[1][2] The establishment was one of the first commercial nurseries in the country, and was in operation about 130 years until the property was sold after 1869.

[6] An advertisement running on September 21, 1767 stated: For sale at William Prince's nursery, Flushing, a great variety of fruit trees, such as apple, plum, peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot and pear.

Jeremiah Mitchell and Daniel Clements go to New York in packet boats Tuesdays and FridaysThough Long Island came under British rule during the American Revolutionary War, the British protected it due to the value of the operation.

Around 1793, William Prince (grandson of Robert and son of William) added to the family acreage and renamed this tract as the Linnaean Botanic Garden and Nursery, named after Carolus Linnaeus, who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms.

George Washington first visited the nursery in October 1789 with John Adams, when the United States capital was still in New York City.