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.
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