Griswold
has written a micro - history that expands out into macro history. In doing so
she has written a book that takes the reader in all sorts of fascinating directions.
In
1651 Nathaniel and Grizzell Sylvester established a plantation on Shelter
Island. The logistical and economic goal of this “provisioning plantation” was
to produce food, timber, and other goods to supply the lucrative sugar
plantations of the West Indies. The book covers the first Eighty Years of the
plantation’s history in great detail. During this time the Sylvester’s and
their descendants developed a thriving agricultural community. Along the way they
interacted with fellow Europeans as well as local Native Americans. They also held,
at any given time, approximately twenty-five slaves. These were mostly Africans
or people of African descent but may have included a few people from other
groups.
The
remaining two hundred and fifty year history of the property, during which descents
of the original Sylvesters retained ownership, are also summarized in some
detail. Many notable religious leaders, artists, scientists and other
historical figures associated themselves with the Sylvester’s descendants as
well as the property over the ensuing centuries.
This
is a fantastic history book. Griswold moves well beyond the establishment and
operation of the planation. The book
delves deeply into the origins, history, culture, religion etc., of many
groups. Nathanial and Grizzell were both British. Nathanial’s family were
religious dissenters who fled to Holland where Nathanial was born and
raised. The British and Dutch roots of
the couple are closely examined. Next
the customs and history of the Manhasset Indians, the local indigenous people of
Shelter Island
are explored. Finally, a large portion of the book is dedicated to the Africans
who were enslaved by the Sylvesters. In this process the author digs deeply
into British, Dutch, Native American, and West African history and culture.
Griswold
covers an impressively diverse set of details including religion, ideology,
clothing, food etc. as well as how all of these elements came together on Shelter Island.
She describes in detail both the historical research that she conducted in
Europe, Africa, Barbados and North America, as well as the extensive
archeological evidence obtained on the manor property. Griswold manages to cover
all these angles in a very satisfying and coherent way. At one point the author
herself describes the challenges inherent in telling such a multifaceted story,
“I tell myself, “I must not exaggerate; I
must not underestimate.” Is it too big a picture for me to comprehend? From the
canals of Northern Europe and the slave castles of the African Gold Coast the
line runs to this handsome, smallish house whose serene forehead also hides
secrets, and to scientists and poets in nineteenth-century Cambridge,
Massachusetts. “
These
details are often fascinating. One example of these particulars occurs when Griswold
describes the hygiene of the book’s central figures in context of their
societal norms,
“A shift was the only article of clothing
either Grizzell or Nathaniel would have changed and had laundered regularly.
Outer clothing stiffly kept its owner’s shape and smell for decades. Between
1347, when the bubonic plague first struck Europe, and about 1750, physicians
opined that the best defense against pestilence was an impermeable skin with
pores safely sealed by an encrustation of dirt and sweat. Bathing left the body
defenseless. . . . Nathaniel and Grizzell wouldn’t have
considered themselves unkempt or unclean; their grooming simply didn’t involve
much water. People washed their hands, especially before eating, their faces,
and sometimes their feet. They dug particles of food out of their teeth with
toothpicks or knives; the fastidious cleaned their teeth by rubbing them with a
cloth. The slightest move of a well-dressed body must have produced an acrid, revolting stench. Both men
and women wore pomades and perfumes to mitigate the effect. “
 |
| This mansion, which now stands on the property, was not the original house built by Nathaniel and Grizzell Sylvester. This structure was built by their descendants in 1737. |
One
of many of the insights elucidated by this book was how pervasive slavery was
in Northern American Colonies and which persisted well into American independence.
Many people today are completely unaware just how widespread slavery was in the
North up through the early nineteenth century. There is a tendency to think of
slavery as an exclusively Southern institution.
The existence slave planation in my geographical area of North America was even
a surprise to me! Thus this book will be an eye opener for many.
Griswold
writes,
“…wealthy colonial society in the North—
epitomized perfectly by the Sylvesters’ lucrative Long Island plantation— was
initially shaped by generations of captive people, until 1827, when slavery was
finally abolished in New York State. “
The
book does little to sugar coat the hash realities of slavery or the horrendous
treatment meted out to the local Native Americans by Europeans. At the same
time Griswold spends many pages are exploring how the various cultures and
peoples interacted in a complex, and not always antagonistic or exploitative ways.
This
extremely well written and researched work will appeal and to a diverse group
of readers. In addition Griswold is great writer of history. Having read a fair number of history books, I
can say that this is a really good one. Anyone
who is interested in Long Island history, the history of North American Colonization,
the early slave system, North Eastern Native Americans, or the 17th
Century in General will find this book fascinating. For those with curiosity
about such topics, this work is highly recommended.
More information on
Sylvester Manor can be found at: http://sylvestermanor.org/
