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Van Cortlandt Manor
Just above the Philipsburg Manor’s northern boundary, at the junction of the Croton and Hudson Rivers, is another local representation of the early Dutch colonial period: Van Cortlandt Manor. The Van Cortlandt family established this massive 86,000-acre estate that was bounded to the west by the Hudson River, to the east by the borders of Connecticut, and stretching to the north 10 miles. Today, it is a National Historic Landmark with various architecturally significant buildings and landscapes. First Lord of Van Cortlandt Manor Stephanus Van Cortlandt was well-known historically as the first American-born, Dutch Mayor of New York City in the 17th century. His youngest sister’s second husband was Frederick…
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The Ghosts of Emily Shaw’s Inn
Emily Shaw’s Inn, once a popular restaurant, was located just 20 miles from Sleepy Hollow as the raven flies. Generations of Westchester County residents celebrated holidays and special occasions over the more than four decades Emily and her son John operated the venerable Pound Ridge establishment. The original part of the building was built as a residence around 1833, attributed to Alsop Hunt Lockwood. Eventually it served as a boarding house known as Dexter Lodge. By the early 1900s the population of this part of the county dropped precipitously as farming in the area fell into steep decline. By the 1930s the building, like many of its neighbors, was rundown…
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The Last Tarrytown Castle
Carrollcliffe, standing at one of the highest points in the village, is the last surviving Tarrytown castle. There were once two castles here. Or maybe four depending on who you ask and how you choose to define a castle. Just north was Ericstan, a castellated villa by Alexander Jackson Davis that was demolished in 1944. To the west was Edgemont, the painted brick home of Julian Detmer, with decorative crenelations in the style of a castle. To the south is Lyndhurst, which is occasionally described as a castle although it is more accurately a Gothic Revival mansion. Carrollcliffe was constructed by Howard Carroll, Inspector General of New York state’s troops in…
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The Legendary Headless Horseman Bridge
“The bridge became more than ever an object of superstitious awe, and that may be the reason why the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the mill-pond.” -“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving More than 200 years after publication of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“, the headless horseman bridge is one of the most popular destinations in Sleepy Hollow. Every October it is sought out by thousands of visitors from around the globe. Unfortunately, the original bridge where Ichabod Crane lost his race with the Headless Horseman no longer exists. The simple wooden span that crossed the Pocantico River…
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Sunnyside: Mr. Irving Builds his Dream House
“I am more and more in the notion of having that little cottage below Oscar’s house, and wish you to tell him to endeavor to get it for me. I am willing to pay a little unreasonably for it, and should like to have it in time to make any alterations that may be advisable, as early as possible in the spring.” The Life and Letters of Washington Irving, Vol. 3, pg. 30. Dutch immigrant Wolfert Acker lived in a modest farmhouse that was part of the many tenant properties on the Philipse Manor. It was situated on the Hudson River in a small hollow in the land on a…
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Patriot’s Park
Located on the cusp of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow lies a rolling green space known today as Patriot’s Park. Named for being the famous location of the capture of John André by local patriot militiamen in 1780, the park boasts the capture monument and memorial, but also features other last vestiges of other pieces of local history and folklore. The earliest known historical act of significance where Patriot’s Park is located today is the capture of British Officer, John André as he was attempting to escape from behind enemy lines after helping infamous traitor Benedict Arnold. A large poplar tree supposedly marked the capture site, which was located about 200…
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Philipsburg Manor
Drive North on Route 9 out of Sleepy Hollow and you’ll suddenly find yourself amidst trappings of a bygone era. An iconic white-washed stone building rests adjacent to a large and placid mill pond. Additional buildings, such as a mill and a barn linger nearby, framed by large picturesque trees. Squint and you might think you took a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong century. This is the remaining vestige of the early-18th century in Sleepy Hollow Country: Philipsburg Manor. In the 1680s, dutch immigrant, Frederick Philipse I had amassed nearly 52,000 acres of land on the eastern side of the Hudson River, bounded on the other edges…
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Tarrytown Post Card Company
Unlike Russell & Lawrie in Tarrytown and Edward Farrington in North Tarrytown (today’s Sleepy Hollow), we know very little about the Tarrytown Post Card Company. It was apparently a single person operation by John D. Hazen, the music director at Hackley School and Miss Mason’s School “The Castle”. Hazen also appears to have been a local scoutmaster. View our full collection of cards at our Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown Post Card Gallery. Public Library, Tarrytown, N.Y. This half tone card has no numbering. Tarrytown Post Card Company. numbered P-60879. “Lyndhurst,” Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Finley J. Shepard, Tarrytown, N.Y. Helen Miller Gould Shepard (1868-1938) was an American philanthropist and daughter…
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Russell & Lawrie Post Cards
Founded by Frederick A. Russell and James T. Lawrie, the Russell & Lawrie drugstore originally occupied the first floor of the Washington Building at Main Street and Broadway in Tarrytown, a Tudor-style building that in 1894 replaced the pre-Revolutionary Edward Covenhoven Inn. The drugstore moved a couple blocks up Broadway after a fire swept the building in 1965. Like their crosstown rival, Farrington’s Drug Store, Russell & Lawrie published a series of souvenir postcards, some of which we collect here. They offer a glimpse of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow landmarks frozen at particular points in time. View our full collection of cards at our Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown Post Card Gallery.…
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Hettling Post Cards
Unlike Russell & Lawrie in Tarrytown and Edward Farrington in North Tarrytown (today’s Sleepy Hollow), we don’t know much about the E. Hettling operation. View our full collection of cards at our Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown Post Card Gallery. Rockwood Hall, Home of William Rockefeller. E. Hettling, publisher. The Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. Headless Horseman Bridge, Tarytown, N.Y. A sketch of the bridge published by E. Hettling, Tarrytown. New Bridge and Old Dutch Church, Tarrytown, N.Y. published by E. Hettling, Tarrytown. This is a tinted version of a photo of the Sleepy Hollow bridge also used by Barton & Spooner of Cornwall-on-Hudson.
