (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 82 ratings
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Mac Griswold's The Manor is the biography of a uniquely American place that has endured through wars great and small, through fortunes won and lost, through histories bright and sinister―and of the family that has lived there since its founding as a Colonial New England slave plantation three and a half centuries ago.
In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon a stately yellow house and a garden guarded by looming boxwoods. She instantly knew that boxwoods that large―twelve feet tall, fifteen feet wide―had to be hundreds of years old. So, as it happened, was the house: Sylvester Manor had been held in the same family for eleven generations.
Formerly encompassing all of Shelter Island, New York, a pearl of 8,000 acres caught between the North and South Forks of Long Island, the manor had dwindled to 243 acres. Still, its hidden vault proved to be full of revelations and treasures, including the 1666 charter for the land, and correspondence from Thomas Jefferson. Most notable was the short and steep flight of steps the family had called the "slave staircase," which would provide clues to the extensive but little-known story of Northern slavery. Alongside a team of archaeologists, Griswold began a dig that would uncover a landscape bursting with stories.
Based on years of archival and field research, as well as voyages to Africa, the West Indies, and Europe, The Manor is at once an investigation into forgotten lives and a sweeping drama that captures our history in all its richness and suffering. It is a monumental achievement.

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  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  4. Publication date
    July 2, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6.33 x 1.61 x 9.41 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0374266298
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0374266295
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Slavery before Race: Europeans, Africans, and Indians at Long Island's Sylvester Manor Plantation, 1651-1884 (Early American
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Griswold's deft unpacking of the Sylvester Manor mystery reveals the uncomfortable, complicated history they left behind....[A] precise, beautiful book...Haunting.” ―The Boston Globe

“Extraordinary...This is an important book, for it is not just about a house. It is about the world and the destruction we have caused in it, all for the sake of making that place called home.” ―Jamaica Kincaid

“History buffs will love The Manor, and it tells a story that needs to be told....[The house is] a remarkable relic of American history.” ―The Washington Post

“Griswold skillfully weaves a historical tapestry of considerable complexity.” ―Women's Wear Daily

“A lively history of early American settlement...Like that Pulitzer Prize-winning work [The Hemingses of Monticello], The Manor is American history tightly compressed.” ―The Atlantic Wire

About the Author

Mac Griswold is a cultural landscape historian and the author of Washington’s Gardens at Mount Vernon and The Golden Age of American Gardens. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Travel + Leisure. She lives in Sag Harbor, NY.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 2, 2013
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374266298
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374266295
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.33 x 1.61 x 9.41 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 82 ratings

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Mac K. Griswold

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
82 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book incredibly well-researched and informative, describing it as a wonderful trip through history. The writing quality receives positive feedback, with one customer noting the author's amazing research and writing skills. They appreciate the book's pacing, with one review highlighting the beautifully preserved mansion and grounds.

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24 customers mention "Reading quality"22 positive2 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-researched, with one customer noting it's a must-read for Long Islanders.

"...When I first began exploring this beautiful area, I stumbled upon a small family cemetery in Orient that contained graves of slaves of a prominent..." Read more

"...I especially like the way she takes the reader along as she explores the manor, its inhabitants, its gardens and its cemeteries, and as she travels..." Read more

"...The author's research showed. I think any one that loves the Northeast will be suprised at number of slaves that were owned in that area." Read more

"...The beauty of this historic landscape itself, through the years and seasons, also offers solace...." Read more

19 customers mention "Interest"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating, describing it as a wonderful trip through history. One customer particularly appreciates how it provides an interesting look at life in colonial America.

"...Additionally. it creates an amazing context within the development of the early baronial empires, governmental development, and Native American..." Read more

"...The house was founded in the 17th century and inhabited until very recently by descendants of these founders, people that Griswold presents as..." Read more

"...while writing The Manor unfold throughout the book, augmenting the primary narrative and at times providing a temporary (welcome) haven for the..." Read more

"...This book blew me away with the activities and lifestyles on this very island that I hang out and go boating around often...." Read more

12 customers mention "Writing quality"10 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, with one customer noting the author's amazing research and another highlighting how the narrative moves from current times to the past.

"...The Manor is the best piece of writing to draw a dark picture of the origins of slavery within the context of building a center of economic power in..." Read more

"The Manor is a powerful, evocative, poetic and beautifully crafted book...." Read more

"...love history and facts, you may find this book interesting and well written...." Read more

"...I felt like this book was written with me in mind, giving me a portal to discover what life was like not only on Shelter Island, but also early..." Read more

4 customers mention "Pacing"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with one describing it as beautifully crafted, while another notes its remarkable house and undisturbed mansion and grounds.

"The Manor is a powerful, evocative, poetic and beautifully crafted book...." Read more

"...Seems like a pretty undisturbed mansion and ground as what I read about in the book. Surely still a gem of a piece of real estate still to this day...." Read more

"I read the New York Times article about this remarkable house, and when I heard that Farrar, Straus and Giroux were the publishers of the book on..." Read more

"Book was in great shape" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • HDWatson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Slavery in the Americas was not just a southern tradition.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I was fortunate to live in Orient, on the North Fork of Long Island, New York almost within view of the manor that sits to this day largely intact on an island in the bay that between the forks. When I first began exploring this beautiful area, I stumbled upon a small family cemetery in Orient that contained graves of slaves of a prominent local family. With my heritage being Anglo/Scotch from the deep south and with slavery an unspoken part of my mother's family history, so seeing these graves went against my understanding of history. The Manor is the best piece of writing to draw a dark picture of the origins of slavery within the context of building a center of economic power in the Americas, including the New England colonies. Additionally. it creates an amazing context within the development of the early baronial empires, governmental development, and Native American society and treatment of the 16th and 17th century New World. The Manor uses one of the most unreported archives that is truly a national treasure. The family collected almost four centuries of primary documents that tells this story from the Dutch Colony, its eventual incorporation into the United States, the eventual destruction of Native society, the final elimination of slavery and on into the manors sleepy present of the modern times. I will grant that the reading is long and well footnoted, so it requires an almost academic commitment, but it offers enlightenment that is rare. My bet is that this story will be reframed as a major movie or PBS series. It needs to be.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Ms. Shy Funnybones
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book
    Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Mac Griswold has written a fascinating book about Sylvester Manor, a slave plantation on Long Island's Shelter Island. The house was founded in the 17th century and inhabited until very recently by descendants of these founders, people that Griswold presents as complicated, three-dimensional individuals whose lives are shadowed by the slavery that built and maintained their beautiful home.

    I especially like the way she takes the reader along as she explores the manor, its inhabitants, its gardens and its cemeteries, and as she travels to such places as Amsterdam and Africa to walk in the footsteps of those who came to the New World, some via the Middle Passage, a journey whose horror she describes so vividly. Allowing the reader to share her shock, discoveries and surprises as she makes them creates drama and excitement. Indeed, I couldn't put the book down.

    I also learned a lot. For example, I hadn't read about a provisioning plantation before, hadn't seen so clearly the ship-born connections that were part of the Atlantic World, hadn't known that seagoing ships did not sail directly from Amsterdam but made their preparations at Texel, a nearby island, and hadn't heard of the wind-driven saw mills which revolutionized ship building by producing planks much more quickly than previously possible.

    At the core of this story about early colonialism and its aftermath are the contradictions: Rhode Island representing soul liberty but having the biggest slave trade in North America, Quakers exhibiting the impulse to exploit even as they dream of leaving oppression behind and starting over in the New World. I always find such contrasts puzzling, never quite understandable, yet undeniable. It is tempting to fasten upon just one side of the equation rather than acknowledge the difficult whole, as Griswold is willing to do. Anyone interested in history would enjoy and be moved by this wonderful book.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Joelyn James
    4.0 out of 5 stars Book for History Lovers
    Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    The Manor is a lovely book going back generations of one family. The author's research showed. I think any one that loves the Northeast will be suprised at number of slaves that were owned in that area.
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  • FredBrem
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great history, wonderful reading!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    The Manor is a powerful, evocative, poetic and beautifully crafted book. The contradictions and "subsurface" tragedy in the history of this northern island slave plantation go so deep -- and the human efforts (from today's vantage point) are so intentional, blind and immense -- that it's necessary to read The Manor slowly, valuing Griswold's impeccable work and doing one's best to absorb all the years and levels.

    Griswold's own experiences while writing The Manor unfold throughout the book, augmenting the primary narrative and at times providing a temporary (welcome) haven for the reader. The beauty of this historic landscape itself, through the years and seasons, also offers solace.

    Beyond the narrative itself, Griswold has captured the larger dichotomies brilliantly. So much of what is so seriously flawed in today's economic, political, and ecological human systems -- as well as the seeds of so much that is beautiful and good in American culture -- grew out of Early Modern European capitalism and the (Dutch) triangular trade. It's that portion of The Manor's legacy that all of us have inherited.

    I'm sharing this book with friends (and maybe a friend's book group?) as essential reading.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Mako63
    5.0 out of 5 stars I found it very cool to read about places that I go frequently
    Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Being a Long Islander my entire life, I found it very cool to read about places that I go frequently, like Shelter Island, back in those colonial days. This book blew me away with the activities and lifestyles on this very island that I hang out and go boating around often. I was able to visit this very estate and I imagine it has not changed much except for the absence of slaves today. Hint. The place is still beautiful and a lot of this estate has been preserved and/or restored to its Colonial day brilliance. Many parts of the estate were almost identical as the old maps in this book. Seems like a pretty undisturbed mansion and ground as what I read about in the book. Surely still a gem of a piece of real estate still to this day. A must read for any Long Islander or American history buff.
    6 people found this helpful
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