Sleepy Hollow Weekend
Part II
Ellenburg
In the last article, we walked through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The path we took to the tour's starting point brought us walking along the main road portion but even there you could feel the eerie feeling of the cemetery. We didn’t realize but as you got deeper into the graveyard that feeling only got stronger. They do night tours which if I ever go back will do. We approached the tour area's start just before you came upon the Old Dutch Church, which I will dive into a bit more later in this article.
We made it to the starting point about 10 minutes before the tour started we were given a bright orange name tag to put on so that the guide could know who was a part of the tour since there were hundreds of people in the cemetery. It was only mid-October I would hate to see what it looks like nearer to Halloween.
It was a walking tour so the tour guide explained that some of the trek was uphill and a bit grueling. We started on our way and she talked about how Sleepy Hollow Cemetery got so large and that it's one of the largest active cemeteries in the country. The first stop was the grave of Washington Irving the author of the short story that made Sleepy Hollow famous “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. I had tried to get tickets to tour his house which is called “Sunnyside” but it was sold out when I was booking tickets for the trip so maybe next time.
The next stop was the crypt where they store bodies during the wintertime when the ground is too hard to dig up and bury people. The guide told us of the many famous people that had been stored in the vault and also said that the outside was used as the home of Barnabas the Vampire in Dark Shadows the later 60’s-70’s TV show. I thought was pretty cool never seen the show but I like classic horror TV and movies.
The guide then said, “Well let’s go inside!” As someone who loves the whole haunted and eerie vibe, I was super excited! The crypt was built into the side of the hill. She unlocked the door and in groups of 8, we got to go inside for a few minutes. It was dark and spooky I loved it! Once inside you could get the vibes you were not alone in there. It was so strong that my daughter only stayed in for about a minute and went back out. After she told me she just couldn’t stay in there she had such a feeling of dread she couldn’t do it. I took some pictures which I will share below.
As we were walking there were many cool graves and statues that the tour didn’t stop at. One was that of a memorial for those who had died in the Revolutionary War. The pictures are not the greatest with these due to the sun but I will share them anyway. I also loved the cannon they had pointed at the overlook where you could see the Hudson River. The guide told us that the cemetery was used by the Americans during the Revolutionary War against the British as a place where they could watch British ships coming up the Hudson River.
We came upon quite a few cool-looking mausoleums and crypts, which I will share below. They told us about them, but I do not remember the names of the families inside.
As we entered the later part of the tour we came upon the memorial and grave of Andrew Carnegie who had such a rags-to-riches story! It was very inspiring and the way he gave most of his fortune away upon his death was incrediable. I thought it was cool that people leave coins on his parent's graves as a thank you to him.
At this point in the tour, my daughter and her boyfriend were tired of walking and we had just passed where the car was parked at the cemetery's north end. They decided to go to the car while I finished the tour.
In the final leg of the tour, we learned about a man who had a mill just over the hill near the Hudson River, and his Memorial was overlooking the river. In addition, we came upon some more spooky-looking crypts which I will share below.
We wrapped up the tour and I needed to go find my daughter and her boyfriend. On my way back to the car I came upon the Old Dutch Church it's a very old church I think built in the early 1690s that was featured in Washington Irving's short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
I had wanted to go into the church but there was a line a mile long and it was too hot maybe next time. Instead, I walked around the church and peeped in the windows and also found the grave of Elenor Van Tassel the inspiration for one of the characters in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. After this I realized I should be heading to the car so off I went.
In the process of heading back to the car, I somehow left the cemetery grounds, and when I tried to reenter, I had to convince the security guard that my car was in the parking area, or they were not going to let me back. They did let me in, but let me fill you in on cemetery rules. The cemetery closes at 4:30 p.m. every night, and if you leave your car there after that, it will be towed by 5 p.m. They do not mess around at all!
The plan for this article was to cover our time in Nyack before going to The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in the evening but I think this is a good spot to stop at and pick back up in part III.
Till next time!
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