Don’t you just love it when things don’t go to plan? I decided to venture into upstate New York to visit the Rockefeller State Park Preserve today. You take the Metro North Hudson Line from Grand Central Station, and if you’re paying attention, you get off at Tarrytown. I wasn’t paying attention, because I saw a woman with this bag:
…so naturally, I was distracted. I sailed past Tarrytown and got off at Philipse Manor instead. Not a big deal, they’re not that far apart, but by getting off a stop later, I ended up walking into Sleepy Hollow – yes, as in The Legend of… just walked right into the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Gulp. Intrigued, I cast my well-laid plans aside and started to explore. It’s very picturesque, especially down by the original Old Dutch Church, which is the actual setting for Washingon Irving’s Sleepy Hollow tale. Irving’s gravestone overlooks the old burial grounds and you walk by it on the way there.
Burial grounds of the Old Dutch Church, with a precariously tilted headstone.
Not terribly creepy at all, except that there were at least a hundred shrieking birds whirling like dervishes around the old burial grounds the entire time I was there, so I turned tail and headed north towards the far less creepy Headless Horseman Bridge.
Headless Horseman Bridge
“If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, ” I am safe.”
Curiosity satiated, I set off once again for the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, but as I was rambling alone along the carriage trails in the park, I heard the clatter of hooves galloping up behind me. I turned to see a figure cloaked in black whizz by and I don’t mind telling you, I had a bit of an Ichabod Crane moment. Thankfully, this horseman had a head.
Where's my backpack? 