Eloy Y.
Yelp
Every year around Halloween, when the fall foliage is at its most vibrant, this normally sleepy town is overrun with tourists from the city, all of them to see this famous cemetery where my partner and I came today after 8 years, which Google Maps has many of the famous graves listed and they're easy to locate.
Located on N Broadway, the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was established in 1849 and is non-denominational. The size of this cemetery is about 90 acres, almost as heavily wooded as the forest nearby, full of cedars, sycamores, and oaks, European beeches with scarlet leaves, and tiny Japanese maples. Forty-five thousand people are buried there, about twice as many as the current populations of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow combined.
The historic Old Dutch Church is a stone and wooden structure, built in the 1700s near a pre-existent graveyard. The burial grounds of this church, going back to the Dutch ownership of New York, must be one of the oldest in the country. There are still tombstones written in Dutch on the property, and over the years, trees have grown up and nearly engulfed graves within their trunks.
The graves and mausoleums add to its beauty, such as those of William Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Grompers, Walter Chrysler, and Harry & Leona Helmsley.
The only statue to be marked on the official map is the so-called "Bronze Lady." It is a twice-life-size statue of a seated woman. Her eyes are sad and downcast as she looks mournfully at the mausoleum in front of her. This is the tomb of Samuel Thomas (1840-1903), a relatively obscure Civil War general. For several generations now, local kids have been telling ghost stories about the metal woman, reporting that the statue cries and weeps at night.
At least one more general is buried in the cemetery: Daniel Delavan (1757-1835). His military service goes back even further, to the American War of Independence. A near-life-size statue stands atop a large pillar, tall enough to be seen from a neighbor's backyard.
Washington Irving is, of course, the most famous star of the cemetery. His tombstone is simplicity itself, a rectangular slab with a rounded top. After Washington Irving, the most notable person buried is Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was apparently confident of immortality since he did not create an ornate tomb for himself. His grave is a cross, about six feet high, isolated in a little grove.
What a walk through history and worth the trip, which we can recommend.