Visiting Sleepy Hollow New York

Another town that is thick with legend and mystery is Sleepy Hollow, New York. Sleepy Hollow, as I'm sure you all know, is the infamous setting to Washington Irving's classic tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where Ichabod Crane meets his fate with the hessian ghost The Headless Horseman.

Tappan Zee Bridge

 I have a feeling Sleepy Hollow has "woken up" a bit since Irving first wrote this classic tale. We crossed the Hudson river on the Tappan Zee Bridge in rush hour traffic and this little town was buzzing.
   

Sunnyside, The Home of Washington Irving

Away from downtown Sleepy Hollow you enter Tarrytown where the home of Washington Irving is still in existence. Like the characters from his book, he was a curious person, a romantic of sorts. His beautiful home Sunnyside was built to look older than it really was. He imported all sorts of "antiques" from all over the world and the home itself was built in the Gothic Revival Style with Dutch influence.

The Ice House

17th Century Toilets

    Irving was not only a romantic but somewhat of an inventor as well. He enjoyed having parties and guests and installed the latest technologies of the time. Here are the toilets which don't look like much now, but back then were quite sophisticated. He also had an amazing system which supplied running hot water to the kitchens. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside Sunnyside, but he had an outdoor pond/reservoir which was higher in elevation to the kitchen in the house. The water would feed the kitchen sink through gravity and run through a system of pipes which were heated by the stove.

On the grounds of Sunnyside are some of the last remaining Chestnut Trees that survived the Chestnut Blight Fungus in the early 1900's 

Washinton Irving used the personalities from his real life to create the characters in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, many of which, along with Irving, are buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Within the Borders of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery lies the original Old Dutch Cemetery and Church, which are also referenced in the tale.

The Van Tassel Family plot is here, family and descendants of the character Catrina Van Tassel.

The character Ichabod Crane was based on a sailor friend of Irving. I think this is his grave, but I'm not absolutely sure.

As well with this, I'm fairly sure this is the burial site of the man who inspired the character Brahm Bones. We visited the cemetery hours after the tour at Sunnyside, so it was hard to remember the exact names.

This is Headless Horseman Bridge. The original was washed away some years back and this one was built in the same style and manner as the first. It is wonderfully rickety and lies across the small creek in the back of the cemetery.