Some of the best things in life are free! Here in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow you can:
Take in a wealth of free events at the Warner Library. 121 North Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591, 914-631-7734.
◆ Hanging Captain Gordon: The Government, Lincoln, and the Slave Trade. Lecture by author Ron Soodalter. Despite having passed a series of stringent laws banning the Atlantic slave trade, the U.S. government did nothing to enforce them, from the presidency of George Washington to the Civil War. Finally, one man- a young slave ship captain and family man form Portland, Maine-faced the gallows, and it fell to Abraham Lincoln to either pardon or hang him. March 11, 7 pm.
◆ Piano Concert with Robert Rachlin. A Saturday Afternoon with Irving Berlin. Enjoy an afternoon piano concert featuring the music of Irving Berlin played by Tarrytown Resident and lifelong musician Robert Rachlin. March 16, 2:30 pm.
◆ Friends of Library Concert. Featuring: Marti Sweet - Violin, Charles Yassky - Clarinet, Christopher Oldfather - Piano. Program:
Claude Debussy - Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano
. Miklós Rozsa – Sonatina for Solo Clarinet.
Rachel Portman – Rhapsody for Violin, Clarinet and Piano.
César Franck – Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano
. Darius Milhaud – Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, OP. 157b. March 23, 2:30 pm.
Trace Ichabod Crane’s flight from the headless horseman up the Albany Post Road from the site of a former Van Tassel homestead in the center of Tarrytown to the yard of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow. The route covers a little more than a mile and can easily be followed on foot or by car. Galloping is optional. Just don’t expect to find the “Western Woods” or anything else from Tim Burton’s 1999 movie Sleepy Hollow. Burton’s production was only loosely based on Washington Irving’s short story, and was filmed largely in Hertfordshire, England. The original bridge where Ichabod lost the race is long gone, but there’s a rustic bridge inside Sleepy Hollow Cemetery that makes a good souvenir photo.
Visit the grave of Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” Other famous residents in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery include Elizabeth Arden, Andrew Carnegie, Walter Chrysler, Leona Helmsley, and William Rockefeller. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is open from 8:30 am to 4:30 daily. No admission fees, no parking fees (organized tours and tour buses are the exceptions—email tours@sleepyhollowcemetery.org to make arrangements for your group). Free maps are available at the gate and in PDF format here. The cemetery also offers guided day and evening walking tours for a fee.
Walk or bicycle the Old Croton Aqueduct trail. The original water supply to New York City is now a walking trail that runs from Croton-on-Hudson in the north to Yonkers in the south. Notably, the trail passes through the Lyndhurst estate in the south end of Tarrytown, and very near Washington Irving’s Sunnyside.
Visit the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. Founded around 1685, this is the church and 3-acre churchyard that appear in Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Look for grave stones from the colonial era through the present. You may walk the grounds on your own during visiting hours. Almost free—just 99 cents—is the iPad tour of the Old Dutch Burying Ground.
Visit the Andre Captor’s Monument, North Broadway, Tarrytown (next to the Warner Library, 121 North Broadway, Tarrytown NY 10591). The monument marks the spot where three American militiamen captured British spy John André on September 23, 1780, exposing Benedict Arnold’s treasonous plot to turn over the American fort at West Point to the British. This is also the spot in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” where Ichabod Crane first encounters the Headless Horseman.
Browse the antique shops on Tarrytown’s Main Street and adjoining side streets. Looking is free, though you’re welcome to break your vow of austerity and plunk down the plastic. Pick up a copy of the Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown Chamber of Commerce map to help find your way around the village. Printed maps are available at local merchants and the chamber’s visitor center at 1 Neperan Road in Tarrytown.
Watch the sun set over the Hudson River from Tarrytown’s Pierson Park or Sleepy Hollow’s Kingsland Point Park. At the southwest corner of Kingsland Point Park you’ll have a good view of the 1883 Sleepy Hollow lighthouse (aka the Tarrytown lighthouse). Don’t forget to bring a camera.
