Page 20 - Experiential Magazine - Vol 5

DESTINATION SPOTLIGHT
Sleepy Hollow, NY:
The Home of
Ichabod Crane
Early maps show that a num-
ber of tenant farmers rented
land from Frederick Philipse
in the area, and the fields and
forests remain much as they
were during the late 1600s
As 19th-Century author Washington Irving
tells us in his books, the early Dutch settlers It’s the result of a spell cast by a Native
who settled the Hudson River Valley had
particularly vivid imaginations, especially
if you have a taste for the macabre. Irving
passed through the Hudson River Valley in
his youth and fell in love with its charms.
Years later while living in London, he
wrote his famous Legend of Sleepy Hollow,
borrowing, it is said, from stories he heard
while visiting a friend on an estate near
Kinderhook in the Hudson Valley.
AN EXTRAORDINARY DOMAIN
The first white settlers came to the area in
the 1600s, after the voyage of Henry Hud-
son up the river. Although the Dutch West
India Company offered generous incentives
to attract settlers from Holland, including
near-feudal powers for people with suffi-
cient resources, few people took the bait,
and settlement remained sparse throughout
most of that century. The lack of competi-
tion made it possible for a penniless Dutch
carpenter, who eventually changed his
name to Frederick Philipse, to amass an
extraordinary domain covering almost half
of present-day Westchester County.
In the late 17th Century, he established a
grist mill at the mouth of the Pocantico
River, where river sloops could find har-
bor and transport animal pelts, grain, and
other agricultural products down to New
Amsterdam, which later became New York
City. Early maps show that a number of
tenant farmers rented land from Philipse in
the area, and the fields and forests remain
much as they were during that time. Gone
20
are the few farmhouses that dotted the area,
but many of the old farm roads remain.
A SETTING LITTLE CHANGED
As you walk along the river, you may be
overcome by an unexplained drowsiness, if
the stories of Washington Irving are true.
American wizard to subdue an enemy tribe,
and it explains why the valley here is called
Sleepy Hollow.
Of course, Sleepy Hollow’s most famous
legend is the story of Ichabod Crane, who
disappeared on his way home from a party
late at night after encountering the Head-
less Horseman on a dark wooded trail. A
setting much like the one described by
Washington Irving can be found on Gorey
Brook Road, one of the oldest roads in the
area and just a few hundred yards from
where Irving imagined Ichabod Crane
made his fateful encounter. The setting
probably has changed little in hundreds of
years.
SAVING GRACE
All of this magical land would have fallen
into the hands of suburban developers if
not for the Rockefeller family, which began
buying land here in the 1890s. Over the
years they created a vast preserve of man-
icured meadows and forests, crisscrossed
with an impressive network of bridle paths.
John D. Rockefeller built a great mansion
he called Kykuit, which you can visit today,
and his brother William constructed an
impressive mansion called Rockwood Hall,
which stood on sweeping grounds facing
Hudson Rover. All that remains of this
mansion are the foundations and beautiful
grounds, now open to the public. There is
not a prettier park along the Hudson River
in southern Westchester, its entrance at the
western end of Route 117, only a short drive
from the main entrance to Rockefeller State
Park.