5. “Heartsease”
By 1673, Capt. Nathaniel Sylvester had emerged as the sole owner of Shelter Island. The Sylvester family was involved in the Atlantic triangle trade and their ships carried rum and sugar cane between Shelter Island, England, and Barbados. They used the white oaks growing on Shelter Island to repair ships and make casks for the rum. Nathaniel Sylvester developed Sylvester Manor, his land was worked by enslaved Africans, indentured or paid Native Americans, and European laborers. The site is now known as Sylvester Manor Educational Farm.
Nathaniel Sylvester died in 1680, and in 1699, the Sylvester family sold two parcels of their land: 3000 acres to the Nicoll family (now Mashomack Preserve) and 1000 acres in the center of the island to George Havens of Conanicut Island, Rhode Island.
George Havens’ son, William, built this house in 1742; William’s son, James, took over the house in 1761. James and his wife, Elizabeth Bowditch Havens, named their home “Heartsease”, and it quickly became the center of Shelter Island life.
(Proceed to the room on your left.)
By 1673, Capt. Nathaniel Sylvester had emerged as the sole owner of Shelter Island. The Sylvester family was involved in the Atlantic triangle trade and their ships carried rum and sugar cane between Shelter Island, England, and Barbados. They used the white oaks growing on Shelter Island to repair ships and make casks for the rum. Nathaniel Sylvester developed Sylvester Manor, his land was worked by enslaved Africans, indentured or paid Native Americans, and European laborers. The site is now known as Sylvester Manor Educational Farm.
Nathaniel Sylvester died in 1680, and in 1699, the Sylvester family sold two parcels of their land: 3000 acres to the Nicoll family (now Mashomack Preserve) and 1000 acres in the center of the island to George Havens of Conanicut Island, Rhode Island.
George Havens’ son, William, built this house in 1742; William’s son, James, took over the house in 1761. James and his wife, Elizabeth Bowditch Havens, named their home “Heartsease”, and it quickly became the center of Shelter Island life.
(Proceed to the room on your left.)
