As it is now October (the time doth fly rather quickly, posthaste, forthwith and such), it seemed only fitting that I introduce this little look at Washington Irving and Sleepy Hollow. Yes, as in, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, pumpkins, a headless horseman, a bridge, an Ichabod Crane.

That Sleepy Hollow.

Emily and I visited said place while road tripping around New England at the beginning of September. We wanted to visit because of Ichabod Crane and our love of literature. In fact, almost our entire route was inspired by Sleepy Hollow in that after we decided to stop in this town, we decided we should continue to hit destinations that famous authors had once lived in. (Nerd alert, nerd alert.)

Such as Washington Irving.

But we’ll get to that.

The natural first stop when visiting the town of Sleepy Hollow, with its literary, ghostly history, is the grave yard. Naturally.

“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.”

(I don’t usually go for the tilted frame aesthetic, but I had only one lens with me this whole trip, limited space for this shot and a desire to fit both elements seen here in one frame. What can you do.)

“The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the church-yard.“

Prior to this trip I knew very little about Washington Irving. I knew he wrote such beloved and well-known stories as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

And there, in one measly sentence, is the breadth of my knowledge of this man.

So, after touring the hillsides of the cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, where Mr. Irving is buried (and thoroughly creeping myself out by gazing into the windows of a few of the old, cobweb-filled, locked tight, family crypts), we headed down the road a bit to his house – Sunnyside – in Tarrytown, NY.

Which looked like this.

Here’s what I learned about Mr. Irving while taking a tour of his old – very endearing – house:

• He was one of the first American superstars, and was truly beloved by all.
• He attained the above by being both a talented, prolific writer, but also by being a truly generous, kind man. Though his house is hardly big, he made a point of accommodating all who came to visit him, friends and family alike. And took in and provided for two of his nieces for almost the entirety of their lives.
• He was named for George Washington, and as a young boy, met the President while in New York City when his nursemaid called out to President Washington while he wandered the streets (can you imagine a president today just wandering the streets of Manhattan sans security?) and proclaimed the boy to be his namesake. The President bestowed something of a blessing on the child.
• Mr. Irving made a point of having his property at Sunnyside landscaped in such a way that it appeared “natural.” He wanted not pedigreed lawns, nor proper British-esque gardens, but a wooded, “wild” forest all about him. The landscape architect who laid out his property would later receive a recommendation from Mr. Irving that would secure him a job landscaping Central Park in Manhattan.
• Mr. Irving’s Sunnyside cottage is right on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, and a train that went in and out of Manhattan runs right beside his house. Whenever he wished to go to New York City, he would simply walk down to the railroad and wave down a train conductor, who would slow down and pick him up.

Here is Mr. Irving himself.

OK, of course that’s not true, but that would be cool. (And frankly, a little creepy, as he’s been dead nearly 152 years.) This was actually our guide, who took us throughout the house. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the house, as it holds much of Mr. Irving’s original furnishings and possessions. So I had to make do with exterior shots.

See the lines strung on the bottom left? A train to Manhattan still runs the same route today.

Another costumed guide leading a separate tour.

As far as kicking off a literary road trip goes, we really couldn’t have done better than Sleepy Hollow and Mr. Irving’s Sunnyside. If you can ever make it to Tarrytown, NY, definitely stop in and see it.

The next stop on our road trip was New York City itself. And onward we went!

(All excerpts quoted here are from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving.)