Annual Meeting 2018

On May 31st 2018, the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors In America met at the historic town house of The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York to hear a program on the Livingstons and Livingston Manor by Geoff Benton, author, historian and curator, who explored how Robert Livingston, an immigrant from Scotland, rapidly became one of the largest land holders in the colony of New York, and how his descendants became the most powerful family in the colony and as well as leaders in the fight for American independence. In their rise, the Livingstons married and feuded with many prominent families in the colony including the Van Rensselaers, the Schuylers, the Jays and the Morris family. Geoff also discussed how successive generations of the Livingstons created some of the most architectural significant homes on the Hudson River including Clermont, the forefather of all the Hudson Valley great estates.

The 2018 recipient of The Timothy Field Beard Memorial Award for Excellence was the noted archaeologist, author and filmmaker Dr. Gaynell Stone, the executive director of the Suffolk County Archaeological Association, for her in-depth 6 two hours long DVD set entitled “The Manors of Long Island” which documents 13 manors on New York’s Long Island and environs.