Visit to Sleepy Hollow

Yesterday crossed over to the east side of the Hudson River to visit the town of Sleepy Hollow. Yes--it is the town made famous by Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.


Our first stop was to the legendary Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Parts of this cemetery date back to 1650. A number of famous people are buried here.

The list includes Elizabeth Arden, Walter Chrysler and Samuel Gompers. In addition Andrew Carnegie is buried here. He is the Carnegie as in Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon Foundation, etc. It was surprising to see that such a well-known philanthropist and famous man had such a simple grave.

Washington Irving is also buried here. The cemetery is mentioned in his Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

On the site is the Old Dutch Church which dates back to 1697. It is still an active church and has been in continuous use except during the Revolution. The church yard is the one that the Headless Horseman rode through each night and returned to each morning.

Since Sleepy Hollow is on the Hudson River, it is home to another one of the Hudson River Lighthouses. Built in 1883, this lighthouse saw service to river navigators until 1965. While the river originally had 14 lighthouses, only 8 remain today. We have seen 3. If you read our other posts you saw Stony Point Lighthouse. What is the third one?? It's the Statue of Liberty at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor. It is a little known fact that the US Lighthouse Board was the original caretaker of the statue. Nine lamps in the torch and five others around the pedestal were set up to guide navigators. The dimness of the lighting was of little help and the lighthouse portion of Liberty Island closed in 1902.


Seen near the cemetery.....Hmmmm.