About Washington Irving
Washington Irving's first book, Salmagundi (1807–08), was a collaboration with his brother William and a mutual friend James Paulding. This highly popular collection of short pieces poked fun at the political, social, and cultural life of the city. However, he is best known for his short stories including "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Irving is best known for his fictional works, including a collection of 34 essays and short stories written during his stay in England. This work became known as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent and included the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Irving also wrote several biographies, including a five-volume biography of George Washington, in addition to many historical writings. After leaving England, Irving spent the last 25 years of his life at his estate 'Sunnyside', set along the shores of the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York, where he died on November 28, 1859.

Visit the Old Dutch Church & Burying Ground and find places mentioned in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow where "The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and anon seen by the country folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great distance. 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 churchyard, 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 churchyard before daybreak."
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving

Location: Tarrytown

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