William Floyd estate celebrates country’s 250th anniversary

On Friday, May 1^st, the William Floyd estate held a celebration for the nation’s 250^th anniversary with colonial re-enactors and a treasure trove of historical literature, wares, and musical instruments.

National Parks Service superintendent Alexcy Romero emcee’d the guest speakers and spoke of the dedication and service of his staff and other history enthusiasts who helped with honoring William Floyd and the legacy of his home.

“Events like this, as we all know, don’t happen on their own, they are the result of collaboration, commitment, and sharing in the importance of what we are celebrating,” said Romero who thanked Bill Doyle, the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Suffolk County Department of Health Services, and other members of Tri-Hamlet 250.

Romero also mentioned the new friends group that Doyle would be starting up for the estate.

Chief Harry Wallace from the Unkechaug Nation, the indigenous people of the Mastic/Mastic Beach area where the Floyd estate is located, opened the ceremony with a prayer in the native language and a song accompanied with traditional drums.

Wallace said “when William Floyd’s family was threatened by the British, the Unkechang tribe helped them” by escorting them to the north shore and then onto Connecticut.

Accompanying on drums was Standing Buffalo, a celebrated artist, from the Shinnecock Nation.

Many elected officials were in attendance and spoke for the ceremony including Suffolk County Executive, Ed Romaine, Town of Brookhaven supervisor, Dan Panico, and Town of Islip supervisor, Angie Carpenter.

Romaine, a former history teacher, extolled the tenets of the Constitution as imagined by the founding fathers. “He [Floyd] signed in 1776 and we had no idea what would come after that.”

Panico reflected on the long-standing history of the manor house and how it was donated to National Park Service in 1976 by descendants of Floyd. “I am proud to say I’m a graduate of the school district that bears his name.”

Carpenter spoke of the Nicolls family whom the neighboring Town of Islip was named after for their residence in England and president George Washinton’s visit and stay in the Sagtikos Manor for his 1790 tour of Long Island.

In addition, New York state senator Dean Murray, New York State assemblyman Joe DeStefano, Suffolk County legislators Jim Mazzarella and Samuel Gonzalez, Patchogue Village mayor Paul Pontieri, Saltaire mayor Hugh O’Brien, Bellport mayor Maureen Veitch, and Brookhaven councilwoman Karen Dunne Kesnig were invited to sign ten copies of the Declaration of Independence.

William Floyd was the only person from Suffolk County to sign the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, 42 year-old William Floyd risked losing his family, farm, and life for signing the Declaration of Independence. One of the four New Yorkers who signed the document, his is the only house still standing and open to the public.
Floyd inherited the Old Mastic House and 4,400 acres of land in 1755. He farmed a variety of crops including wheat, rye, oats, corn, and flax. The Floyds also raised livestock including sheep, cattle, and pigs. Floyd farmed his vast holdings with slaves, indentured servants, and free laborers.

Although he was primarily a farmer he did serve in local politics, and in the early 1770s received a colonel’s commission in the Suffolk County Militia. In 1774 he was elected to the 1^st and 2nd Continental Congress, where he served until the end of the Revolutionary War.

Floyd was married twice. He had 3 children by his first wife Hannah Jones who died in 1781 and 2 children with his second wife, Joanna Strong.

After the War he went back to managing his plantation but continued to dabble in politics. He served as State Senator and was many times a presidential elector. He is one of the few Floyd’s not buried in the family cemetery. He died when he was 86 in upstate New York and is buried in the Town of Westernville, where he had moved in 1803.