Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow and Old Dutch Burying Ground, 430 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591, 914-631-4497. Founded around 1685, this is the church and churchyard that appear in Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” It is often confused with the adjacent but separate Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
The church’s 2-acre burying ground is, of course, the purported haunt of the headless horseman, and also the resting place of local citizens who likely inspired Irving’s characters of Katrina Van Tassel, Brom Bones, and others in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” For a self-guided tour, purchase a copy of Tales of the Old Dutch Burying Ground from Sleepy Hollow Gifts, or at the museum shop at Philipsburg Manor. A fold-out map at the center of the book guides you through the churchyard.
IPad tours of the Old Dutch Burying Ground are also available. If you don’t have your own, you may rent an iPad at the church, weekends during visiting season, Memorial Day weekend through the end of October, $10. There are also free guided tours of the church on weekends from noon to 4 pm (plus Mondays on holiday weekends).
Parking: none on site. Park inside the adjacent Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and walk into the churchyard. Please note that Sleepy Hollow Cemetery gates close and lock at 4:30 pm.
“Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the floating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body of the trooper, having been buried in the church-yard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head; and that the rushing speed with which he sometimes passes along the Hollow, like a midnight blast, is owing to his being belated, and in a hurry to get back to the church-yard before daybreak.” —The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Events
Check the Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown calendar for more special events.
Tours
Tours of the church resume in June 2012.
Where: Old Dutch Church, 430 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
For info: Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns, 914-631-4497
