No. 75: Joseph Lloyd Manor House

Lloyd Manor sits partway up a hill overlooking Lloyd Harbor, the epitome of an old-time manor house.

Inside, the rooms are filled with items and furniture appropriate to 1793, based on an inventory by then-owner Joseph Lloyd II.

Local schoolchildren know the house from school tours where they learned about Colonial childhood around the time of the Revolution. When it functioned as a rental before it was donated to the Society for the Preservation of Long Island in 1968, it once was home to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh (February 1940-August 1941). There’s a photo on display showing Lindbergh looking into a garden pond, flanked by two of his sons.

Local residents also know the manor as the home of Jupiter Hammon, the first published black poet in America. Hammon was born in 1711 and lived his life as property of four generations of the Lloyd family. There’s a display on Hammon and some of his writings, and during the tour a bit of speculation on which bedroom he may have occupied.

The house was built in 1766-67 by a Connecticut builder for Joseph Lloyd, who was one of four sons of Henry Lloyd. Henry Lloyd built a house on the Neck in 1711 and was the first Lloyd to live there even though it had been in the family since it was granted to Henry’s father, James, about 1685.

The two-story house has a wide center hallway so doors at either end could be opened for ventilation, and its large rooms are off a central staircase.

The front parlor and office have wonderful paneling in the form of wainscoting, and interior pocket shutters on the windows that would have been closed in the summer to block the sun and closed to help keep the heat in during the winter. Archways in the living room, now blocked off, would have lead to the dining room.

The front office has an exterior door that was probably added after the Revloutionary War so sea captains could enter the house and conduct business without disturbing the family, said docent Ceil Stepanian, who conducted a tour of the house.

Upstairs is a parlor chamber with more detailed woodwork, and in another bedroom a blanket chest on ball feet that is local to Long Island. As you go up the steps you’ll note there are two steps up to the family’s quarters, and one step up to the servant’s quarters, apparently to maintain the distinction between them, Stepanian noted.

There's also a small room believed to have been slave quarters that now houses a large spinning wheel. At the rear of the upstairs is a room added between 1915-1920 that served as maid's quarters and which SPLIA now uses for school trips.

Visit the house for much more history on the Lloyd family and their time on Lloyd Neck. Lloyd Manor is open for visitors Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekends. Cost is $3 for adults; $2 for seniors and children ages 7-14. Groups by appointment only, call 631-692-4664.

Stay tuned for No. 74 next week, same time same place, as Huntington Patch explores the places and activities in town.