Washington Irving - Sleepy Hollow Cemetery - Sleepy Hollow, NY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

In Sleepy Hollow, within the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, is the grave of Washington Irving, the author of stories that made this area famous.

The grave is located on the slope of a hill within the cemetery, and near the old Dutch church. It is best to go to the main entrance on U.S. Route 9 - north of the church on the hill - and get a map of the cemetery that points to several landmarks within the cemetery. Irving's landmark is one of these landmarks. The roads within are pretty narrow, and there are few opportunities to park right by the marker, so you may need to park elsewhere and walk up.

The marker is within the Irving family plot. It is one right in the middle of the plot in the middle of the middle row of the Irving family. His is a little taller and the top a little rounder than the others around it, with a flag on one side and a marker on the other. The family plot is fenced and gated with a lock. You can see the marker easily from without - please respect the gate.

Washington Irving lived just after the ending of the American Revolutionary War and the beginning of the new nation of the United States of America. The new nation needed new legends and stories that were set in the beauty of the land. Irving not only provided these stories, but he was also a historian, biographer and diplomat who was eventually known all over the world.

Washington Irving was the youngest child of William Irving and Sarah. William was a petty officer in the British Navy. Washington was named after General George Washington as their child was born the same week that the American Revolutionary War ended. The family settled in Manhattan, New York, and worked in the merchant business. Washington was less interested in school and more interested in stories and often snuck out to see theatre. When an outbreak of yellow fever went through New York, his parent sent him to Tarrytown to wait out the epidemic. While there, he saw the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills and other places and was enthralled by them. His brothers financed a trip to Europe for him, and there, he traveled about learning local lore and met American painter Washington Allston.

Back in New York, he studied law and barely passed the bar exam. His brothers and he started the magazine, Salmagundi, which, under many pseudonyms, he wrote many of the articles in them. It was in this magazine that Washington attributed the name of "Gotham" (Anglo for Goat's Town) to New York City. His first book was a satire on New York, "A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809)." This fictitious character was used in later works as well, and is the inspiration for the nickname of the major league basketball team, the New York Knickerbockers (Knicks). His most famous short stories are "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." They appeared in a book, called, "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" in 1820. He also wrote a five volume biography of George Washington just prior to Irving's death. Irving served in the War of 1812 but saw no real action.

Description: Washington Irving was an author of several stories that used the Hudson River and Catskills as settings. His most famous are "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip van Winkle." Date of birth: 04/03/1783 Date of death: 11/28/1859 Area of notoriety: Literature Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: General daylight hourse, see cemetery web site for details Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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