Roaming the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Written by Donna Davies
Sleepy Hollow, NY – It was a dark and dismal day. I couldn’t think of a better time to visit the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery located in Sleepy Hollow, NY. I had high expectations from the research I had done planning my trip. Due to inclement weather, my official tour was canceled, but that didn’t stop me from venturing south. With map in hand, I was ready for a haunting adventure.
Catriena Van Tessel 1793
The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was very easy to find. It is just couple of simple turns off the Taconic Parkway from the north. As I approached, I was very excited by the view of the Old Dutch Church featured in Washington Irving’s classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Old Dutch Church and Old Church Yard is adjacent to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I ventured into the Old Churchyard and almost immediately located the grave site of Catriena Ecker van Tessel. It is said that Catriena is likely to have been the inspiration for Irving’s Katerina Van Tassel in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I was surprised that I could still decipher the inscriptions on the red stone tablet after 216 years. The Old Dutch Church was closed, but a quick peer through its cathedral windows was truly the vision into the past.
On to the Sleepy HollowCemetery
The sprawling cemetery grounds are awe-inspiring. There is nothing about this cemetery that reeks of death. I sensed nothing but a feeling of serenity. It was a gray and cloudy day, but the lush grounds where rich with life and the calming sounds of the running waters of the Pocantico River. The monuments that surrounded me are a celebration of life not the remembrance of death. I was not haunted by ghosts, but by the haunting magnificence of its setting.
You can easily roam the cemetery for hours. Be prepared to walk because you will immerse yourself into the beauty and the history that surrounds you. As an avid Dark Shadows fan, I was on a mission, but first things first. You can not visit the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with out paying homage to Washington Irving’s grave. He literally put Sleepy Hollow on the map!
On to the Receiving Vault—I couldn’t believe that I was actually standing in front of Barnabas Collins’ crypt! Of course, this created a new uncontrollable resurgence of my unhealthy interest in the show, but I digress.
Glory to God in the Highest
I continued to roam the winding roads of the cemetery admiring the ornate workmanship of the shrines that surround me. While the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is the final resting place for many of the rich and famous from the Astors to the Carnegies that was not what intrigued me. I was more captivated by the design of the testaments to the memory of the deceased. There are too many to mention without writing a novel. I was most impressed with the gothic church miniature (Thanks Jim!) marking the grave of Owen Jones (1815-1844), department store and real estate mogul. My personal favorite is the angel and the inscription reads GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO (Glory to God in the Highest). When you visit, please tell me what your favorite monument is.
This trip met my every expectation and I am anxious to return for the evening guided tour. I highly recommend getting tickets as soon as possible. October is a busy month in the little town of Sleepy Hollow.
The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is a treasure in its own right located within Hudson Valley, New York. Whether you love “The Legend” or centuries of rich Hudson Valley history, this is a destination not to be missed. Your visit is what you make it. You may not be haunted by the spirits of Sleepy Hollow, but its history may haunt you for a lifetime.
Visiting the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is located on 540 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591. The Cemetery is open Monday thru Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Phone: 914-691-0081
Evening Tours:
Cemetery historian Jim Logan leads these popular evening lantern tours of the cemetery. After paying respects to Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” we visit a Revolutionary War general, the cemetery’s Revolutionary War and Civil War monuments, a notorious counterfeiter, a soaring gothic monument of a wealthy merchant, industrialists Andrew Carnegie and William Rockefeller, and others. Evening tours cover more than a mile on foot over broken ground, so wear walking shoes or sneakers.
Sources:
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery: http://www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org
