Historic Gardiner NY

WELCOME
The town of Gardiner is a minor civil division located in southern Ulster County.  Based on the 2000 federal Census, the population of the town of Gardiner is approximately 5,238 persons with approximately 45 square miles of land and water surface area. The average density is about 116 persons per square mile.

The town is situated on the outer fringe of the New York metropolitan area. It is approximately equidistant from the Hudson River cities of Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, and approximately 75 miles north of New York City. The landscape varies from vertical rock cliffs and evergreen forests of the Shawangunk Mountains to the basins and broad floodplains of the Wallkill River, Shawangunk Kill and Mara Kill streams.

HUDSON VALLEY HISTORY PROJECT: GARDINER
Launched in 2006, the goal of the Hudson Valley History Project: Gardiner is to preserve the personal histories of Gardiner's longest standing residents. Each of these Story Subjects has lived in Gardiner for at least 50 years. The project's coordinators have enlisted the services of local writers to document and edit these special stories. Click here to read the stories.

THE GARDINER FAMILY NAME 
”The family name of Gardiner, in its numerous variety of forms, can be traced back in English history to William the Conqueror, who in the year 1066, defeated the Saxon King, Harold, in the Battle of Hastings, and subsequently introduced the Medieval European civilization to the British Isles. Both men, William Des Jardine and William the Conqueror, have been identified by historians as great grandsons of William the Longsword.

Since the family-name of Gardiner was first introduced into the British Isles as ‘Des Jardine’, it remained unchanged in the areas of heavy Norman population for perhaps a century before it became De Jardine, then Jardine, Gardine, etc. In the areas more heavily populated by the Romans it became De Gardino, D'Gardino, etc. In the areas more heavily populated by the Britions, Danes and Saxons, it appeared in the Twelfth Century as De Jardin, Jardin, Gardin, etc.

Geographical location also played a major role in determining how family names were spelled. In Scotland, for example, Gardiner was known as Gardenkirk. In Wales it was spelled Gardynyr. Across the line in Gloustershire, it was slightly altered to read Gardyner..." (ix-x, Gardiner: Generations and Relations, Thomas Richard Gardiner.)

ULSTER COUNTY POORHOUSE
The Ulster County Poorhouse (ca 1827-1954) was located along Libertyville Road on the Wallkill River, near the Town of Gardiner-Town of New Paltz boundary line. The land is now occupied by the Ulster County Fair and Ulster County Pool Complex. To read more about a recent comprehensive historical examination of Ulster County's Underprivileged, click here.

The town historian is a volunteer position appointed each year by the Town Board at the annual meeting. The current town historian is A.J. Schenkman, email: historian.tog@gmail.com.