Old Saybrook Center in Middlesex County, Connecticut — The American Northeast (New England)

Lion Gardiner

Photographed By Michael Herrick, September 2, 2021

1. Lion Gardiner Marker

Inscription.
In 1635 Lieutenant Lion Gardiner, a tall redheaded military engineer, was engaged by Governor John Winthrop, Jr. to build a fort and lay out a town for the Warwick Patentees. His contract was for a period of four years at an annual salary of 100 English pounds. Gardiner arrived in the bark Batchelor with his wife Mary in March of 1636 and began to build a stout palisade fort and a windmill for grinding corn. The next month his son David was born the first recorded birth of an English child in Connecticut. When Gardiner's contract expired in 1639, he bought the island of Manahonake (now Gardiner's Island) from the friendly Montaukett Indians and moved his family there. He died in Easthampton, New York.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Science & Medicine. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1636.

Location. 41° 17.058′ N, 72° 21.17′ W. Marker is in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, in Middlesex County. It is in Old Saybrook Center. Marker can be reached from College Street (Connecticut Route 154) east of Fenwick Street, on the left when traveling east. Located in Fort Saybrook Monument Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Old Saybrook CT 06475, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Battlefields of the Pequot War (here, next to this marker); Say Brooke Fort

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(a few steps from this marker); Fort Saybrook – 1635 (within shouting distance of this marker); The Fenwicks (within shouting distance of this marker); The Pequot War (within shouting distance of this marker); Winthrop and the Warwick Patent (within shouting distance of this marker); The Connecticut River (within shouting distance of this marker); The Saybrook Bar (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Old Saybrook.

Also see . . . Lion Gardiner (Wikipedia). (Submitted on September 28, 2021, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.)

Photographed By Michael Herrick, September 2, 2021

2. Lion Gardiner Marker

Lion Gardiner image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Michael Herrick, September 2, 2021

3. Lion Gardiner

In Memory of
Lion Gardiner
Builder and Comander
of Saybrook Fort
1635 — 1639

Credits. This page was last revised on February 10, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 28, 2021, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut. This page has been viewed 245 times since then and 51 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on September 28, 2021, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.