Arts & Entertainment

Local Sites That Inspired Washington Irving's Stories

Everyone’s heard of Washington Irving’s classics “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"—but do you know about the spooky local sites in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow that inspired his characters?

CBS New York takes a look at these sites in its article “Rip Van Winkle & Ichabod Crane: Visit The Region That Inspired The Characters.” 

The article reports that though the two works were published in 1819 and 1820, Irving hadn’t visited Tarrytown and Catskill Mountain region until years later. 

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The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Old Dutch Church and Burial Ground in Sleepy Hollow, as well as Patriot’s Park and Sunnyside in Tarrytown are all places that permeated Irving’s writings.

Click here to read the article and find out what it is about these spots that got Irving’s creative juices flowing.

Find out what's happening in Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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