This Cemetery was incorporated as the “Tarrytown Cemetery,” but the republication of a letter in 1864, suggested to the Trustees that it would be a most fitting memorial of the distinguished author of it to conform to his wishes even at that late day. They accordingly applied to the Legislature of the state for authority to change the title, which was most readily and unanimously granted, and thenceforth it became the “Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.”
This booklet, starting on page 19 and continuing through page 29, contains a catalogue of plot-holders for the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery as they were assigned in 1866. This cemetery should not be confused with the Dutch Burying Ground directly next to the church. This is a newer extension of the old cemetery.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
In the year 1848, the citizens of Tarrytown, affected by the frequency of funeral processions from the city of New York and other places, on their way to bury their dead in the graveyard of the old Dutch Church — which had been a burial-place of the dead for more than one hundred and fifty years, and had become literally covered over with graves — were moved to extend its limits, and enclose within them the beautiful grounds of which this cemetery is formed.
The churchyard was so crowded that one friend could no longer be buried there by the side of another; and, in the prospect of death, the family circles could not indulge the hope that their ashes might mingle in the place of the dead.
Considering the sentiment, so creditable to mankind, that induces them to secure and beautify a family burial-place, an association was formed and incorporated, under an act passed by the Legislature of the State of New York, on the 27th of April, 1847.
The Trustees purchased twenty acres of land adjoining the yard of the old Dutch Church, which they laid out with roads and avenues, and erected one of the best and most substantial receiving tombs, of solid masonry, that is to be found in this country. It is located beside an old fort, which is in almost as perfect a state as when occupied for defence by our Revolutionary heroes.
The grounds are well adapted to the purpose for which they were selected, being elevated, light, and dry.
Beauty of scenery on every side is presented to the eye of the visitor. From the higher grounds of the cemetery is a view of the Hudson River, with its banks of grandeur and beauty, its bosom dotted with sails and enlivened by swiftly-gliding steamers.
North is Verplanck's Point, and thence far away to the south, a distance of nearly forty miles, is a view of the noblest river of our country.
The villages of Nyack, Piermont, and Tarrytown, the spot on which Major André was arrested and the place of his execution, are all within the view, while Sleepy Hollow, made memorable by the genius of Washington Irving, 1 with all its simple beauty and pleasing quietude, is in close proximity.
Passing from these grounds to those of the more sacred old graveyard, the visitor ponders the past and the eventful doings of the dead beneath him, as he looks upon the chiselled stones set to mark the resting-places of the good and great of earlier times.
While other cemeteries boast their richly-sculptured marble and high towering shafts of granite, here the visitor looks upon monuments that the “rude forefathers reared” in pure simplicity and in Christian faith of immortality. The marks of the chisel that was guided by the hand of the artisan more than a century ago, are still distinct and legible on marble that has braved the weather and the waste of time while generations have risen and departed.
The Hudson River Railroad brings this cemetery within an hour's ride of the Thirtieth Street station-house, in New York City; and, considering the comfort afforded the passengers on this road, the promptness of the cars to the time of starting, and the confidence that funerals will not be delayed (as they oftentimes are in crossing ferries), prove conclusively that no more time need be consumed than in the passage to most other rural burial-grounds. Communication by steamboat is also now so well arranged for safety and speedy travel, that a cemetery at Tarrytown possesses advantages of accessibility unequalled by any other in the vicinity of New York.
On the arrival of the cars or boat, public carriages to the cemetery may be secured in a few minutes.
Such is a brief outline of the character and situation of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, now hallowed as the resting-place of Washington Irving. Persons disposed to purchase a family burial-place are invited to acquaint themselves with its advantages of access and the features of its locality.
Source
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at Tarrytown on the Hudson River, New York : C. S. Wescott & Co.'s Union Printing House, 1866.
Citations:
- This distinguished author was for many years a resident of this neighborhood, and took a prominent part in the foundation of this enterprise, having been one of the original corporators. His remains now repose in this cemetery, within an enclosure which he himself selected; and in the latter years of his life he brought hither his nearest departed kindred, by whose side he now lies interred. The rigid simplicity observed by him in the adornment of his chosen ground, the plain slabs which he erected over their graves, and which affection has imitated in the white marble that marks his own resting place, are but exemplifications of his memorable sentiment, and call to mind these utterances from his own lips: “The grave should be surrounded by everything that might inspire tenderness and veneration for the dead, or that might win the living to virtue.”[↩]