Sleepy Hollow-EEN
I went to Stars Hollow on my way to Pennsylvania and Sleepy Hollow on my way out to NYC. Not at all hollow, both field trips were filled with fun seasonal activities. They really were a perfect way to ring in Halloween and finish up my Autumn Adventures. A full moon, clear skies, creepy cemeteries, pretty pumpkins, and smiling faces made for an incredible trip. I highly recommend going to Sleepy Hollow/Croton, but not on a Thursday like me.
I rented a car in Boston and took a slight detour to Rhode Island and Connecticut before arriving in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I wanted to meet the team I’ve been virtually assisting in Allentown, and a dear childhood friend offered to put me up at her house a few miles away. Lisa is a college chemistry professor about 20 minutes from my company headquarters. We’ve been friends since middle school and got really close through girl scouts. I had so much fun catching up and chatting with her. Lisa is a lifelong scrapbooker, and she had some amazing (and embarrassing) pages from our school days. I was so grateful for the chance to see her, stroll down memory lane, and meet my AMAZING team. I’m already scheming how I can do it again soon.
After a wonderful day reminiscing with Lisa, hugging and helping my favorite heroines of mental health, and exploring the adorable downtown Bethlehem, I hit the road and headed towards New York. I once had a fun geography assignment in school where I had to “plan” a family road trip. I included a trip to Woodstock, Vermont , Hershey Park, and Easton, Pennsylvania. I forgot all about it until I passed the exit for the Crayola Experience and fondly remembered little Lyssa gleefully researching what a visit to nearby Easton might look like. I didn’t pop in this time, but I will definitely put it on the wishlist for next time. I had a very full docket for the day and had to keep rolling.
I’m not a die hard Washington Irving fan, I haven’t even seen any of the Sleepy Hollow movies, but it seemed like an appropriate Halloween activity. I had seen plenty of great coverage on how wonderful the Hudson Valley is, especially for food people, and when I saw friends posting about The Great Jack’o’Lantern Blaze event, I knew I absolutely had to find my way to this Halloweeny hamlet. Tickets for the Blaze Long Island location are a little easier to get, but the Hudson one sells out FAST. They were pretty much sold out for the entire month of October, but 1 lonely ticket for the perfect day randomly popped up on the website while I was telling a friend about it. He snapped it up and sent it to me so I could see it for myself.
I didn’t do a lot of prep for this trip. It all came together really quickly. I got my Blaze ticket less than 48 hours before I arrived. It was incredibly frustrating trying to plan my visit. Due to COVID, hours are pretty limited or non-existent for the places on the wishlist. You pretty much have to be in Hudson on a Friday/Saturday/Sunday to see any of the major attractions. Union Church of Pocantico Hills offers weekend tours of their incredible collection of Chagall and Matisse stained glass windows. Washington Irving’s Sunnyside is also open for weekend tours, and is not visible from the road. You can purchase a ticket to walk the Lyndhurst grounds during the week, but tours of the mansion are limited to the weekends too. Kykuit (the Rockerfeller Estate), Van Cortland Manor, and Philipsburg Manor are currently closed. I even had trouble making it out to see the Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse due to construction. Dan Barber is the father of Farm to Table and an insanely innovative chef. While I don’t have a spare grand to drop on dinner for one, all I managed was a drive by to the famed Blue Hill at Stone Barn. The day started off with a bunch of dead ends, but it turned around quite nicely.
You’ll pass a Headless Horseman sculpture and monument on the way to the cemetery. The monument is in the parking lot for the (closed) Philipsburg Manor and this gorgeous sculpture is in a small park beside a gas station across the street. You’ll need to enter/exit the North Gate for the good cemetery signage. I’m really glad I did my exploration in daylight, because driving past it under a full moon gave me the heeby jeebies and I didn’t even get out of the car.
You pretty much have to go to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. They offer some really well curated events and even lantern lit tours of this historical graveyard. This is where the headless horseman supposedly haunts. The Irving family plot is clearly marked, and the nearby crypts are creepy but quite pretty. There are maps available to find their other illustrious residents, you can walk up to the infamous bridge, and see the exterior of the Old Reformed Dutch Church.
The Tarrytown Main Street is charming. It looks like something right out of a storybook, just like the rest of this literature loving town. I wandered into some beautiful boutiques, had a wonderful mojito and did some more research on the patio of The Cube Inn. I came back for some lemon chicken soup at Lefteris Gyro before heading out to Brooklyn.
When I googled Croton on Hudson, the technical home for Blaze, an incredible photo of a beautiful waterfall came up. Don’t listen to google, a map to Croton on Hudson just takes you to a cul de sac on a hill. You want to map to the Croton Dam and walk along the bridge for some beautiful views of the water and several falls. You’ll go over a charming one lane bridge and need to map to Croton Gorge Park for the best views and access to the water. The gorge was gorgeous at sunset, but I bet it’s just as amazing on a sunny Summer day.
Blaze is whimsical and fun, I was delighted and enchanted by their unique displays. It was pretty packed, mostly maskless, and it runs in a single direction and you can’t double back. So take your time, because once you pass it, you aren’t coming back to any of the displays. It was about $50 for my ticket and I was there for just over an hour. I have trouble believing that I got a $1 a minute’s worth of fun, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Museum of Pumpkin Art, planetarium, carousel, windmill and tulips, sunflowers, and headless horseman lodge were really impressive. I can’t imagine shelling out for a family to attend, but I’m very glad I did. I was delighted hearing the excitement in the voices of the little kids running around. I’m so happy a last minute ticket popped up for me, and that I was able to have a wonderful day in the Hudson Valley. I would definitely be up for returning on a Saturday for a future fall fun day :)
