Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

On Sunday a group of friends and I spent the whole day exploring Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow in the Hudson River Valley. We'd been planning the trip for a while, and I can't remember being as excited for anything in quite a while. I'd never been to upstate New York before, and Sleepy Hollow seemed as if it would be the epitome of all fall and Halloween delights. The area definitely did not disappoint, and we crammed a ton of adventures into the more than 12-hour trip.

A definite highlight was the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Old Dutch Church Burying Ground. There are a lot of famous New York names buried in the cemetery, including a Rockefeller, a Chrysler, the Helmsleys, Elizabeth Arden and, of course, the area's most famous resident, Washington Irving.

The grounds are incredibly beautiful, especially this time of year. The entire area was exploding with fall colors, and the higher ground overlooks the Hudson River Valley, which is one of the most spectacular sights I've seen. Every corner I turned there were more and more beautiful trees and the weather was perfect.

The cemetery is a mix of old and new tombstones, fancy mausoleums and gorgeous statues — they apparently still have plots available if you're in the market for one. I can't think of many better places to spend all of eternity, but it was also a great place for a leisurely Sunday stroll.

The Pocantico river runs alongside the cemetery, and although the original "headless horseman" bridge is no longer standing, there is a rustic bridge that, according to the maps, "makes a nice souvenir photograph."

The Old Dutch Church is small and plain, but the churchyard has some of the oldest graves in the cemetery. I'll never get tired of exploring historic cemeteries, and there is always something new and interesting to discover. A lot of graves were even decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and flowers, which was appropriately festive. They offer tours during the day, but also after dark which might be neat to check out if I go back next year. I can easily see an October trip to Sleepy Hollow becoming a tradition, and there is plenty that I didn't see the first time around.