The A1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine - Where Retro Meets Bistro!
Should you find yourself wandering around in mid-Maine, take a detour to the city of Gardiner which was founded as Gardinerstown Plantation in 1754 by Dr. Silvester Gardiner, a prominent Boston physician and Tory whose substantial land holdings were confiscated during the American Revolution. The property was eventually restored to his grandson, Robert Hallowell Gardiner, and the town was incorporated on February 17, 1806 then later as a city on November 26, 1849. A "bedroom community" of less than 6,000 residents comprised mostly of people working in Maine's capital city of Augusta or at the Bath Iron Works, in 1980 the entire downtown historic district of Gardiner was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Kennebec County, Maine due to its great deal of historic architecture. Some of that historic architecture belongs to the 1820 Christ Episcopal Church (the oldest continuously operating Episcopal Church in Maine), the 1881 Gardiner Public Library