May 7, 20222 min read

Upstate NY Research Trip Day 8

Today was a very full day. We spent the day in Sleepy Hollow.

We started at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the old Dutch Church. I've been to quite a few notable cemeteries, and I have to say that this is the most pleasant cemetery I've ever been in. Hills covered in tall grasses, old stones with names so weathered they can't even be read, a bubbling steam nearby, and paths covered in pink and white tree petals. It was rainy and the whole place smelled of lavender and lilac. What a lovely spot to spend eternity.

Of course, we stopped by to see Washington Irving, who I learned was the first professional American author, good for him! Shed your blessing light on me, Wash!

After walking around the cemetery for a bit and seeing the old Dutch Church, we crossed what used to be the Sleepy Hollow bridge from Irving's Legend of. The bridge Irving wrote about has long since failed, but this is where it used to be.

Across the street, we saw the statue of the headless horseman.

I also took some still photos.

We had a bit of time to spare before our first tour, so we stopped by a local farmer's market. I'm a sucker for a good farmer's market! Oh man, I got dark maple syrup, vegan ice cream, pickles, and olives. The ice cream was delicious, and I can't wait to try everything else.

After the farmer's market, we stopped by Coffee Labs, which is the café that everyone kept saying was the best in town. They roast their own beans.

Next, we went on a tour of Philipsburg Manor, where we learned about what it was like there in 1750. I really appreciated how much they taught about what slavery was like in the North, They didn't shy away from the subject. What was really interesting was Adolph Philips died without a will, a lawyer had to make an extensive inventory of his possessions, including the slaves. And while this is hard to stomach, it's one of the reasons we now know what their names were and what their jobs were.

I learned a lot about how a flour mill worked.

Also what they did with wheat after it was harvested.

I even learned about spinning wool. Those fabrics in the background were all dyed with natural dyes that would have existed at the time.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the manor house itself.

After Philipsburg Manor, we went to Washington Irving's Sunnyside. We also weren't allowed to take pictures inside of there either. But I learned a lot about our first American author.