King’s heirs that King Manor transformed from a working farm to a residential estate. King studied agriculture as a science. He was the founder and president of the New York State Agricultural Society, and he used his political influence – in both the State Legislature and eventually as Governor of New York – to further the cause of New York State farmers. King Manor continued to operate as a working farm for some time, even as the increasingly-urbanized town of Jamaica began to close in around it. King took possession of his father’s estate as a fully working farm, complete with laborers and, most likely, an established market. While it appears that King was an agricultural innovator, experimenting with new farming methods and technologies, King Manor was in many respects a typical 19th-century Queens County farmstead.Īfter Rufus’ death in 1827, John A. He also raised livestock, including dairy cows, horses, hogs, and sheep. By the fall of 1807, King had hired a full-time gardener for the farm at Jamaica, and he had a fenced-in garden on his land. He employed farm workers throughout the year, and took a close interest in the everyday operation of King Manor. His account book records large numerous references to the sale of crops, including wheat, barley, potatoes, corn, strawberries, apples, peaches, and more. King wrote and received hundreds of letters discussing the state of his crops, his fields, and his agricultural methods. Under King’s ownership, King Manor functioned as a working farm, serving as a laboratory for his agricultural experimentation and as a source of commercial profit. This represents the final major addition to the house. By 1810, he had also enlarged the dining room and altered the bedrooms above. This kitchen was built from King’s own lumber and finished with shingles purchased from a neighbor. In 1806, the first addition, a kitchen, was constructed. King made two major additions to the house itself, enlarging it to its current size. However, under Rufus King’s ownership, King Manor would develop into a complex and intriguing landscape, expanding to 160 acres of bountiful farmland. When Rufus King took possession of King Manor in late November 1805, both the house and the landscape were unremarkable. King eventually decided upon Jamaica as the location of his country estate. While in England, he had spent time living in both the city and the country, and he desired similar accommodations upon his return to the United States. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974.In 1803, Rufus King returned from England after having spent seven years as the US Ambassador there. Under the care of the King Manor Association of Long Island, Inc., the mansion has been operated as a historic house museum since 1900. During this time recreational facilities were redistributed, and in 1997, a steel picket fence was installed around the house. From 1991 to 1993 the bandstand was relocated to the west side of the park, and new paths, fencing, and benches were introduced. In 1915 a bandstand was constructed at the center of the park, and the three-acre hockey field was graded and sodded to enable tennis to be played in the spring and summer and field hockey in the fall. Immediate improvements included repairing the mansion, laying sidewalks, planting trees and shrubs, and installing fencing. The mansion and its remaining eleven acres were purchased by the Village of Jamaica in 1896, and then transferred to the New York City Department of Parks when Jamaica was absorbed by the City in 1898.
The estate was a working farm, transitioning from the use of enslaved labor to free labor during King’s tenure and serving as a laboratory for agricultural experimentation and a source of commercial profit. His work included constructing a semicircular front drive, surrounding the property with a belt of trees, and planting oaks around the mansion, some of which remain. This 11.5-acre park once formed part of the estate of lawyer, statesman, and gentleman farmer Rufus King, who purchased the farmhouse and 90-acre farm in 1805. Influenced by his time in England, King was among the first to bring Picturesque design principles to an estate landscape in the northeastern United States.