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Hudson Valley Traveler
A Ride Through Sleepy Hollow Country (Minus the Horseman)
by Wendy Kagan
What would the 19th-century writer Washington Irving find if he were to wake from a slumber of about 150 years? Like his legendary creation, Rip Van Winkle (who sleeps a mere 20 years), he would enter an alien world in which nearly everything had changed. Everything, that is, except his house. Indeed, Irving would find his house, cloaked in wisteria and ivy vines, almost exactly as he had left it.
I set out one weekend in March to visit Sunnyside, the country cottage in Tarrytown, New York, where Irving, the father of American literature, spent the last 24 years of his life. In his fifties when he purchased the cottage, Irving had already attained international renown for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Rip Van Winkle," and various other works. He had already shepherded the first American literary movement, the Knickerbocker writers, named after one of his pseudonyms, Diedrich Knickerbocker. And he had already achieved one of his greatest triumphs: the mythologization of New York’s Hudson River Valley. By spinning tales that took place here, amid the Hudson Highlands and the Catskill Mountains, Irving brought more fame and mystique to the region than any tourist board could dream of bringing today.
One has only to make the pilgrimage to Sunnyside to see how the eastern shore of the Hudson remains steeped in Irving’s lore. The drive south on Route 9 passes straight through the heart of Sleepy Hollow itself. Formerly known as North Tarrytown and originally settled in 1640, the town adopted Irving’s fictional appellation in 1996. And the townspeople have embraced the new name wholeheartedly—perhaps even overzealously. Sleepy Hollow High School proudly claims itself to be "Home of the Horsemen" (recalling Irving’s ghoulish fabrication, the Headless Horseman), while Beekman Avenue, the town’s main strip, features a Sleepy Hollow Bicycle Shop, a Sleepy Hollow National Bank, even a Sleepy Hollow Convenience Store.
In the graveyard of the town’s Old Dutch Church, wanderers will encounter the stone of Eleanor Van Tassel Brush, considered Irving’s inspiration for "Sleepy Hollow" character Katrina Van Tassel. Irving himself rests in the burial grounds of another Old Dutch Church down the road in Tarrytown. But those who take this author’s lore too literally may think twice before tarrying long in these parts, especially in graveyards. The narrator of "Sleepy Hollow" had this to say about visitors to the area: "However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative, to dream dreams, and see apparitions."
All of that sounded rather appealing to me and my husband, Michael; however, Sunnyside awaited.
Once there, we followed a path to the gift shop to purchase our admission tickets ($8 each), which included a tour of the house by a guide in period costume. If Sunnyside looked familiar to us, it was because we had seen it many times before, flashing past our window on the Metro North train. The cottage sits fairly close to the tracks, a fact that gave Irving much grief after the Hudson Line opened in 1849. Yet, our tour guide noted, the train company appeased the famous writer by offering him his own stop, only steps from his door. Naturally, he accepted what would be any commuter’s dream.
More historical tidbits were forthcoming from our guide. The cottage, a confection reminiscent of a gingerbread house, displays the results of several rounds of renovation overseen by Irving. And each architectural element comes with a story: the stepped gables reminded Irving of the Dutch houses once prevalent in his birthplace of New York City, and the "tower" recalled the cities of southern Spain, where Irving served as an envoy to the Spanish queen in the 1840s. Sunnyside’s interior and furnishings remain as close as possible to those that Irving knew, with several original pieces, including a writing desk given to the author by his publisher, G. P. Putnam.
Inside the bedroom where Irving had died, Michael and I hung back as the tour group moved along, giving any lingering apparitions a chance to reveal themselves. None did, and we were left to believe that they preferred the early spring sunshine and the inviting lawn, where visitors often gather with blankets and picnic baskets.
Needing lunch ourselves, we headed a few miles up the road to Tarrytown, where we chanced upon Lefteris Gyro (at the corner of North Broadway and Main Street). Here is a Greek restaurant that offers much more than gyros, and it’s also evidently quite popular with locals. Our generous repast—including stuffed grape leaves, Greek salad, tzatziki, and falafel—would have satisfied even Ichabod Crane, the ever-hungry schoolmaster of "Sleepy Hollow." With full bellies, we made ourselves scarce long before the witching hour - when, well, anything could happen.
To visit Sunnyside (open weekends in March and every day except Tuesday from April to November), take Route 9 South through Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Approximately one mile beyond the Tappan Zee Bridge approach, turn right onto Sunnyside Lane, which leads directly to the site.
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