{"nrhp_refnum":"06000238","name":"Priscilla (Long Island Sound Oyster Sloop)","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Waterfront, Long Island Maritime Museum, 84 West Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Sayville","county":"Suffolk County","state":"NY","lat":40.722291521000045,"lon":-73.09588235899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-17","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2006-02-17","areas_of_significance":["Maritime History","Transportation","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Priscilla is a 60-foot wooden Long Island \"south-sider\" oyster dredging sloop, built in 1888 at Patchogue, New York, by Elisha Saxton. She is home-ported at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, Suffolk County.","why_significant":"She is described as the oldest and only sailing work boat to survive from the Great South Bay oyster fleet. She is an outstanding example of an early oyster sloop type dating to the 1830s, built at the peak of the American oyster industry. Her significance runs from her construction in 1888 to 1953, when the last owner to work her changed her rig and dredging gear.","narrative":"Priscilla is a 60-foot wooden oyster sloop built in 1888 at Patchogue, Long Island, by Elisha Saxton. She is a classic \"south-sider,\" with a wide beam, shallow draft, low freeboard for hauling heavy dredges, a clipper bow and a gaff-rigged sail plan. She worked the oyster beds of Great South Bay and Long Island Sound during the peak of the American oyster industry, when oysters were the country's chief fishery product. Later owners changed her rig and dredging gear in the 1950s, added a fiberglass shell around 1967 and re-rigged her as a schooner. The Long Island Maritime Museum acquired her in 1976 and carried out a 19-month restoration in 2002-2003. It removed the fiberglass and returned her to her 1920s appearance. She is regarded as the oldest surviving sailing work boat of the Great South Bay oyster fleet, and she now teaches visitors about the oyster fishery.","period_of_significance":"1888-1953","architect_builder":"Elisha Saxton","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Restored over 19 months in 2002-2003 to her 1920s appearance; no longer harvests oysters and is used by the museum for education about Long Island's maritime heritage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.779593-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06000238_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000238/84a6398604-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000238/84a6398604-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Dmadeo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Priscilla-bundled-up-for-winter.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmadeo</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Priscilla-bundled-up-for-winter.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316085","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_(sloop)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7245572"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/suffolk-county/priscilla-long-island-sound-oyster-sloop-06000238/"}