Gardiners Island

Dating back 400 years, Gardiners Island is the oldest estate in the United States and the only royal grant still intact in the country.

Purchased from the Montaukett Indians in 1639, Gardiners Island was settled by a man named Lion Gardiner in what is now East Hampton, New York. King Charles I granted the island a proprietary colony via royal decree, giving Gardiner “the right to possess the land forever.”

As far as forever goes, that remains to be seen. But the descendants of Lion Gardiner still hold the 3,300-acre island—1,000 acres of which is rare old growth forest.

Over the last 400 years, the island has been embroiled in a series of contemporary flashpoints. In 1657, Gardiner’s daughter Elizabeth initiated the first witch hunt in an American colony. At 15, Elizabeth fell deliriously ill, and her last words were accusations of witchcraft. This led to the witch hunt, arrest, and persecution of a farmhand’s wife, 50-year-old Goody Garlick.

In 1699, pirate Captain Kidd buried $30,000 worth of treasure in rubies, diamonds, and bars of silver on the island. He was kind enough to ask permission to do so, but also threatened to murder the family if the treasure wasn’t still there when he returned. Mrs. Gardiner, the island’s proprietor at the time, was later ordered to deliver the booty to the court in Boston where Kidd sat trial. It was pretty compelling evidence for piracy—Kidd was executed.

The island also served as the backdrop for several U.S. wars. After the Gardiners sided with the colonists in the Revolutionary War, 13 British ships sailed into Cherry Harbor, foraging the island and manor. Then, during the War of 1812, British troops again anchored in the harbor, raiding U.S. ships. Gardiners Island is the final resting place for the British soldiers killed there during this period.

In 1820, future First Lady Julia Gardiner was born on the island. Despite their 30 year age gap, Julia and President John Tyler began a relationship after being introduced at a White House reception. They married in a private ceremony following the death of Julia’s father, David Gardner, who died in a tragic explosion on a steam frigate. Although she and Tyler retired in Virginia, she eventually moved back to New York after Union soldiers seized their home.

More recently, the island has primarily made headlines for its strict no-trespassing policy and a 22-year legal battle between possible heirs Robert D.L. Gardiner and Alexander Creel Goelet, trained naturalist. Because Robert Gardiner’s mother willed the island not specifically to him but to the children of her immediate family and their descendants, his niece Alexandra was able to stake her claim to the land in 1982 with the backing of her wealthy philanthropist husband, Robert G. Goelet. The Gardiners and Goelets fought over ownership until Robert Gardiner passed away at 96 years old in 2004.

As of now, the island is unilaterally owned by Alexandra, who intends, predictably, to keep it in the family.