Sleepy Hollow

So many people visit Sleepy Hollow looking for the famous bridge from Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Unfortunately, the bridge where Ichabod Crane was unseated by a pumpkin is the most popular destination in Sleepy Hollow that doesn’t exist—at least, not in its original form and original location. Whatever simple wooden span crossed the Pocantico River in the late 1700’s has long since rotted away. In fact, Sleepy Hollow village historian Henry Steiner has documented at least five distinct bridges that carried the Albany Post Road over the stream. Washington Irving could have used any one of them in his story.
Faint traces of the footings to one of the earlier bridges are said to be found inside what is now Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I didn't find them, but the cemetery’s own bridge, a bit upstream from where the Post Road Bridge stood in Washington Irving’s time, is the closest match that can be found nowadays.Read more