06/30/2022
Patriots Park, Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown N.Yđź“Ť
Did you know this is THE very spot where Ichabod Crane first encounters the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? This Brook/area use to be known as Wiley’s Swamp…
“About two hundred yards from the tree, a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley’s swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge…”
Today, Wiley’s Swamp is long gone, having been drained many years ago and replaced by Patriots Park.
However, the stream Ichabod crosses is VERY MUCH still in existence, today known as André Brook…
…and it is at this very spot that he first encounters the Headless Horseman
“A plashy tramp by the side of the bridge caught the sensitive ear of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveler…
“On mounting a rising ground…Ichabod was horror-struck, on perceiving that he was headless!—but his horror was still more increased, on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle…He rained a shower of kicks and blows upon Gunpowder…Away then they dashed…”
So if you’re visiting this year, don’t forget to grab a pumpkin coffee, stop by the park, sit by the Brook, and let the Legend come alive in your imagination!
