Mac Griswold

Clean text and dust jacket intact. First edition. 

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Massachusetts

Mac Griswold'sThe Manoris the biography of a uniquely American place that has endured through wars great and small, through fortunes won and lost, through histories bright and sinister--and of the family that has lived there since its founding as a Colonial New England slave plantation three and a half centuries ago.
In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon a stately yellow house and a garden guarded by looming boxwoods. She instantly knew that boxwoods that large--twelve feet tall, fifteen feet wide--had to be hundreds of years old. So, as it happened, was the house: Sylvester Manor had been held in the same family for eleven generations.
Formerly encompassing all of Shelter Island, New York, a pearl of 8,000 acres caught between the North and South Forks of Long Island, the manor had dwindled to 243 acres. Still, its hidden vault proved to be full of revelations and treasures, including the 1666 charter for the land, and correspondence from Thomas Jefferson. Most notable was the short and steep flight of steps the family had called the "slave staircase," which would provide clues to the extensive but little-known storyof Northern slavery. Alongside a team of archaeologists, Griswold began a dig that would uncover a landscape bursting with stories.
Based on years of archival and field research, as well as voyages to Africa, the West Indies, and Europe,The Manor is at once an investigation into forgotten lives and a sweeping drama that captures our history in all its richness and suffering. It is a monumental achievement.

The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island

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In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon Sylvester Manor, a stately mansion guarded by hulking boxwoods. When Griswold went inside, she encountered a house full of revelations, including a letter from Thomas Jefferson and--most remarkable and disturbing--what the aged owner, Andrew Fiske, casually called the "slave staircase."

This staircase would reveal the extensive but little-known story of Northern slavery, and in 1997 Griswold returned with a team of archaeologists, uncovering a landscape filled with stories. Based on years of research--and voyages that took her as far as West Africa--Griswold has given us both the biography of a place that has witnessed war and reversals in fortune, and the riveting story of the family that has occupied it for three centuries. A fine-grained account and a sweeping drama,The Manor captures American history in all its richness and contradictions.

Category - Non Fiction / History

Format - Hardcover

Condition - Like New

Listed - 3 months ago

Views - 4

Ships From - Massachusetts

Est. Publication Date - Jul 2013

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ISBN: 9780374266295

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