volunteer opportunities
Volunteers have been the backbone of our work since the beginning of the Constitution Island Association. Each year, local residents come together to lead tours, help with the island's gardens, and volunteer at our signature Summer events. This ongoing work continues to ensure the preservation of Constitution Island and all the treasured history within the Warner House. Training materials are provided.
INTERESTED IN BECOMING A 2026 DOCENT?
2026 summer docent training
Join us on Saturday, May 9, and Saturday, May 16, for our Docent trainings. Please contact info@constitutionisland.org to RSVP and for more information.
DIG INTO HISTORY
Gardeners
Constitution Island Association gardeners help maintain the “oldest, continuous garden in the Hudson Valley” by spending mornings in Anna B. Warner’s perennial Walkway and Herb gardens.
GARDENER QUALIFICATIONS:
The historic gardens are maintained in accordance with Anna’s 1872 month-by-month book, “Gardening By Myself.” We invite volunteers to join us on Thursday mornings to help maintain the flowers and herbs, and, of course, pull the weeds. No experience necessary. We have a team of returning volunteers who can assist newbies in the technical aspects of the gardens. You could join us once a season or every week from May – October.
Become a part of History:
Docents
Constitution Island Association docents lead tours of the Revolutionary War fortifications and the Warner House for the general public and special interest groups.
DOCENT QUALIFICATIONS:
As a representative of the Association, Docents are expected to be knowledgeable, have good communication and teaching skills, be willing to work as a team player, and project a professional image. Your love of history, ecology, architecture, and the decorative arts will inspire visitors to the island. Docents are responsible for presenting a smooth, informative tour for visitors. Each docent takes responsibility for a guided tour through a section of the Warner House. The docent may lead a tour for the Revolutionary War fortifications as well.
GET STARTED TODAY
People interested in being a docent are asked to attend a 90-minute orientation. For more information, contact us at info@constitutionisland.org.
a day at the warner's
A docent arrives an hour or so before the guests are due, tidies up after previous visitors and reviews history and script of the day. Today you might be Henry, or Susan, or Anna, or Bertha, or Aunt Fanny. And then it’s…
“Welcome to Constitution Island, home of the Warner family.”
Over the course of an hour you’ll show your guests to the sitting room where Anna’s guests enjoyed tea under a painting of George Washington; the family dining area where Susan and Anna wrote more than one hundred books; the kitchen where Bertha toiled over the wood stove; the library housing some of the 2000 books the family owned; the office where Henry pursued his dreams of turning the home into a hotel and rice paddy and the east dining room were Susan and Anna hosted cadets who had rowed over for bible study that day.
And that’s just the first floor.
Upstairs we can puzzle over the mechanics of Henry’s “invalid chair”; Susan’s unique night table with built-in potty; the guest room’s trundle bed and Aunt Fanny’s Wilson sewing machine. Not to forget the Lilliputian bathtub.
If you have engaged the guests successfully you will be peppered with questions - some profound - some simple - some complex - each of which you will answer to the best of your ability, promising to research those you cannot yet answer.
Time’s up and “Thank you for coming!”
As your group heads back down the path to the dock you’ll sit down on one of the benches in front of the Piazza, thankful for having had the privilege of sharing a bit of little-known history in one of the loveliest locations in the Hudson Valley. (Submitted by Carl Treuter, docent since 1995)