Joseph Lloyd Manor (Home of enslaved poet, Jupiter Hammon)

The Joseph Lloyd Manor House was completed in roughly 1768. Built in the federal style, the home sits on two acres of land and though changes have been made to the home over the years, it maintains a number of its original features. It was originally part of the Manor of Queens Village, a 3,000-acre provisioning estate. It remained in the Lloyd family until well into the nineteenth century. The manor is also notable for being the home of Jupiter Hammon, an enslaved man who has the distinction of being the first published African American poet. Hammon was born on the estate in 1711 and his works were published during his lifetime. Joseph Lloyd Manor is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Lloyd family of Long Island were among the earliest settlers on what had been Matinecock lands, and it is from that family that Lloyd Neck and Lloyd Harbor take their name. James Lloyd, a Boston merchant, acquired land then known as Horse Neck in 1676. In 1685, he was granted a royal patent for the land and renamed it the Manor of Queens Village. Lloyd remained in Boston and rented land to tenants, but in 1711, his son, Henry, gave up his business in Newport, Rhode Island, to move to Lloyd Neck and farm his father's land. The home that Henry Lloyd built still stands and is part of Caumsett State Historic Park.

It was Henry's son, Joseph, who built the home that bears his name. The manor was completed in approximately 1768. The home sits on two acres and overlooks Lloyd Neck Harbor. The home was built by Abner Osborn, a Connecticut carpenter, and reflects the wealth and status that the Lloyd family had acquired by this time. Though few Americans realize it, slavery existed throughout the American colonies, and New York had the third-highest population of slaves. The Lloyd manor home was designed in a way that reflected that reality. The Lloyds and the people that they enslaved lived together in the home, although it was built with rear entrances to be used by their slaves. The part of the home where slaves resided also features less ornamentation and a more simple design.

A few years after the home was built, war erupted between the colonies and the British crown. During the Revolution, the British occupation of Long Island lasted for seven years. During that time, British soldiers looted homes and terrorized civilians, and Joseph Lloyd, a Patriot, fled to Connecticut. He took with him an enslaved man, Jupiter Hammon, that he inherited from his father. By this point, although he was still enslaved, Hammon was already a published poet. His broadside, An Evening Thought, was published in 1760, making Hammon the first published African American poet. He would later publish essays in addition to poetry, and much of his writing was religious in nature. Joseph Lloyd committed suicide in 1780, at which point ownership of Hammon passed to Joseph's nephew, as he had no children. Hammon is buried on the estate.

Over the years, the estate changed owners but remained in the Lloyd family until the late nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the home would again occupy a small but interesting place in history. In the first half of the twentieth century, the home was used as a rental property. For a period of a few months between 1940 and 1941, Charles Lindbergh and his family rented the home, reportedly as a place to escape the media frenzy that followed them in the years following the kidnapping and murder of his young son.

Preservation Long Island purchased the estate in 1968 and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Lloyds of Lloyd Neck, Huntington, NY . Accessed June 5th 2021. https://www.huntingtonny.gov/filestorage/13747/99540/16499/Lloyds_of_Lloyd_Neck.pdf.

Joseph Lloyd Manor , Preservation Long Island . Accessed June 5th 2021. https://preservationlongisland.org/joseph-lloyd-manor/.

Brincat, Lauren. The Jupiter Hammon Project: Confronting Slavery at Preservation Long Island's Joseph Lloyd Manor , The Decorative Arts Trust . Accessed June 5th 2021. https://decorativeartstrust.org/jupiter-hammon/.

Morris , Deborah. Joseph Lloyd Manor, Home of Renowned Slave Poet, Named Literary Landmark, Newsday . October 11th 2020. Accessed June 5th 2021. https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/slave-writer-landmark-jupiter-hammon-1.50032369#:~:text=The%20place%20where%20one%20of,and%20virtual%20celebration%20on%20Saturday..