Warwick: Warmhearted & Pretty Wonderful

by Anne Pyburn and photographs by David Cunningham, October 28, 2011

The village of Warwick is the primary nerve center for the Warwick Valley, nestled just 55 miles from Manhattan, but sheltered by mountains and blue highways. “No four-lane road and two mountains to get over, but 40 percent of our residents do commute,” says Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce President Michael Johndrow. “I think that shows you how worth the drive it is. People come here for reasons that have everything to do with the camaraderie. When we won that ‘World’s Prettiest Small Village’ [a Communities in Bloom award], it was because the businesses, the residents, the schools, the hospital, the Scouts, the county dump guys—I mean, everyone got into it and ran with it. But that’s who lives here: doers. When this town wanted a railroad, they started one; when they wanted a newspaper, they started one. When they wanted a phone company, they started that, and they’re still here doing telecommunications. I feel so honored to live here.”


Deep Roots & Black Dirt Farmers
Orange County’s rich Black Dirt region was once at the bottom of a vast lake. Original inhabitants called it “the Drowned Lands.” Today, a good amount of it is called the Warwick Valley, and it is home to some of the finest growing soil on the continent, perhaps on the planet. Warwick’s roots lie in root veggies, and the results of long and intelligent nurture of the land are easy to see—as when a Mercedes pulls up at Paffenroth Gardens bearing regular customer Dan Kluger of ABC Kitchen, which won this year’s James Beard Foundation Award for “Best New Restaurant,” or when New York magazine features Alex Paffenroth as one of its “Farmers with Cult Followings.” Paffenroth Gardens is just one example. The Warwick Valley’s Black Dirt farmers are the core of what might be considered the New York City “foodshed,” and unlike the watershed, no government watchdog is charged with its safeguarding. But Warwick folks know. And when the Drowned Lands were drowned again in Hurricane Irene’s wake, Warwick stepped up. Within days, there was a website and a major party planned.

“These people set themselves a goal of raising $25,000 and raised $70,000,” says Michael Johndrow, executive director of the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce. “In three weeks. Most groups would still be arguing about who got what seat at the table.”

Hometown Downtown
Tamara Grapek jumped at the chance to relocate her young health food store to Warwick. “This is where I always wanted to be,” she says. “But when I first looked, there wasn’t one vacant spot. I watched and waited and grabbed the opportunity.” Grapek’s store, Ask Tamara, is now part of the scene, an unpretentious and cozy place to get supplements or goats milk or take five with the friendly proprietor. Under the Vitameatavegamin poster, Grpaek’s bulletin board is packed with the business cards of dozens upon dozens of her friends and neighbors, practitioners of a vast variety of arts and sciences. “This is an exceptional place to do business because people are so conscious of values like community and environment that translate into loyalty to local businesses,” says Grapek. “People help each other here.”