Sylvester Manor will celebrate the 2026 Juneteenth Holiday with our annual commemoration at the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground with a Calling of The Names.

We invite you to participate in the ceremony as we honor the Indigenous, Enslaved, and Free men, women and children of color who lived, worked, and were buried on this site. 

Archaeologists from the University of Massachusetts/Boston utilized ground-penetrating radar technology to confirm that nearly 100 individuals are interred at the site. Through extensive research, the History & Heritage staff has identified over 70 of these individuals, uncovering their names and chronicling their life stories at Sylvester Manor and Shelter Island.

Please join us at the Burial Ground for a group participation ceremony of the reading of the names and a traditional libation homage to the ancestors.

Closed footwear and bug spray is recommended. Meet at the Afro-Indigenous Burial Ground.