Dickinson Gardiner

he road carrying many students to and from campus once wove through his family’s apple orchard. Former professor Dickinson Gardiner grew up on land in Almonesson, which now makes up a section of Route 55. Gardiner has returned to the business, growing apples, peaches and plums on his land in Troy, N.Y.

Gardiner taught secondary education here from 1976 to 1991. He smiles when he says there is “no committee work” in the orchard business. But life after retiring from teaching isn’t easy as pie. Gardiner raises 7,000 dwarf apple trees on stakes and trellises, similar to grapes grown in a vineyard.

The new apple-growing technology will change the orchard as we know it today, says Gardiner, noting his picked-by-hand apples have better color, size and taste than apples of yesteryear. “In the next 20 years apple orchards won’t look like they do today,” said Gardiner.

Since retiring, Gardiner has also coached junior varsity soccer and funds a lecture series at the University to enhance the graduate teaching curriculum.

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