Sherwood-Jayne Farm in East Setauket: History and Visiting

ByPawli Paola Meyer

The Sherwood-Jayne Farm stands at 55 Old Post Road in East Setauket, on land that has been farmed since the early eighteenth century. Its centerpiece is a farmhouse dating to about 1730, now operated as a house museum by Preservation Long Island, the nonprofit that evolved from the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities. The property mixes three layers of history: a colonial farm family, a collector who bought the house in 1908, and a modern preservation organization that keeps the grounds open to walkers.

The Jayne family and the house

According to Preservation Long Island, the house began around 1730 as a lean-to saltbox, and the Jayne family worked the land as a farmstead for more than 150 years. A local history column by Beverly C. Tyler credits Matthias Jayne with building the first house and says his son William roughly doubled its size after the Revolutionary War. William is the figure known as William Jayne II, a Loyalist whom locals called “Big Bill the Tory,” a nickname repeated by Greater Long Island and in the organization’s own tour description.

The property sits inside the Town of Brookhaven’s East Setauket Historic District, which Tyler describes as a district of farmhouses dating from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. That context matters for readers comparing the site with other Three Village landmarks, since the farmhouse is a working example of how rural houses in the area grew room by room.

Howard Sherwood and the restoration

In 1908 attorney Howard C. Sherwood bought the property. The column by Tyler notes that he purchased it from a third great-granddaughter of Matthias Jayne. Sherwood used the farm to display his collection of antiques, and Preservation Long Island says the Boston architect Joseph Everett Chandler, described as a leading Colonial Revival architect, restored the house. The result is a farmhouse that reads as colonial but includes early twentieth-century Colonial Revival choices.

Sherwood later left both his American antiques and the East Setauket farm to the society. The organization’s account of Howard Sherwood: Preserving Long Island describes him as a wealthy urban antiquarian and a central figure in the society, which was formed out of concern about postwar development on Long Island. An exhibition about him ran at the organization’s gallery from September 14 to November 18, 2018.

Woodland nature trail with fallen leaves near the Sherwood-Jayne Farm in East Setauket.

What the interior holds

The house contains period furnishings and original late eighteenth-century hand-painted floral wall decoration, which the organization calls frescoes. Tyler’s column adds several details: wall paintings and paneling believed to come from a nearby colonial house where Benjamin Tallmadge, the leader of the Culper spy ring, was born; a pine corner cupboard in the first-floor west room; and wide pine floorboards salvaged from Old Wick’s Tavern in Bridgehampton. He also notes a “Sheep Register” that Sherwood kept in the 1930s to document a plan to use sheep to keep the east field under control.

The sheep connect to a later chapter. A July 2023 article in the Village Times Herald reports that the flock descended from one Sherwood established in 1933 and that Preservation Long Island decided to move the grazing animals off the property to focus on programming tied to Setauket and Long Island history. According to the article, executive director Alexandra Wolfe said the animals no longer connected the property to the organization’s mission, and she also cited liability concerns about visitors who go past the fence. The decision drew objections from the caretaker and a neighbor, which the article also reports. Wolfe said she wanted programming that is more education-based and that lets visitors interact with the property instead of only viewing displays.

Landscape and nature trail

Few Long Island house museums keep much land around them, which makes the surrounding acreage a large part of the site’s appeal.

The setting keeps its nineteenth-century agricultural character, according to the organization, with hayfields, meadows, a woodlot, an orchard and pasture. The farm grounds and the connected Suffolk County nature trails are open year-round from sunrise to sunset. The trail runs about three miles along a glacial moraine on county parkland, with dogs not permitted. A trail map is available as a PDF on the organization’s page, and wildlife listed there includes red-tailed hawks, red foxes, flying squirrels, eastern box turtles, great horned owls, gray catbirds and downy woodpeckers.

Colonial farmhouse interior with wide pine floorboards, typical of the Sherwood-Jayne Farm house museum.

Touring the house

Public house tours are seasonal. The organization’s page says they run from June through October and are booked online. The 2026 ticketing listing on SimpleTix gave dates from June 13 to October 10, 2026, with guided tours at 11 a.m., 12, 1 and 2 p.m., and marked the event as over. It also states that the tour is not wheelchair accessible and includes stairs. Ticket prices did not appear on that listing, and an older Greater Long Island summary that describes free Saturday tours cannot be reconciled with the current page, so the organization’s site is the more dependable reference.

Because the 2026 public season has now ended, the practical options for the coming weeks are the grounds and trail, which stay open, and private or group tours. The organization lists private and group tours at $12 per person with a $120 minimum, requested through a form on its page.

An online grounds tour on the same page also covers the outbuildings, landscape and site history for anyone who prefers to start from a screen.

Events and special programs

Beyond the regular tour season, the property has hosted themed programs. A listing at I LOVE NY shows a Culper Spy Day tour at the Sherwood-Jayne house on Saturday, September 6, 2025, and the organization’s page lists a 2026 Long Island History Hunt that ran from May 23 to September 30. Both are seasonal and have ended for this year. The organization’s events page lists upcoming programs at the farm and at its other historic properties, and is the place where any winter or 2027 offerings would be posted.

A 2023 article states that the house was then open to the public on summer Saturdays while the grounds stayed open from dawn until dusk throughout the year. The pattern has held in outline since, with the house on a summer-to-October calendar and the trails available all year.

Old orchard and hayfield beside a historic farmstead like the Sherwood-Jayne Farm.

Seeing the site in the larger Setauket story

The farm is described as a stop on Washington’s Spy Trail and as a participant in Culper Spy Day events, and the Three Village Historical Society’s site lists a related set of tours and exhibits. The society’s headquarters at 93 North Country Road in East Setauket lists a Spies exhibit, an augmented-reality 1776 app, and tours that include a maritime tour and Tri-Spy Tours, according to the society’s website. The two sites sit in the same Revolutionary-era neighborhood and approach it from different angles, one through exhibits and tours about the spy network and the other through a surviving farmhouse tied to a Loyalist family.

Readers who want the surrounding history can continue with Abraham Woodhull and the Culper spy ring, Caroline Church of Brookhaven and the Setauket Presbyterian burial ground.

Visiting notes

Parking arrangements, tour capacity and trail conditions are not detailed on the pages reviewed, so no specifics are given here. The organization asks that the trail be used during daylight only, and dogs are not allowed on it. House tours require a ticket, and the listing warns that tickets are non-refundable although the organizer says it will try to reschedule if needed.

Anyone planning a late-season walk can combine the trail with a stop at the Three Village Historical Society, whose gift shop and exhibits are listed with Thursday, Saturday and Sunday hours from noon to 4 p.m. and Friday hours from 3 to 6 p.m. on its homepage. Those hours were read in October 2026 and can change with the season.

This article is general information drawn from the sources linked in the text.

Further reading

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A commission may be earned if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you.

Hours, programs and prices change; confirm details with the official sources linked above before visiting.

Sources

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply