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Sleepy Hollow Country

Home of the Headless Horseman

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Vanished Sleepy Hollow, Places & Landmarks

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…

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January 21, 2024
Ghosts & Spooks

The Fiery Ghosts of Mount Gulian

Here at Sleepy Hollow Country we first learned of the fiery ghosts of Mount Gulian through a series of articles titled “Weird Westchester Tales,” published in Westchester County newspapers in…

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August 13, 2024
Local History & Interest, Places & Landmarks

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…

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April 5, 2024
Pirates of the Hudson, Places & Landmarks

Captain Kidd’s Rock

“This has long been the name of a rock that is part of the river-wall on the outer side of Kingsland’s point. There is a summer-house built over the rock…

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April 8, 2022
Local History & Interest, Places & Landmarks, Vanished Sleepy Hollow

Ericstan: The Lost Castle of Tarrytown

Once upon a time, in Sleepy Hollow Country, there were not one, but four impressive stone “castles” in the region. Two of these are still in the landscape today: Carrollcliff…

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May 14, 2024
  • Tarrytown Post Card Company half tone post card of Sleepy Hollow Bridge, Tarrytown, N.Y.
    Vanished Sleepy Hollow,  Places & Landmarks

    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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    Ghoulish Jokester Robs a Grave in a cemetery, setting the skull atop a tombstone.

    Ghoulish Jokester Robs a Grave

    December 1, 2023
    The Boutonville Oak in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is reputedly haunted.

    Tragedy at the Boutonville Oak

    January 5, 2024
    Color post card of Old Dutch Church, Sleepy Hollow. Card by Tarrytown Post Card Company.

    Tarrytown Post Card Company

    April 10, 2023
  • Newspaper clipping on Silent Pete, a character who walked the roads and woods of Hudson River towns and villages.
    Local History & Interest

    The Lonely Life of Silent Pete

    “For nearly 20 years—as far as anyone knows—a shabby, slouching figure of a man has been walking daily between Yonkers and North Tarrytown, creating for Hudson Valley residents a new legend. He never speaks: so he’s called Silent Pete. Iron Mike and Nothing Joe. He just walks.” The Tarrytown Daily News, Tarrytown, NY. May 19, 1938. Tarrytown and North Tarrytown (today’s Sleepy Hollow) were once the haunts of Silent Pete, a reclusive and mysterious character who walked a regular route along the river towns in southern Westchester County. Reclusive and mysterious characters aren’t in short supply in Sleepy Hollow Country. In fact, Silent Pete picked up the mantle from two…

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    Sketch of Tarrytown Boat Works 35 foot cruising boat, from MotorBoating December 1909 issue.

    Tarrytown Boat Works

    June 10, 2024
    The writing study and library at Sunnyside remain much like they were at Irving's death.

    The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Washington Irving. Part 2: A Traveling Literary Lawyer

    February 22, 2024
    his is a newspaper clipping about the Ossining witch, a tale of the bewitched mill of Sing Sing.

    The Bewitched Mill of Sing Sing

    August 15, 2024
  • Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home, sits on the shore of the Hudson River.
    Local History & Interest,  Places & Landmarks,  Washington Irving

    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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    Sketch of Tarrytown Boat Works 35 foot cruising boat, from MotorBoating December 1909 issue.

    Tarrytown Boat Works

    June 10, 2024

    The Nefarious Black Horse Tavern

    December 3, 2024
    A dead ash tree stands at the entrance the Buttermilk Hill segment of Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

    The Deaths of Buttermilk Hill

    July 20, 2023
  • The Boutonville Oak in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is reputedly haunted.
    Ghosts & Spooks,  Local History & Interest

    Tragedy at the Boutonville Oak

    Let’s hike in the woods of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation to the Boutonville Oak. We can thread along roads and trails, traverse hollows, and make our way along densely wooded hillsides. It is a nature preserve of nearly 4,400 acres and one of Sleepy Hollow Country’s largest parks. It has a deep and storied history and the many points of interest can lead from one legend to the next. History of the Boutonville Oak Embedded on the far eastern border though, towers an ancient and gnarled oak tree. Known locally as the Boutonville Oak, for its proximity to the hamlet of Boutonville, this sentinel in the landscape took root…

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    The east facade of St. Barnabas features a Norman Tudor tower.

    Ghosts of St. Barnabas Church

    August 8, 2023
    Photograph of Grand View village hall.

    The Ghost of Grand View

    December 7, 2023
    Color post card of Old Dutch Church, Sleepy Hollow. Card by Tarrytown Post Card Company.

    Tarrytown Post Card Company

    April 10, 2023
  • The Piermont ghost lurked between Haddock's Hall in Piermont, NY and Kipps Corner in Sparkill.
    Ghosts & Spooks

    The Reckoning of the Piermont Ghost

    “If ghosts were as plentiful in fact as they are in newspaper columns white-robed shapes and people who can be seen through would be almost as numerous as stray cats. It is astonishing what a quantity of ghost stories are in circula­tion among the journals of the country.” -White Plains Eastern State Journal, April 23, 1887 Five miles from Sleepy Hollow as the raven flies, or ten by highway, lies a stretch of road where the Piermont ghost had the time of its afterlife in March of 1887, terrorizing residents of the villages of Sparkill and Piermont. Unlike the shy specters hiding in attics, this ghost was the social butterfly…

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    Carl’s Mill

    February 28, 2023
    One of three haunted taverns of Sleepy Hollow Country, Set Back Inn in Tarrytown, NY has a red door between two plate glass windows.

    Haunted Taverns of Sleepy Hollow Country

    September 29, 2023
    Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home, sits on the shore of the Hudson River.

    Sunnyside: Mr. Irving Builds his Dream House

    January 17, 2024
  • Photograph of Grand View village hall.
    Ghosts & Spooks,  Local History & Interest

    The Ghost of Grand View

    “It was not long after that when towels were mysteriously removed from the bathroom and left in fantastic shapes in various parts of the house. Whenever all the occupants left the house, things were sure to be turned topsyturvy. Clocks stopped, trunks were unlocked, furniture displaced, but there was never any evidence that these things had been done for the purpose of plunder.” The New York Herald, August 27th, 1908. The Ghost of Grand View Arrives Something strange was happening in the Blauvelt house in the summer of 1908. It began when Mrs. Blauvelt came home to find what appeared to her to be an elderly man sitting on her…

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    You May Also Like

    The writing study and library at Sunnyside remain much like they were at Irving's death.

    The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Washington Irving. Part 2: A Traveling Literary Lawyer

    February 22, 2024
    News clipping describing a plague of exploding mosquitoes in Tarrytown, NY.

    Revenge of the Exploding Mosquitoes!

    April 20, 2023
    This is a trade publication ad for the Holt Egg Beater and Cream Whip produced by the Holt-Lyon Company of Tarrytown, New York.

    Holt-Lyon Company

    April 16, 2023
  • Ghoulish Jokester Robs a Grave in a cemetery, setting the skull atop a tombstone.
    Local History & Interest,  Vanished Sleepy Hollow

    Ghoulish Jokester Robs a Grave

    “Echoes of Ichabod Crane’s ghost stories in the Tarrytown cemetery led to the discovery early today that some one had removed a skull from a pauper grave and placed it on top of a tombstone in the conventionally gruesome manner.” -The Washington Times, May 25, 1929 One night in May 1929 a person passing through the hamlet of East View received quite a jolt at the sight of a human skull atop a tombstone in the county poorhouse cemetery. Not bothering to give his name, the individual reported to Town of Greenburgh police that a ghost was roaming the cemetery. Sergeant Dunkel investigated and found the skull placed on top…

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    You May Also Like

    Tarrytown Post Card Company half tone post card of Sleepy Hollow Bridge, Tarrytown, N.Y.

    The Legendary Headless Horseman Bridge

    January 21, 2024
    The King Mansion at Tarrytown House Estate is home to Goosefeather restaurant and allegedly a ghost!

    The Ghost of Sybil Harris King

    June 27, 2024
    The writing study and library at Sunnyside remain much like they were at Irving's death.

    The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Washington Irving. Part 2: A Traveling Literary Lawyer

    February 22, 2024
  • Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home, sits on the shore of the Hudson River.
    Local History & Interest,  Washington Irving

    The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Washington Irving. Part 1: A Venturesome Urchin!

    The year was 1783. The day was April 3rd. The place was 131 William Street, Manhattan, New York. It was a surreal week for those residing in old Gotham. After eight arduous years of occupation in the city, the British had called a ceasefire, effectively ending the American Revolution. We were no longer the colonies, but the United States. A new republic! There was a collective sigh of relief from the former colonists. William Irving, Sr. was a Scottish merchant and former petty officer of the British Navy, and his Cornish wife, Sarah Sanders were two of those who were consoled by the end of the hostilities. Right after their…

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    You May Also Like

    A woman in black poses on a dark night in Sleepy Hollow.

    The Mystery of the Woman in Black

    April 17, 2023
    An historic postcard of Captain Kidd's Rock on the shore of the Hudson River in Kingsland Point Park, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

    Captain Kidd’s Rock

    April 8, 2022
    Sparta Cemetery in Ossining, NY has burials from the mid 1700s through the early 2000s.

    Sparta Cemetery

    January 31, 2024
  • Color postcard showing Andre Brook in Patriot's Park in Tarrytown, NY.
    Local History & Interest,  Places & Landmarks

    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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    Photograph of Grand View village hall.

    The Ghost of Grand View

    December 7, 2023
    The exterior of the Estherwood mansion is framed against an ominously dark sky.

    The Ghost of Estherwood

    December 5, 2024
    Armor-Stiner Octagon House in Irvington, NY is framed by eerie trees and a gloomy sky.

    Ghosts of the Octagon House

    July 1, 2023
  • The 2019 sandstone grave stone of the Edgar Mathew Bacon character Hulda The Witch.
    Folklore,  Witches and Witchcraft

    Hulda the Witch of Sleepy Hollow

    “. . . in the days of our nation’s birth-throes he was a brave man who passed the cottage of the witch, even in the daytime. A hundred years ago the people took witches seriously.” –Chronicles of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Hulda, the witch of Sleepy Hollow, has pulled off quite the magical makeover over the past decade, morphing from a barely-there fictional figure into a full-fledged local legend, complete with her very own headstone at the Old Dutch Church. Originally, Hulda’s tale was a mere seven-paragraph whisper in Edgar Mayhew Bacon’s 1897 book, Chronicles of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, nestled comfortably in the “Myths and Legends” section. Bacon suggests…

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    You May Also Like

    Armor-Stiner Octagon House in Irvington, NY is framed by eerie trees and a gloomy sky.

    Ghosts of the Octagon House

    July 1, 2023

    Carl’s Mill

    February 28, 2023
    The André Captors monument in Tarrytown marks the spot where British spy Major John André was apprehended and where John André's ghost is said to linger.

    John André’s Ghost

    April 24, 2023
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