William Floyd Estate: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fire Island National Seashore

NPS Northeast Regional Office

The William Floyd Estate is located on the south shore of Long Island, in Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York. Although not physically located on Fire Island, it is one of two cultural landscapes that have been identified within the boundaries of the Fire Island National Seashore. The original Estate extended seven miles north from the shore of Narrows Bay and was a mile wide. Today, the size of the Estate is greatly reduced but it remains one of the largest tracts of open-space in an otherwise densely developed and populated region. The 613-acre William Floyd Estate is the remnant of a 4400-acre historic plantation that was occupied and used by a single family for over 240 years for agriculture and recreation. The family established an elaborate grid of fields that were utilized continuously until early in the 20th century, and afterwards for recreational hunting and conservation. These uses protected the property from development. At the time of its donation to the NPS in 1965, the family was regularly maintaining eleven fields and five man-made ponds. The Estate’s agricultural fields and wooded areas surround a 33.8-acre historic residential core. This is the location of the Floyd family house known as “Old Mastic House.” The house was listed on the National Register in 1980 for its significance as the home of General William Floyd, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Old Mastic House is a 25-room, two-story, white frame structure built around 1724 with 18th, 19th and 20th century additions. Surrounded by an informal landscape of lawn, ornamental trees and shrubs, and gardens and orchards; the house faces south overlooking a large field called the Pightle, a British term for a small meadow. North of Old Mastic House is a cluster of historic outbuildings that were used to manage the plantation. Ten of the buildings are part of the permanent exhibit. Southwest of the main house, a dirt road leads along the forest edge to the Floyd Family Graveyard. Surrounded by a white wooden fence, the 1 ½-acre Floyd Family Graveyard is L-shaped and has been the burial ground for 50 Floyd family members and two family servants. Adjacent to the Floyd Family Graveyard is a small clearing containing seven simple white crosses marking the graves of slaves and servants who worked for the family. A quarter of the Estate is salt marsh bordering Narrow Bay, which is bisected by the Great Ditch. Just within the inner bounds of the Great Ditch are five man-made ponds. A system of mosquito ditches run throughout the salt marsh. Most likely created in the thirties, they permit flooding of the salt marsh improving the water quality via more frequent turnover. The Great Ditch provides fish greater access to mosquito larvae and serves as a fish reservoir. The Estate is best known as the ancestral home and plantation of General William Floyd, the first of four signers of the Declaration of Independence from New York. The plantation was productive until 1880, producing a wide range of commodities that included cattle, crops, cordwood and boats. After the agricultural use was discontinued, the family maintained the fields and trails, utilizing them for recreation and hunting. As such, the Estate retains its historic character and provides a rare glimpse of Long Island’s land use history. Overall, the condition of the William Floyd Estate is fair. The agriculture fields have not been productive since 1881. The house, outbuildings and grounds in the historic core are in good condition, while the vast acreage of the park overall would be characterized as only fair. Due to maintenance challenges caused by its size and conditions such as mosquito infestation, the property overall is somewhat neglected. Overall, while there have been incremental changes subsequent to the historic period, the character of the William Floyd Estate cultural landscape retains integrity to its period of significance, 1724-1965.

William Floyd Estate: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Fire Island National Seashore

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