Old Dutch Reformed Church
403 Broadway
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
https://reformedchurchtarrytowns.org/old-dutch-church/
https://www.facebook.com/theolddutchchurch/
Open: During Church Services and special events-Check their website.
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow
I love visiting the Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow and its cemetery. The church itself is steeped in history but made famous by “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Erving, a local resident. The church was the inspiration for the book and to this day it is still celebrated during the Halloween season with Open Houses and storytelling. I have visited the church to hear storyteller Jonathan Kurk tell the story of Ichabod Crane and then at Christmas to hear “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. These are musts when you are visiting the church.
The Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow
Though the cemetery stretches for miles it is the part by the church that is the most interesting. The tombstones are over 300 years old and some weather beaten to wear the tombstones are unknown. Still it has that classic look with faded cracked tombstones and large shade trees where you might think a ghost or ghoul would pop out. It is a classic Dutch Church cemetery of the Hudson Valley and I highly recommend the cemetery walking tour where you can visit the graves of many famous resident of the cemetery including Washington Irving. Whether the fall or the spring, it is fascinating to walking among the graves and just pay your respects to these people.
The gates leading to the cemetery
The Church that inspired a legend:
(From the Reformed Church website)
When Washington Irving set his ghost story about the Headless Horseman at the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, he made the church world-famous. Ever since the publication of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1819-20, visitors have come to see where Ichabod Crane led the choir and courted Katrina Van Tassel among the old gravestones in the churchyard and looked for the grave of the Headless Horseman in the Old Burying Ground.
The inside pew of the church
The church was already old when Irving first saw it, when he was a teenager. It was built in 1685 and formally organized as Dutch Reformed in 1697. It served as the congregation’s home for more than 150 years, until a new building was constructed. Even then, it was retained for worship on summer Sundays and special holidays. This custom continues today.
The pews and pulpit inside the Old Dutch Reformed Church
This inscription on the bell that hangs in the belfry of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow has been a comfort to the congregation through war and peace, personal joys and tragedies, since it was commissioned in Holland and installed in the belfry. Most historians date the church’s construction to 1685, the year engraved on the bell.
The back part of the pees
The church is recognized as the oldest extant church in New York and a National Historic Landmark. The Old Dutch Burying Ground, which surrounds it on three acres, is believed to predate the church. Washington Irving is buried just up the hill, in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery adjacent.
The historic marker
During Holy Week and Easter, the Reformed Church holds Good Friday services and an Easter Sunrise service at the Old Dutch Church. Summer worship services at Old Dutch feature “Seven Sundays of Worship and Music,” with guest musicians each Sunday morning during the season.
The Church’s historic marker
The History of the Church:
(from the church website)
The Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns in Tarrytown. NY , serves both Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, NY. It was constructed in 1837 as an extension of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow to serve the Tarrytown community.
The graveyard by the church in the Fall of 2024
The new community of Dutch Reformed would have had its own Elders and and Deacons shared a minister with the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. That church has a similar arrangement with the Dutch Reformed at Cortlandt Manor dating from 1697 when the Sleepy Hollow community was first recorded as established, though the structure had been completed in 1685 and the community had been there for long before. The Cortlandt Manor community had its own Elders and Deacons but recognized the community at Sleepy Hollow as its head, and regularly went down to the village for services and to record their births and marriages.
The oldest part of the graveyard near the church
The community at Tarrytown became independent from Sleepy Hollow in the 1850s and soon after dropped the “Dutch” association from its name. As the Sleepy Hollow community diminished and the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow became less used, the Tarrytown community adopted the name for their landmark church the Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns, adding that it was a “continuation of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.”
The family plots in the oldest part of the graveyard
Presenting an impressive façade on North Broadway, the structure’s steeple remains the highest point on North Broadway and the tallest physical structure in Tarrytown, despite not being built on the heights of the city. The church’s porch of four columns supporting an extended pediment offers a refined architectural addition to the business district of historic Tarrytown.
The Historic church and cemetery
The Church’s cemetery
The tree is so old that the tombstone is inside of the trunk
During my many visits to the church, I have heard Master Storyteller Johnathan Kruk perform and tell his stories of “The Headless Horseman” during Halloween and of “Scrooge” during Christmas time. Here are some of his videos of his performances.
Storyteller Jonathan Kruk singing the story of the ‘Headless Horseman”
The Church Marker
The famous bridge was once here
Master Storyteller Jonathan Kurk telling the story of the ‘Headless Horseman”. He is excellent!
The graveyard in the Fall of 2024
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