Sleepy Hollow

A scenic half-hour trainride up the edge of the Hudson River leads to a picturesque village known as Tarrytown. In 1996, North Tarrytown officially renamed itself Sleepy Hollow, which is a. a better name, and b. a cunning ploy to cash in on the notoriety from Washington Irving's famous short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which since its publication in 1820 has been both Disney-fied and Burton-ized.

The peaceful Main Street which runs through the center of town is dotted with antique and curio shops, and the majestic Tarrytown Music Hall. Venturing north along Route 9, however, is to follow the hectic hoofsteps of Ichabod Crane's last ride. Crane first encounters the Headless Horseman at the very spot where the Revolutionary spy Major John Andre was captured, thwarting the plot to turn West Point over to the British. Today a monument marks this site on the edge of Patriots Park, also described in the story.

The wooden bridge spanning the Pocantico River on which Crane meets his fate no longer exists, nor does the schoolhouse where he was supposed to have taught. However a mockup of the "Headless Horseman" bridge was constructed within the grounds of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which agreeably looks the part. The cemetery, meanwhile, is the resting place for Washington Irving and his family, as well as such luminaries as Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Gompers, Walter Chrysler, and Leona Helmsley. The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery itself was not in existence at the time of the story's publication, but the adjoining Old Dutch Church Burying Grounds was, and reportedly contains the remains of those who served as the inspiration for the characters of Katrina Van Tassel and Brom Bones.


Tarrytown, the setting for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."


The Tarrytown Music Hall. At the time I passed by, Olivia Newton-John was next scheduled performer.


Curios in the window of a barber shop.


Prior to 1996 this sign would have read "Village of North Tarrytown."


A memorial to the capture of Major Andre, who was hanged as a spy in 1780.


Patriots Park, the spot where Ichabod Crane first encounters the Headless Horseman.




The Philipsburg grist mill.


Philipsburg Manor, now a non-profit museum.




The original bridge on which Ichabod Crane faces the Headless Horsemen would have crossed the Pocantico River at just about this spot.


The Old Dutch Church Burying Grounds, where a terrified Ichabod Crane flees from his spectral pursuer.


Washington Irving's family plot.








The Hudson River in the distance.


The imposing grave of Charles H. Delavan, whoever he was.








An unfortunate surname.


Samuel Gompers, the influential labor union leader.


Andrew Carnegie's surprisingly modest grave marker.




Memorial to "Baby Girl Cleveland," dated 1970.




A faux-Headless Horsemen bridge erected upstream from the original location to give visitors with high expectations something to photograph.




The last view Ichabod Crane has before getting fatally bepumpkined.




Violators will be beheaded.