The Distracted Wanderer

After wandering through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and checking out The Old Dutch Church last Friday, Amy, the girls, and I grabbed lunch at The Headless Horseman restaurant then made one more stop before heading back to Connecticut. This humble litte abode which was built from limestone quarried from up the river at Sing Sing is Lyndhurst Castle - one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in America. The house, if you can call it a house!, is located within a 67-acre park that also contains the cast iron structure of a once beautiful conservatory (the first in the United States) as well as gardenesque landscape that was originally designed by Ferdinand Mangold who was the landscaper at Lyndhurst for 40 years. Some of you may recognize this castle-like structure as the setting of the 1970 MGM movie, " House of Dark Shadows " which was based on the 1966-1971 gothic soap opera Dark Shadows that featured the hottest vampire around at that time - Barnabas ...

“ From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW. . . ” - Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow This past Friday my friend Amy (who loves to take pictures as much as I do and loves exploring cemeteries as much as I do!) and I packed up the girls and made the 2-hour trip west to the small village of Sleepy Hollow just up the Hudson from New York City. A dispatching buddy had mentioned to me awhile back that it was probably someplace that I would enjoy as there are some mega-awesome graves there and, of course, there's the legend of Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod Crane being chased by the Headless Horseman to entice visitors also. It sounded like it was right up our alley so we set off Friday morning for a little bit of an adventure. I've decided that the best way to do a post is to actually do several posts be...