Located on Shelter Island, Sylvester Manor Educational Farm was settled by European colonists on Manhansett tribal land in 1651. The Manor landscape has been continuously shaped by people, food and their relationship to the land, from early hunter-gathering to colonial provisioning and slave-based labor, to commercial scale agriculture. The site’s narratives reflect a remarkable history of America’s evolving tastes, economies and ecologies, from indigenous use-patterns to the food and arts-oriented non-profit educational farm of today. One of the primary goals of the NBW-led master planning effort is to create a resilient and flexible framework for revealing these important stories while supporting practical needs and manifesting the organization’s values. Based on extensive research, the landscape, program, circulation and structures will be carefully calibrated to respond to the needs of the Manor and the people who are engaged in supporting and furthering its mission into the future. A cultural landscape report, put together in-house by NBW, ensures that the design will honor and reveal the site’s diverse narratives.
