Sleepy Hollow and More

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, the famous short story by Washington Irving, was written a little over 200 years ago. “Sleepy Hollow” the movie with Johnny Depp (which I’ve never watched, so I can’t comment on it) was from 1999.

Sleepy Hollow in the Disney cartoon dates from 1949, and is for some reason combined with Mr. Toad, the odious character from “The Wind in the Willows”, into a double feature called “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”. There is really no connection between the two, though I would like to see a cartoon in which Toad the Obnoxious is chased by the Headless Horseman.

Sleepy Hollow is well worth a visit. It is part of Tarrytown, NY, a small and historic city near White Plains that includes a really nice riverwalk. Residents in this area decided in 1996 to rename North Tarrytown “Sleepy Hollow” to reclaim its literary history. There is a statue of the Headless Horseman and also the famous bridge that figures in the story, though the old wooden bridge had been replaced several times and is now made out of concrete.

We found driving around Old Sleepy Hollow Road in the September twilight very atmospheric, if not spooky. Though the town is close by, the road winds through a rural area so woodsy you could believe that it was still 1820. Sorry to disappoint, but we didn’t see the ghost of the Headless Horseman, just a few deer out for the evening.

The legend of the headless horseman is an old one. The horseman is based on a real Hessian soldier who got his head blown off by a cannonball in the Revolutionary War. Legend says that he has been looking for it ever since. He Is supposed to haunt Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which has a number of famous people buried there. Mr. Irving’s grave and tombstone are quite modest. The cemetery offers both daytime and evening tours this time of year. You can find out more at visitsleepyhollow.com. I hear it gets quite crowded in October.

Outside of town, you can also visit Washington Irving’s old homestead, Sunnyside, overlooking the Hudson River. It is a charming place with a great view and it captures what life was like for a successful author in the Hudson Valley in the 1800s. Right in front of Sunnyside is a larger-than-life statue of another literary creation of Washington Irving, the sleeping Rip Van Winkle with his long white beard.

You may recall that Rip got lost in the Catskills one day, ran into an oddly dressed group of men playing nine-pins (a type of bowling) and then drank some of the dodgy beverage they offered. Whatever was in the drink, old Rip didn’t wake up for 20 years. He discovered that the world had changed around him and Rip was no longer a subject of the British king but a proud resident of a new nation. Irving was a great admirer of his namesake, George Washington.

 Sunnyside looks like a real home, unlike the Vanderbilt mansion up the road or Lyndhurst, the former “vacation” home of financier Jay Gould, also nearby. Having seen the Gilded Age summer “cottages” in Newport so many times, I find myself a bit jaded on the excesses of the Vanderbilts and their cronies.

As you work your way up the Hudson (great river views all the way), you can also visit the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park (highly recommended). It includes both the Roosevelt home and an extensive museum. Going north outside the town of Hudson, the fantastical house Olana dominates the landscape, perched high over the river. This 250-acre estate features this Persian-inspired mansion and studio of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church and it is filled with original sketches, and studies.

Nearby in Catskill, NY, is the home of Thomas Cole, whose art studio is preserved inside, much like it was 200 years ago. Cole is considered the father of the Hudson River School of American Art, with his huge, awe-inspiring views of the American landscape, his art beloved by many. Well worth a visit.

As air travel seems to grow more fraught and nerve-wracking these days, it is indeed a pleasure to live within a few hours’ drive of so many places worth visiting on vacation.