The Red Cloud chief., 1889-10-04
GARDINER'S ISLAND.
4 Wilderness Of Tangled beauty and !
deserib0ble 6randeur.

GARDENERS ISLAND.
4 Wilderness Of Tangled Beauty md In
d~e0eribabls Grandeur.
Nowhere within one hundred mile.
Of New York City can such a complete
wilderness be fOund-a wilderness o.
tangled loveliness and grandeur-as h
found in the vast forests of Gardiner
Island. The fame of the forests on
this famous old island has gone abroad.
and thousands OF people have visited
them this year.
The Gardeners Island forests occupy
q large portion of the interior of the
island. They are composed chiefly OF
gray oaks and gum trees, standing al
such distances apart as to have per-
mitted them to grow to great size.
while the ground is covered with fine
sweet grasses. Many of the trees are
heavy with Florida moss and f~estoOns
Of poison ivy and wild grape vines.
lending to the landscape an especially
tropical effect. At ore point in the
center of the forests the paths come
together befOre'a stile of rails. Here,
in a dark. leafy glade is q directory of
this years visitors to the forest.
Hundreds upon hundreds of cards are
stuck into the chestnut fence rails and
steps everywhere. In some places the
leaf OF a note book bears the name of a
whole party. In the collection are
names from all corners of the United
States.
The woods are literally full OF game
birds and animals, but hunting them is
not permitted. Passing over a narrow
table land from the shore to enter the
forest a reporter scared up an immense
flock of quail. which whirred a few
rods away and dropped in the grass
only to dislodge another flock of similar
proportions, and a great flock of cooling
wild pigeons broke out of the edge Of
the forest as he entered. Midway in
the forest are the blackberry swamps,
the resort of reed birds. bObolinks. and
blacksnakes. The latter are as thick
IS hail there. but the island colOnists
say they will not hurt any one. al
though last year q large blacksnake
gave one of the farm hands a severe
logging. Further on the tree limbs
are piled high in places with dead
sticks and leaves. and great gray birds
are circling high in the air overhead.
wildly. They are fshhawks.
The stick piles are their nests in the
trees. GARDENERS Island is one of the
breeding spots for the osprey on the
North Atlantic coast. because the Gar
diners would never allow their nests
to be pillaged. The original Gardiner
directed that all game be protected
from ruthless invaders. and it has been.
Fat woodcock and lazy rabbits barely
rolled out of the reporters way. A
raccoon was sighted, then q wild cat,
and finally a deer.
Nearly all of the eleven proprietors
of this magnificent entailed estate have
been buried on the hill overlooking the
manor. The first one. Lord Lion
was inferred at Easthampton
on Long Island. John Lyon Gardiner.
the present proprietor of the island
and manor. who is said by his depend
ents to possess all the virtues of his
ten predecessors, has made an inter-
addition to the Easthampton
cemetery. in the recumbent figure of
his remote ancestor. The knight, in
complete armor. lies on a sarcophagus
In a Gothic marble chapel surrounded
BY q low iron fence. 1t was designed
by James Renwick, the architect OF
Grace Church and of st. Patrick's Ca.
On the sarcophagus is in.
in Old English:
Lion Gardiner, an ofncer of ye English Army
md an engineer and Master OF Works and Forti.
n ye Low Countries. In 1885 he came to New. |
England in ye service Of q Company of Lords
md Gentlemen. He builded and commanded ye |
Fort. After completing his term Of !
service there. he moved in 1859 to his Island, OF !
which he was sole owner and ruler. Born in |
500. he died in this town in 1861 venerated and
A red cedar bar on two posts of the |
anne material marked Lion Gardeners
rave for yer two hundred years, un-
il the present monument was erected. |
Before this work was done, as there
some doubt as to whether the first
Of the island was buried
here. the grave was opened. Seven
eet below the surface the workmen
ound a layer of stone. beneath which
vas a skeleton nearly perfect in pres
rvation. A physician examined it and
Ound it to be u mans frame. The
kull was white and hard. the jaws
quare. the teeth good. locks of brown
air found. together with five Of
he coffin nails and a bit of cedar wood.
'hese relics established the fact that
he grave was that of the first lord of
he manOr They were put back.
overed with cement and stones, and
he monument was raised to his mem
~ " Tu;h,po |