Deck Builder in Warwick, NY

In the early 1700s, one of the original patent holders, Benjamin Aske, named his land “Warwick”, presumably after an area of England near his original ancestral home. He began to sell it off to settlers in 1719. His first parcel of land, 100 acres, was sold to Lawrence Decker. Other familiar family names of the Valley appeared in subsequent years. The white population of the valley grew rapidly from 1730 to 1765, and the previously existing populations of indigenous native people declined as forests and land were cleared for pasture and were re-organized. By the start of the American Revolution, almost all of the native population had disappeared in various ways. The region has been referred to as Warwick since the early eighteenth century, but a governmental form for a town named Warwick was officially created in 1788.

During the American War for Independence, Warwick was the site of a Continental Army encampment. The Hudson River Chain was forged at Stirling Iron Works in Warwick, preventing the British Navy from sailing up the Hudson River. In 1783, George Washington traveled through Warwick, stopping at Baird’s Tavern and spending the night in the home of John Hathorn.

Perspective map of Warwick from 1887 with list of landmarks by L.R. Burleigh

Warwick is situated along a freight rail line, which, as it did with many other towns in Orange County (such as Goshen, Middletown, and Newburgh), contributed to the growth of the area. The nineteenth-century writer and naturalist Henry William Herbert, writing as Frank Forrester, popularized the area with his 1845 book, “The Warwick Woodlands.” Today, the town of Warwick is a rural community with many agricultural pursuits that stimulate its economy.

Learn more about Warwick.