The 2025 Field Season At Sylvester Manor
- Enoch Sey Koomson
- Oct 21
- 4 min read
This summer’s field season at Sylvester Manor continued our multi-year effort to understand how people shaped, lived, and labored across this historic landscape. While much of our previous work has focused on the Manor house and its surrounding areas, this season placed special emphasis on locating the homesite of David Hempstead Sr., a free Black man who served as the farm manager at Sylvester Manor. Another goal of this season’s work was to study the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground to better understand how land was used at the Manor.
Finding Hempstead
This season’s focus was the search for the homesite of David Hempstead, Sr., a free Black man who served as Sylvester Manor’s farm manager in the early 19th century. Documentary research suggests that Hempstead was the manager of Esther Sarah Dering’s farm between 1825 and 1827 and his home may have stood along the creek on the west and northwest edges of the property. Hempstead’s role further demonstrated the trust and respect he earned through his skill and experience. Also, His legacy also extends through his family—his son, David Hempstead Jr., later played an important role in founding a Black church in Sag Harbor, helping to build community and spiritual life for the region’s African American population.
To investigate the location of David Hempstead’s house, we carried out a systematic shovel test pit (STP) survey, to locate traces of 19th-century life such as foundations, refuse deposits, or domestic artifacts. Despite a careful and extensive search, very little material culture was found, and no architectural remains were identified. While the homesite itself remains elusive, this work adds to our growing understanding of how different areas of the property were used—and where activity was limited. The findings also help refine future search areas, guiding where we might look next for evidence of Hempstead’s residence and the broader network of free Black laborers who helped shape the Manor’s agricultural landscape.
Image: Graduate students Kristen Delatour & Chiarra Torrini dig a shovel test.
Remembering the Ancestors
In June, as part of Sylvester Manor’s Juneteenth celebration, a memorialization ceremony was held at the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground to honor the ancestors interred there.
The ceremony was organized by Sylvester Manor and was a solemn moment of reflection and remembrance. Led by Donnamarie Barnes, the ceremony began with a prayer to the ancestors and the pouring of libation, followed by a solemn reading of names inscribed on cards.
These cards contained the names of Black and Native individuals believed to be interred at the Burial Ground, offering a powerful moment of remembrance for those interred in this sacred ground. It’s important to note that there were other people of African and Native descent who lived on Shelter Island—and may have worked at Sylvester Manor—but who are buried elsewhere and thus not included on this list. This moment of collective remembrance added deep emotional resonance to the archaeological work, connecting research with the living legacy of the people who shaped this place.
Card memorializing early ancestors, Hannah, Jacquero, Hope, and Isabelle.
Honoring and Understanding the Afro-Indigenous Cemetery
Another objective of the field season was to further understand the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground at Sylvester Manor. The Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground is a sacred site that holds the remains and memories of the Black and Native people who lived and labored at Sylvester Manor. Following up on an earlier ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey, Dr. John Steinberg of the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research and Dr. Gudny Zoega led several UMass Boston graduate students in “ground truthing” — a process where archaeologists test GPR findings through careful, small-scale probes to observe grave shafts. GPR recognizes changes in soil makeup that can reflect potential burials and provides a range of confidence for the location of specific burials. This works like a radar, giving you an idea of where a plane is but not seeing what’s inside it. It is important to note that no grave shafts were found, indicating that the cemetery area likely does not extend beyond the known historical bounds.
Dr. John Steinberg of the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research leading some students in ground truthing. Photo Courtesy Adam Bundy
We carried out a systematic mapping of stones in and around the burial ground. Many of these stones may represent unmarked or fieldstone burial markers, offering subtle but powerful clues about how individuals were memorialized within this sacred ground.
Surface mapping of stones in and around the burial ground. Photo by Adam Bundy.
To better understand how the land surrounding the cemetery was used, we conducted a shovel test pit (STP) survey across the nearby landscape. The results suggest that there was very limited human activity in this area—likely reflecting a respectful preservation of the cemetery space over time. The only major exception was a late-19th- to early-20th-century refuse area located just north of the burial ground. This dump site was mapped, and notable artifacts were photographed and recorded for future reference, though no items were collected. Through these combined efforts—ground truthing, mapping, and surveying—we gained a clearer picture of the layout the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground and its surrounding landscape.
19th-Century Dairy and Washhouse
The latter part of our field season brought us closer to the manor house, where we revisited a 19th-century outbuilding once marked on early maps as a dairy and washhouse. This structure was partially excavated in 1999, revealing a sunken brick floor and portions of a stone foundation wall. This summer, we placed new excavation units to expose more of the building’s footprint and structural features. This work uncovered additional sections of the foundation and, unexpectedly, a cobblestone surface. This cobble area likely served as a durable, mud-free workspace—an important detail that sheds light on the various tasks that may have taken place in the dairy. These discoveries expand our understanding of Sylvester Manor’s built environment and highlight the labor that sustained it.
Dr. Nedra Lee with graduate students Enoch Sey Koomson & Claire Ross screening dirt from the North Lawn excavation.
Looking Ahead
Our focus now turns to the lab, where cleaning, cataloging, and analyzing the recovered materials form a key part of our work. Each artifact, soil layer, and survey result helps us piece together the human stories that shaped Sylvester Manor—from the Afro-Indigenous individuals whose lives are memorialized in the cemetery to the 19th-century workers whose labor built and maintained the estate.