Sylvester Manor Annual Report 2022-2023

~ABOUT SYLVESTER MANOR~

The lands known today as Sylvester Manor were home to the indigenous Manhansett People for thousands of years, on the island they called Manhansack-aha-quash-awamock, the “Island Sheltered by Islands.” In the early 1650s Dutch-English colonists, Nathaniel Sylvester and three partners, established Shelter Island as a provisioning plantation for sugarcane operations in Barbados. Consisting today of 236 acres, Sylvester Manor is the most intact plantation remnant and former place of enslavement north of Virginia.

Sylvester Manor was owned continuously by one family, Sylvesters and their descendants, from 1652 until 2010 when Eben Fiske Ostby, and his nephew Bennett Konesni, gifted the historic site to the nonprofit organization they established. Over the past 370 years, Sylvester Manor has been a provisioning plantation, an Enlightenmentera farm, a pioneering food industrialist’s summer estate, and home to generations of Sylvester descendants and Enslaved, Indentured, and Free laborers who stewarded the historic structures, collections and cultural landscape.

~TODAY, SYLVESTER MANOR IS~

• A Nationally-recognized Site of Significance on Gardiners Creek consisting of 236 acres of farm fields, woodlands and wetlands, a 1737 Manor House, a restored 19th-century windmill, an Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground, family cemetery, a formal garden and layered cultural landscape

• A place that acknowledges and interprets inclusive history with a particular focus on those who built and sustained Sylvester Manor

• An educational resource for learners of all ages, from the youngest children to eminent scholars

• A working farm that sustainably grows food for the whole community

• Open to the public with 5 miles of walking trails, offering extensive educational and cultural arts programming

• Committed to working closely with diverse partners - conservationists, educators, neighbors, public agencies, Indigenous Nations and other descendant community members - to interpret the past and build a resilient future

• Working to preserve and protect the landscape and ecosystems, and to rehabilitate and adaptively reuse historic structures

~OUR MISSION IS TO~

Preserve, Cultivate and Share Historic Sylvester Manor.

Dear Sylvester Manor Community,

I continue to be inspired by the deep commitment of our staff and donors and the consistent joy this historic place brings to our community. As you read through this Annual Report, I want to express our heartfelt gratitude to you – our donors, volunteers, partners and friends. Your unwavering support, both in terms of time and financial resources, has been instrumental in shaping Sylvester Manor into what it is today.

This report serves to share the highlights of the past year and acknowledge the generosity of so many who continue to support the vision and mission of Sylvester Manor. Your contributions and support of the organization have allowed us to create 55 jobs, generating local employment opportunities for our community. Through programs and collaborations with local businesses, we generated $500,000 in revenue, furthering our impact on the local economy.

The numbers speak for themselves: over 15,000 visitors, including 500 school-age children, came to Sylvester Manor, immersing themselves in our rich history, educational programs, farm and grounds. We are proud to have donated $35,000 worth of food to local families, helping to address food insecurity. Additionally, we composted 8,000 pounds of food waste, demonstrating our commitment to environmental sustainability. We maintain 5 miles of public walking trails for the enjoyment of our community and actively manage the deer population, striving for ecosystem balance.

In late August we kicked off our Capital Campaign with great excitement, and have made remarkable progress. To date, we have raised over $5 million towards our ambitious $13 million goal. We are immensely proud to be moving forward with the preservation and rehabilitation of the 1737 Manor House, a project that symbolizes our commitment to honoring the past while building a brighter future. We eagerly look forward to starting work on the Manor House and going public with the campaign in late 2024.

We extend our sincere thanks to all our supporters for their generosity, enthusiasm and energy this past year. Your contributions have ignited our progress, allowing us to Preserve, Cultivate and Share Historic Sylvester Manor with ever greater impact.

As we move forward, we remain committed to our mission and vision. Together, we will continue to build upon the strong foundation laid by all those that came before us at the Manor. Our collective efforts will ensure that Sylvester Manor thrives for generations to come.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the entire Sylvester Manor community, I want to thank you again for your ongoing support. Your belief in our mission and our people is what propels us forward.

With much appreciation,

Marc Robert Board President, Sylvester Manor

BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

Marc Robert, President

Elly Karp Wong, Vice President

Kathleen DeRose, Secretary

James Preston, Treasurer

Ingrid Bateman

Benjamin Dyett

Steven Eisenstadt

Cynthia Flynt

Kathleen Gerard

Rhonda Greene

Steven Houston

Kareen Mozes Laton

Thomas Misson

Eben Fiske Ostby

Karolann (Kaz) Rubin

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF:

Donnamarie Barnes, Director of History and Heritage

Alice Clark,

History and Heritage Associate

Alyse Clark, Development Associate and Database Manager

Jennifer Ames, Farmstand Manager

Arielle Gardner, Farm Manager

Virginia Gerardi, Office and Facilities Support

Sara Gordon, Planning and Sustainability

Hannah Gray, Summer Youth Program Director

Deborah Lajda, Bookkeeper

Tracy McCarthy, Director of Operations

Stephen A.W. Searl, Executive Director

Courtney Wingate, Director of Development

Gunnar Wissemann, House and Grounds Manager

FARM:

Julia Amiri

Kayla Ellis

Kerry Ellis

Isabella Kelley

John Kennedy

Miya Kumangai

Chris Nelson

Sifeziwe Ntshangase

Ada Steinberg

Jude Tait

FARMSTAND:

Daphne (Griff) Allen

Coal (Kat) Austin

James Burrell

Ellie Faith-Maldonado

Jacob Israel

Lisa Kaasik

Grace Olinkiewicz

SUMMER YOUTH PROGRAM STAFF:

Tess Azmak

Sarah Beran

Emmett Cahill

James Durran

Maeve Egan

Wyatt Gilbert

Kaitlyn Gulluscio

Lucy Himmelberg

Lettice Hugh-Jones

Olivia Kim

Michael Kolby

Isabelle Laton

SUMMER YOUTH PROGRAM STAFF: (continued)

Lucia Levine

George McDonald

Lauren Mlicko

Mark Mobius, OWLS Program Director

Leif Moen

Isa Mooney

Rosalie Ozcan

Ellie Pedone

Tess Peress

Hannah Pettibone

Logan Rubin

Alexander Schoenwaelder

Owen Searl

Iris Segal

Samuel Slater

Ada Steinberg

Robert Strauss, STEM Program Director

Beckett Williamsen

SUMMER YOUTH PROGRAM

VOLUNTEERS:

Adele Giorgio

Harryo Hugh-Jones

Lila Laton

Eliza McCarthy

The Sylvester Manor Capital Campaign

In December 2022, Sylvester Manor entered into its quiet phase of the organization’s largest undertaking to date, to weave together its expansive acreage into a single, holistic campus that is open and accessible to all. This campaign has two primary goals:

1. Rehabilitate and preserve the 1737 Manor House, ensuring it remains a living structure reflecting the complexity and layers of our Nation’s history.

2. Transform the historic grounds into a more accessible, welcoming site to give more people the opportunity to learn from and experience this nationally significant place.

Stephen Searl, Executive Director, said this campaign is truly a game changer for the organization. “We have been building towards this campaign since I became Executive Director 6 years ago. Today marks the start of what we hope will be the first of many capital campaigns for the organization, with a focus on rehabilitating the Manor House and improving our infrastructure. We’ve already had immense interest and support, and we look forward to working with donors, foundations and grantors on this transformative campaign in order to preserve our past and build a better future.”

As we step boldly forward, there are three areas of focus for the campaign. The first is to care for the 1737 Manor House, the single most important artifact in our collection and the crown jewel of this historic site. As part of the rehabilitation and historic preservation, we plan to establish the Sylvester Manor Center for History & Heritage (in the newer section of the Manor House which dates to 1908) to include accessible artist/scholar-in-residence workspaces and housing, offices for expanded History & Heritage staff, year-round exhibition spaces as well as support facilities. The second focus area is to ensure our property is accessible to all by improving entrances,

driveways, and circulation in and around the entire property. We will also be raising money for a maintenance endowment to ensure our long-term sustainability as a nonprofit and to meet the needs of our community. With these significant investments in infrastructure and capital improvements, our organization will continue to grow and adapt for years to come.

Thanks to our expanding network of supporters, we have already made significant fundraising progress towards our goal of $13 million. In just over a year, we are proud to announce that we have received an unprecedented $7 million in grant funding and private support in gifts and pledges for both capital improvements and programmatic support. Director of Development Courtney Wingate says, “We have a remarkable vision to transform this once private estate into a publicly accessible site that celebrates histories and stories that have been neglected, hidden and forgotten. In the months and years ahead, we will be calling upon all of our friends and longtime supporters to help us reach our campaign’s full, ambitious goal, and look forward to our community coming along in pursuing this vision.”

The legacy of Sylvester Manor cannot be understated. We will continue to press forward with boldness and courage as we become a nationallyrecognized center for place-based learning and interpretation. Wingate states, “Our dreams for this historic site are becoming realized. This campaign is the first step in a much larger vision in our overall mission to preserve, cultivate and share Sylvester Manor. We’re doing so much more than bringing expanded educational and agricultural programming and the full, inclusive history of Sylvester Manor to a broader audience. We are in fact, making history. Right now. And all of you can be a part of this journey forward.”

Notable Gifts of Support in 2022-2023

Received From: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Gerry Charitable Trust, the New York State Department of Parks and Historic Preservation, and National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Grant

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Funding Continues at The Manor

2023 was a very exciting year for the Sylvester Manor History & Heritage Department and the rehabilitation of the Manor House. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place Program awarded the Manor a three-year $3.75 million grant in April of 2023. This grant will enable us to create a Center for History & Heritage in the 1908 section of the 1737 Manor House. The newly-established center will include year-round exhibition and program spaces, offices and artist/scholar-in-residence accommodations. The funding will also allow us to expand our History & Heritage Department and pursue advanced research, interpretation and programming, transforming Sylvester Manor into a leader of place-based learning for history and storytelling focused on representing the lives and stories of those who have been marginalized, lost or forgotten in history.

Three months after the first grant, Sylvester Manor was awarded another three-year $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. This grant is specifically to support and expand partnerships with institutions of higher learning through Mellon’s Higher Learning Program. It will provide us the opportunity to partner with universities and colleges in an effort to establish course curricula for learning experiences, using the history, archives and collections of Sylvester Manor as uniquely intact resources for graduate and doctoral level study of Northern Slavery and the Atlantic World.

In the Fall of 2023, New York University successfully offered a Public History graduate level course using Sylvester Manor’s history and archives as the basis for student study. This course will be repeated in 2024 as will a course on the decorative arts collections of Sylvester Manor by the Bard Graduate Center. Under the Higher Learning grant our long-standing partnership with the University of Massachusetts/ Boston and the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research will

continue to expand and include a project to digitally catalog the collection of archaeological artifacts uncovered at Sylvester Manor. This project will enable scholars to access the archive for future study. Our partnership with the Fiske Center will also include a continued project at the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground and plan additional archaeological study at the Manor.

Throughout 2023, with the support of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place Program, Director of History & Heritage Donnamarie Barnes and History Research Associate Alice Clark further researched the lives of the Enslaved and Free People of Color of Sylvester Manor and Shelter Island. In October of 2023, Donnamarie and Alice traveled to England and the Netherlands to explore the Sylvester family’s deep connection to Europe. They traveled first to Liverpool to meet with professors from the University of Liverpool’s history department and with curators at the International Slavery Museum where they discussed possible connections and partnerships for graduate level research about the Sylvester family’s maritime history. They then traveled to Amsterdam. Meeting with archivists and scholars, they learned that the family had been major contributors to the Dutch age of transatlantic colonization and were involved in the slave trade across the Middle Passage. With introductions made by Jennifer Tosch, president of Black Heritage Tours, Donnamarie gave a presentation about the work of Sylvester Manor at the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam and she and Alice met with curators at the Rijksmuseum and representatives of the new Museum of Slavery in the Netherlands. At a conference for the museum, they were introduced to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch. The trip instilled in us a confidence that the research and stories we tell about the history of Sylvester Manor have far reaching implications that have placed us on a global stage as a leader of the study of Northern Slavery and the Atlantic World.

We fully expect this work and our plans for the rehabilitation of the Manor House to propel us into new areas of research that reach an ever widening audience in 2024 and beyond.

Stopping the Hands of Time

Volunteer Spotlight: Elizabeth Hanley

Amidst the towering oak trees in a quiet corner of the Manor property, you may find Elizabeth Hanley scrubbing lime, lichen, mold, moss and other material from headstones in the Sylvester family graveyard.

Professionally an accountant, Elizabeth also studied Art History. From a young age, Elizabeth has always been fascinated by architecture, artwork, sculpture, and churches, including their cemeteries.

A few years ago, Elizabeth had taken trips to Scotland and New Orleans and observed quite a bit of restoration work being done in graveyards. The problem isn’t always that the stone is worn away; it’s simply very

dirty. She returned home with increased interest and knew this was something she wanted to learn more about.

Elizabeth began attending training seminars and gravestone preservation workshops to study gravestone and monument preservation. She met some folks up in Connecticut through one of her seminars and started traveling to their local cemeteries in her spare time so she could gain hands-on experience cleaning stones.

Incredible stories lurk beneath centuries of the elements on old Sylvester Manor graves; Elizabeth Hanley is striving to uncover them.

“I just thought to myself, where better on the Island to uncover stories of the past, than in the Sylvester Manor cemetery?” she recounts. It was a small project that she felt confident she could take on – especially as they were similar stones to those she had been working on in Connecticut. She also has a personal connection to the site as she spent her early childhood on Shelter Island and has peaceful memories of visiting this area of the Manor.

Elizabeth’s volunteer project began this fall, one stone a weekend when the weather cooperated. She noted, “The stones are really unique and unusual. It’s been pretty wild to see what’s been uncovered after centuries of biological growth and decay!” She went on to explain that, “a cool thing at the Manor is that many of the headstones in the family graveyard also have footstones. In today’s modern world, footstones have increasingly become difficult to find as they are no longer allowed in many cemeteries because it is hard to mow the lawn around them.” Not at Sylvester Manor; both headstones and footstones are fully intact.

After tax season ends and the ground thaws, she’ll be back in action. There are more stones to clean and some additional repair work that needs to be done. Due to their age and exposure to the elements, she’s eager to preserve these fragile stones. Then the real magic of Elizabeth’s cleaning happens…we learn more about the lives of the people they represent.

Sylvester Manor is incredibly grateful to Elizabeth for her delicate care and transformations within the onsite family cemetery.

Mary Brown, before and after.

Farm Highlights

2023 was a great year to be a farmer at Sylvester Manor. It marked a year of change, as we welcomed Arielle, our new Farm Manager, to the role of overseeing the entire farm operation. The season kicked off in March with the arrival of 150 day-old chicks, which will lay blue and green eggs. We expanded our poultry program to just over 300 chickens and raised two healthy batches of pigs in our woodlands, pastures and farm fields. The Farm also welcomed four full-time apprentices, three seasonal apprentices, and a few local part-time farmers to help us grow small fruit, vegetables and beautiful flowers for the community.

Sylvester Manor converted a portion of the Farm to permanent beds, a no-till farming method. Plus, our greenhouse got a makeover, complete with vision boards from every team member and a disco ball! We also hosted free, family-filled, on-farm events. One in particular brought so much joy to the community: our 1st Annual Veggie 500, where community members raced all varieties of veggies down a pinewood derby track! Other new ventures and initiatives in 2023 included new farmers markets - one in Montauk and the other in Bridgehamptona lot more u-pick fruit and flowers for our CSA members and even a u-pick pumpkin patch for the whole community to enjoy!

Over the past four years we have been donating vegetables, pork and eggs to community members in need through our Food Access Program in partnership with the Center for Advocacy, Support & Transformation in Southold Town (CAST). This past year we donated nearly $35,000 of produce to local families in need. We also expanded our composting and food waste program by opening it to the entire Town of Shelter Island. We estimate that we diverted nearly 8,000 pounds of food waste from the Town Recycling Center in 2023. In total, we were awarded over $45,000 in Town and private foundation funding to support both the Food Access Program and Soil Health and Nutrient Cycling Composting Program.

The Farmstand

After a much-needed expansion in 2022, the Farmstand was in full swing in 2023. With the addition of a new cooler, updated signage, rolling display tables and new lighting, the Farmstand opened its doors in May to welcome our community and local vendors. We expanded our product offerings to include more Lettuce Lady baked goods and salads, our own Sylvester Manor grown flowers and pumpkins, Blue Duck Bakery pies, dog treats, branded merch and the wildly popular NoFo Pot Pies and 1610 Sourdough. We also introduced our grab ‘n go meal options, Provisions, made by The Lettuce Lady. Two delicious meals were available each week and sold out almost as soon as we stocked the cases! These helped fuel our almost 21% revenue growth (YOY), while many of the other items contributed to our top 10 products sold over the season including Sylvester Manor Tomatoes, Catapano Chevre Cheese, and Lettuce Lady Salads.

Place-Based Learning at Sylvester Manor

Sylvester Manor’s youth programming greatly expanded in the summer of 2023. We welcomed almost 200 children to our campus over eight weeks. For the first time in our history, we offered programs for kids ages 8-14 year olds. Our Traditional Youth Program for 3 to 7 year olds, which began over a decade ago, has continued to grow over the years. The Little Sprouts and Young Farmers have doubled in size since 2021, with many families returning year after year. The Forest Theatre program, which started in 2021, also saw an increase in enrollment and interest from our young thespians!

We unveiled two new exciting programs including Fig & Forest, A Culinary Endeavor in the Forest, and O.W.L.S. (Outdoor Wilderness Living Skills). Both programs continue to expand on our core mission of education and outreach. Fig & Forest, which was open to children ages 8-10 years old provided for a more focused approach to the wonder of story and the culinary arts in an outdoor summer setting. Each week children were invited to collaborate in an authentic way pairing food, art, storytelling, and music in a unique, interactive, and intimate space. Their week culminated in both cooking for others and the creation of a unique cookbook that included their cooking experiences. Guest chefs from The Chequit, Jedediah Hawkins, Stars Cafe, and The Lettuce Lady visited throughout the summer. Favorite recipes included Hummingbird Cake, Classic Stinging Nettle Soup, Focaccia Bread, Dandelion Soup, Oyster Mushroom Soup, Pine Pollen and Honey Shortbread Cookies, Egg Burritos on Homemade Corn Tortillas and Duck & Mushroom Cavatelli. Each week, the children wondered and learned, danced and sang, painted and drew, as they embraced the culinary art of wild food and flowers from the farm to the forest.

In our second new program, O.W.L.S., kids spent a week practicing outdoor skills mindfully and safely. They learned how to identify, avoid and deal with common hazards encountered outdoors. Exploring all of Sylvester Manor’s terrain—Farm, Field, Forest and Wetlands—kids explored how these and other landscape features influence one another. A typical day included foraging in the forest, fishing in the creek, building a shelter, using a field knife, crafting tools for camp, and starting and managing fire, all while moving through the various landscapes safely and comfortably. The goal was to educate the children on the skills necessary to not only survive in the wilderness, but also honor and respect it. Conservation education was a core feature of the program by necessity and by design. Led by Shelter Island native and outdoor expert Mark Mobius, the O.W.L.S. program immersed kids in a week of authentic wilderness training, exploring and skills building and left them with a greater appreciation for natural history and natural areas.

In the spring of 2023, Shelter Island School’s fifth graders piloted the curriculum, “Whose Voices Have We Not Yet Heard?” The multidisciplinary, inquiry-driven Social Studies Project places Sylvester Manor and the Indigenous People of Shelter Island and Long Island at its center. The class visited Sylvester Manor for multiple field visits, examined primary sources, worked through many learning activities both on-site and in the classroom and eventually contributed a new narrative to the Sylvester Manor walking tour app. The curriculum is now accessible on our website to regional school districts.

Financial Summary

Sylvester Manor’s Fiscal Year 2023 started November 1, 2022 and ended October 31, 2023. Operations for FY23 are consistent with years past, with steady growth in Education, History & Heritage and the Farm. Fundraising for annual support held steady as did expenses compared to prior years. Sylvester Manor also continued to invest in Farm and Facilities related infrastructure as well as the preservation of the Manor House.

Not reflected in these numbers are grant awards and multi-year pledges made towards our ongoing capital campaign. In FY23 we raised nearly $5M specifically for the capital campaign (see page 6) in addition to another $2M in operating support from the Mellon Foundation. Much of this money will be received over the next two to three years and thus is not reflected in this financial summary.

NOTE: This financial overview draws from the organization’s unaudited financials. The audited financial statements and Form 990 for FY23 will be available by Spring 2024. Please contact our office for more information or to request copies of audited financials and filed Form 990.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES and

PROJECTS

OPERATING REVENUE

FY23

OPERATING EXPENDITURES

Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program

In 2022, Sylvester Manor partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program to support the Back to the Bays initiative and its Shell Recycling Program. In this important partnership, the Farm serves as the receiving site for thousands of gallons of oyster and clam shells that are collected from participating restaurants. Back to the Bays uses this valuable material, that would otherwise be entering the waste stream, to produce oyster reefs for habitat restoration and water quality improvement projects at their Stewardship Sites located across the East End. With education at the core of both organizations’ missions, working together was a natural fit for advancing the stewardship of land and sea.

We welcomed the Back to the Bays team for a number of community outreach events this past year: making bags of recycled shells at the Farm, hosting a marine touch tank day at the Farmstand during a CSA pickup, running a Marine Meadows Workshop at which approximately 30 volunteers helped weave 2,000 shoots of eelgrass into burlap discs that were planted at various Shelter Island restoration sites, and hosting a screening party with nearly 70 guests in the Manor gardens for their 2023 On the Water + In the Field documentary video production that featured the Shelter Island Stewardship Site and our partnership. We look forward to continuing this relationship for the benefit of our community and our environment.

Photos Courtesy of Back to the Bays

Old-Growth Forest Network

In November 2022, Sylvester Manor’s southwestern Woodlands were dedicated into the Old-Growth Forest Network, a national network of protected, old growth, native forests. A moving ceremony was held at the Quaker Meeting Ground, featuring Native American songs of prayer on land that indigenous ancestors inhabited for millennia. The Town of Shelter Island adopted a resolution in support, acknowledging the importance of these undisturbed wooded acres, which hold oaks and white pine trees well over 100 years old.

This land joins 16 acres protected by a conservation easement held by the Town, assuring preservation and public access in perpetuity. A winding footpath rises and falls through the Old-Growth Forest from a trail head near the “Quaker Entrance” off North Ferry Road.

Food Access Program

For nearly a decade, Sylvester Manor has been donating food from our farm to the Shelter Island Food Pantry, the Shelter Island School and other food distribution sites on the East End. With a growing need for affordable fresh produce, we have partnered with the Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation (CAST) to expand our food access program. A leading hunger-relief organization in our community, CAST is able to reach families, individuals, veterans and seniors who need our help most. CAST has experienced a 77% increase in families served on Shelter Island from 2022 to 2023. That

equates to 162 people in need right here in our community. The good news is that we have the capacity to grow more fruits and vegetables to serve our community.

With generous funding from the Concordia Foundation, and support from individual donors, we will be able to grow more food this coming season, hire more employees, and make a difference in the lives and health of our neighbors.

Commemorating 10 Years of the Farm to Table Benefit

Saturday, June 24th marked a major milestone for Sylvester Manor, the 10th Farm to Table Benefit held on our beautiful grounds. Since the first benefit held in 2012, the Farm to Table fundraiser has made an extraordinary impact on our mission to Preserve, Cultivate and Share Historic Sylvester Manor. In fact, this one benefit has raised over $4 million for our organization since its inception!

We were incredibly grateful that the skies cooperated without rain, as we welcomed over 350 guests onto the property for a magnificent evening at the Manor. Love Lane Caterers of the North Fork were welcomed back with delicious, locally-sourced food and wine, and they hit it out of the park once again with a gorgeous display during cocktail hour with a raw bar and sushi bar followed by an unbelievable spread at dinner! Another hit was the redesigned layout under the tent with a central dance floor. Those of you that attended know that the dance floor was not just full, but OVERFLOWING, all night long! Comments from guests for weeks into summer was that it was the most fun they had had in ages and they couldn’t wait for next year. Be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, June 29th, 2024!). Most importantly, we raised nearly half a million dollars for the Sylvester Manor Annual Fund - critical funding for our small but growing organization.

Participation at this event (through tables, tickets, and donations) has helped support our inclusive History & Heritage work, the expanded farm, our public trails, groundbreaking educational programming, historic preservation, and stewardship of this unique 236-acre cultural landscape.

On behalf of event chairs, Matthew Arendt and Karolann Rubin, and everyone at Sylvester Manor, thank you for being a part of this very special and meaningful event. We look forward to the next 10 years of Farm to Table with you.

FARM TO TABLE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Matthew Arendt, Co-Chair | Karolann Rubin, Co-Chair

Courtney Wingate, Director of Development

Alice Clark, Event Planner

Alyse Clark, Development Associate & Database Manager

Susan Petrie-Badertscher

Ingrid Bateman

Paul Carberry

Amy Cococcia

Ingrid Fagen

Chuck Fleckenstein

Kathleen Gerard

Edie Landeck

Patrick Loftus-Hills

Mara Manus

Krista Miniutti

Russell Piccione

Caroline Ritter

Karen Robert

Konnin Tam

SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2024

6-10:30PM

Honor Roll of Donors

We are grateful to Sylvester Manor’s friends and donors who share our confidence in the mission and values, and who continue to invest in the critical work we do. This support and the careful stewardship of our resources are an essential partnership - and help us become the innovative, evolving farm and historic center with boundary-breaking programming we aspire to be.

Listing includes ALL GIFTS received from November 1, 2022 - October 31, 2023.

$100,000+

Anonymous

Gerry Charitable Trust Mellon Foundation

$50,000 - $99,999

Goldman Sachs Gives /

Karen and Samuel Seymour

$20,000-$49,999

Krista Miniutti and Paul Carberry

Edie Landeck and Michael Coles

Concordia Foundation

Marie and John Evans

The Gillian S. Fuller Foundation, Inc. /

Gillian Fuller

The Ida and Robert Gordon Family Foundation

Jasteka Foundation, Inc /

Elly and Tony Wong

Lisbeth Kaiser and Alex Rappaport

Sarah Tobin and Paul Skinner

Jennifer Kroman and David Wermuth

$10,000-$19,999

The Angelson Family Foundation /

Mark and Lynn Angelson

Thomas Misson and Matthew Arendt

Ingrid and Justin Bateman

Victoria and Craig Bergstrom

Meryl Rosofsky and Stuart Coleman

Tania Brief and Andrew Ehrlich

Sarah and Robert Fairbairn

Kevin Roberts and Timothy Haynes

Willette and George Hoffmann

Mimi and Steve Houston

Alex Jackson

Eugenie and Derek Jacobson

The Mamdani Foundation, Inc./

Iqbal and Shelby Mamdani

Karen and Marc Robert

Karolann and Alex Rubin

Stanford and Rebecca Searl

Jacqueline Mahal and Benjamin Segal

Patrick Loftus-Hills and Konnin Tam

Traynor Family Foundation /

Kathleen DeRose and Nigel Francombe

$5,000-$9999

Philip and Dianne Bailey

Bessemer Trust /

Michael and Debbie Shepherd

The Chicago Community Foundation /

Sarah Francois-Poncet

Letitia and Clifford Clark

Christine and Cromwell Coulson

Anne Grifo

Kimeran and Samuel Reinhart

Nancy and John Sommi

Suffolk County

$1,000-$4,999

Ana and Andre Appignani

Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC

Susan and Brian Badertscher

Rachel Beardsley

Elizabeth and Louis Bevilacqua

Blair and John Borthwick

Alexandra Bowie

Jerome and Fari Breguet

Catherine and Bryan Carey

Helen Carey

Marshia and Peter Carlino

Amy Cococcia

Petra Schmidt and Drew Coloconotris

Tara Coniaris

Elizabeth and Scott Corwin

Suzanne Shaker and Pete Dandridge

Jill Brienza and Nick Daraviras

Ellen Davis

Deborah Jamieson and Scott DeWald

Peter and Kathryn Dinkel

Samantha Gilbert and Edward Dolman

James Dougherty

Mara Manus and Mark DuBois

Rosemarie Ryan and Benjamin Dyett

Emily Ewing

Richard Hersh and Thomas Fallon

Miriam and Thomas Farmakis

April Gornik and Eric Fischl

Charles Fleckenstein

Heidi and Chris Fokine

Kathleen DeRose and Nigel Francombe

Bridget Moynahan and Andrew Frankel

Rhonda Greene and Danek Freeman

Brigid Flanagan and Robert Friebel

Alfred Griffin and Anna Gannon

Millicent McCarthy and Rajiv Gosine

Karyn and Bruce Greenwald

Brenda and Robert Grosbard

Alexandra Hahn

Zayd Hammam

Cristina Roig and Michael Hirschorn

Lily and Joel Hoffman

Kay Hymowitz

Melissa and Zul Jamal

Greg James

Elissa and Bill Johnson

Maryann Koch and William Johnston III

Kimberly and John Keiserman

Cynthia Flynt and David Kriegel

Tom and Paola Kusner

Lori Lancaster

Kareen and Scott Laton

Stephanie and Samuel Lebowitz

Peter Leonard

Pamela Sweeney and Peter Levenson

Richard Levine

Adam Bundy and James Marshall

Dennis and Jeanne Masel

Jessica McCarthy

Georgie and Michael McConnell

Andrew and Gretchen McFarland

Linda Gibbs and Thomas McMahon

Juan Mendez

Rebecca Ingber and Anton Metlitsky

Bill and Eileen Michael

Melanie Coronetz and Bruce Miller

Mnuchin Foundation / Valerie Mnuchin

Lucille and Stephen Morgan

Victoria Munroe

Christine Miller Martin and Christian Murrle

Donna and David Persson

Ann Banks and Peter Petre

Russell Piccione

Preservation League of NYS

Barbara Warren and James Preston

Sonali Rodrigo

Caroline Rosen

Ronnie Salzman

Ann Foley and Joshua Sapan

Marie and Fritz Seifts

Nancy Lashine and Gary Sher

Paul Douglas Sherrod

Gail and Eric Shube

Christine Anderson and Jake Siewert

Jo Ann Secor-Skolnick and Lee Skolnick

Liana and John Slater

Alicia Rojas-Sloan and Robert Sloan

William Sloan

Caroline Ritter and Oscar Sloterbeck

Kathleen R. Gerard and Gerard L. Smith

Gerard Smith

The Sosnow Foundation, Inc.

Susan Evans and John Sterling III

Walter Sternlieb

Matias Stitch

Natasha and Richard Stowe

Jack and Jennifer Sullivan

Cristina Peffer and Bill Tancredi

James S. Thieringer

Elly and Tony Wong

$500-$999

Hans and Ellen Aaltonen

The Bigwood Foundation, Inc. /

Michael and Marjorie Stern

Kimberly Noland and Kim Bonstrom

Dale and Bill Clark

Peter DiCorpo

Shane Donahue

Connie and Woody Fischer

Tirzah Schwarz and Chuck Goldblum

Kathy and Gordon Gooding

George Birman and Phillip Gubert

Holly Atkinson and Galen Guengerich

Ricki Stern and Evan Guillemin

Nicole and Bryn Harder

Lauren and James Heidenry

Siobhan O’Connor and Gregory Hodkinson

J.W. Piccozzi, Inc.

Amandine Isnard and James Jacoby

Don Jayamaha

Alexandra Kaplan

Alfred Ling

Genevieve and Robert Lynch

Chris and Janet Maurillo

Mehvish Mirza

Network for Good

Bethany Notley

Pascale Padiou

Lois Patranzino

Landey Strongin

Sara Gordon and Peter Vielbig

Sancha Von Erlach

Sedgwick Ward

Dave and Nicole Weber

Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Richard Weinert

Linda White

Nancy Gilbert and Richard Wines

Charlotte Triefus and Lloyd Zuckerberg

Lion Robin C. Zust

$250-$499

Kerry Kinney and Gil Bakal

Gladys Barnes

Annette and Stanley Blaugrund

Scott and Emily Brittingham

Christine DeFouw

Sandi and John Fifield

Jane Galasso

Peter Lighte and Julian Grant

Dr. Georgette Grier-Key

Carrie Grin

Susan Harris

Caroline Hackney and Carl Hribar

Deborah and Ron Lajda

Cara and Michael Loriz

Paul and Roberta Martin

Joe McKay

Connie Migliazzo

Kathryn Lynch and Peter Moore

Morgan Stanley Global Impact

Funding Trust

Susan Morrison

Michelle Nicolet

Kathryn Casey Quigley

Deirdre and Jean Riou

Charity Robey

Andrew Weisenfeld

Lynne and Chip Whipple

Linda and E.T. Williams

Duff Wilson

Up to $249

Amazon Smile

Elizabeth Auman

Donnamarie Barnes

Ken Bartow

Regina and Donald Becker

Jane Bornemeier

Courtney Wingate and Marcus Borowsky

Lydia and Dr. William R. Brancaccio

Virginia and Kevin Brooks

Archer Brown

Mary Woltz and Rob Calvert

Cindy Belt and Mark Cappellino

Steve Choo

Alice and Briton Clark

Lisa Cohen

Margaret Colligan

Sandra and Anthony Corcoran

Rebecca DeAngelis

Kathleen DeFouw

Gina and John Donnelly

Margaret Dooley

Kimberly and Scott Feierstein

Michael Fisher

Alex MacCallum and Nick Fribourg

Arielle Gardner

Tracy Lovatt and Maria Gianoutsos

Alice and Stuart Goldman

James Goldman

Jenny and Bill Gordh

James Gray

Renata and Guillaume de Dalmas

Cynthia Halaby

Julie and William Harding

Amanda Harris

Jean Held

Natalie and Martin Hurwitz

Andy Reeve and BJ Ianfolla

Nancy Walker and Stephen Jacobs

Ellen and Robert Lowery

Michael Maccari

Diana Malcolmson

Karen Mateo

Sarah Medford

Cody Miller

Cheryl Molnar

Mary and Tom Morgan

Margie and Donald Mosher

Rebecca and Michael Mundy

Dietmar Prager

Jane Azia and Rob Quaintance

Venkat Rao

Alyse Clark and James Read III

Celia Regan

Thomas Reilly

Robert Ruben

Laura Rubin

Stephen Harvey and Perry Sayles

Barbara Schwartz

Owen Searl

Laurie Dolphin and Stuart Shapiro

June and Michael Shatken

Edward Shillingburg

Brenda Simmons

Lily and James Sliger

Annika Smith

Stephanie Franks and Lee Tribe

Beverly and Barbara Tyler

Adam Walden

Marshall Watson

Karla Friedlich and James Webster

Roberta Wemple

Joan Wicks

Ellen J. Yalamas

IN HONOR OF

Donnamarie Barnes

Gladys Barnes

Celia Regan

Ingrid Bateman

Lauren and James Heidenry

Matias Stitch

Mara Manus

Sarah Francois-Poncet

Stephen and Lucille Morgan

Marshall Watson

Stephen Searl

The Angelson Family Foundation

Karen and Sam Seymour

Alexandra Bowie

Courtney Wingate

Nicole and Bryn Harder

Elly and Tony Wong

The Sosnow Foundation, Inc.

Michael Ludwig

Andrew Weisenfeld

IN MEMORY OF

Mary Ita Dwyer

Peter Lighte and Julian Grant

Alan Towl

Sandra and Anthony Corcoran

Alice Fiske

Barbara Schwartz

GIFT IN KIND

Edie Landeck and Michael Coles

Janet Culbertson

Hally Dinkel

Donna Dorian

Lynda and Christopher Herman

Esther Hird Hunt

James Preston

Sonali Rodrigo

In Memoriam: James D. Dougherty (1937-2023)

Since the nonprofits inception in 2010, the former Shelter Island Supervisor was a major supporter and dear friend to Sylvester Manor. Jim was involved in just about everything; a Founding Families donor, longtime CSA member, Farm to Table attendee, Windmill and Shakespeare at the Manor supporter, a champion of land preservation, among so much more, and left a profound impact on us all. Always with a friendly demeanor, Jim would roll into the farm on Saturdays in his blue MG Midget convertible, a fun pair of sunglasses, and tennis attire to pick up his CSA share and tell us about his latest match. It was always a joy to catch up! Jim was a true ambassador of the Manor and we miss him dearly.

Donor Spotlight

The Ida and Robert Gordon Family Foundation has made annual grants to Sylvester Manor since 2020 to support the establishment and growth of its nutrient cycling and composting program. The Foundation grants offset costs of both capital equipment and staffing, enabling Sylvester Manor to plan and implement the diversion of waste materials into nutrient-rich compost for farmland soil amendment. The long-term goal is to produce all the compost needed across the fields onsite, from on-Island waste.

Foundation President Roberta Gordon and Vice President Greenberg, have provided both funds and steadfast encouragement to the Manor team:

“We are delighted and proud to support the composting program at Sylvester Manor. It is satisfying as a foundation to forge a sustained relationship with such a proactive and responsive donee having demonstrable and impactful results. We look forward to watching Sylvester Manor blossom through the years.”

With this consistent support, Sylvester Manor has increased compost production each year, expanding collection of food scraps and landscape waste from Shelter Island residents and businesses. While previously food scraps were collected only from CSA subscribers during spring and summer, in 2023 collection extended to year round, and all Shelter Island residents are invited to drop off household food waste in bins by the Manor Farmstand. The Town of Shelter Island also supported the expansion, through a Climate Smart Communities grant received by the Town Green Options Committee that funded the purchase of food scrap buckets for Town residents.

It is thanks to donors and partnerships such as these that Sylvester Manor is able each year to more fully realize its Mission to Preserve, Cultivate and Share Historic Sylvester Manor, for the benefit of all.

Roberta Gordon and Rick Greenberg