Shelter Island_Havens House, Sylvester Manor

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The original house was built in 1652, a plantation built by four sugar planters. It povided a home for Nathaniel and Grizzell Sylvester and their 11 children. In 1737 Brinley Sylvester built a new residence in the Georgian period of architecture. The house was modified again in the mid-1830a by Samuel Smith Gardiner and his wife, Mary Catherine L’Hommedieu Gardiner. In 1908, Cornelia Horsford hirred architect, Henry Bacon to design an addition to the house in the Colonial Revial style. The house was updated and modernized with a new kitchen in 1944 by Cornelia’s nephew, Andrew Fiske.

The 243 acre Sylvester Manor Farm is a historic plantation and nonprofit educational farm. Included on the property is the manor house, farm, windmill, burial ground and archeological sites.

The original log cabin was built on Cedar Island in Coecles Harbor around the turn of the 20th century by Francis Marion Smith, of 20-Mule Team Borax fame. In 1937, S. Gregory Taylor (born Soterios Gregorios Tavoulares), a Greek emigre' and New York City hotel magnate, took possession of the Island, adding a bedroom, bath, kitchen, and tower to the Cabin. Mr. Taylor's will asked that upon the death of his nephew, the Town of Shelter Island accept Taylor's Island "for the use and enjoyment of the general public.

The Smith-Taylor Cabin is open primarily from May through October on a regular basis and also by request, 631.749-1603. Access is by kayak, people's own or rented from Shelter Island Kayak Tours, 631.749-1990, and by shallow draft boat, again people's own or the Foundation provides transport by Taylor's Whaler from a nearby Town of Shelter Island Dock.

This farm house was built in 1743 by William Havens and included four first floor rooms and two second floor rooms. In 1761 his son, Captain James Havens,who served as Suffolk County representative to the 1776 New York Provisional Congress, and his wife took over the homestead and named it "Heartsease." They added on two more rooms onto the second floor. The rooms now house furnishings, textiles and decorative arts from the family who occupied the house. Also on the property is a barn built in 1988 to represent the period and includes exhibits of various collections.