Where did the name Sleepy Hollow Lane come from?

We have had a cottage on Sleepy Hollow Lane on Golden Lake since 1989.

There are fourteen cottages on our lane and I wonder how many of the neighbours are familiar with the legend of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. I am sure the kids and grandkids have never heard about the main character Ichabod Crane.

The town of Sleepy Hollow actually exists and is located about 30 miles north of New York City, just north of Tarrytown on the Hudson River. Our lane was probably named by the American fishermen who had been coming to the Bonnechere Lodge for years before local landowner Fred Verch sold them a few lots along Harris Bay on what was to become Sleepy Hollow Lane.

I gave my wife a copy of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and other stories" for Christmas and enjoyed reading it myself. It also included the story of Rip Van Winkle.

Originally written in 1820, the language is quite archaic and may prove difficult to read today so I have undertaken to write a precis of the story with updated language. Walking down our lane at night can be spooky and I have added some photos to illustrate the similarities.

I had read the story back in Public School in the 1950's (maybe it was the comic book) and I always associated Ichabod Crane with our Pubic School principal Clayton Brown (pictured on right). As described by the author, Ichabod resembled his namesake, the crane; "He was tall and exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, and feet that might have served for shovels. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck, to tell which way the wind blew. To see him striding along on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield."

In the legend, the region was inhabited by Dutch settlers and farmers. Sleepy Hollow was a small valley with a small brook that the local residents thought was haunted by a headless horseman. This was the ghost of a Hessian trooper who lost his head in battle during the Revolutionary War. Hessians were German mercenaries who fought for the British. The body was buried in the churchyard but his ghost rode to the scene of the battle every night searching for his head.

Ichabod Crane was the local schoolteacher, presiding over the children in a one room log schoolhouse. His salary was not sufficient to sustain him, so he was lodged in the homes of his pupils a week at a time, carrying his belongings in a cotton handkerchief. He would do odd jobs for the farmers and look after the children to help pay his way.

He supplemented his income as the singing master of the neighbourhood and impressed the ladies with his elegance and the fact that he had read several books all the way through. He enjoyed stretching out under a tree by the little brook by the schoolhouse to read books on witchcraft. When it got dark, he walked fearfully through Sleepy Hollow and sang psalm tunes to calm himself from the sounds of the night.

One of his music students was Katrina Van Tassel, only child of a wealthy Dutch farmer, described by the author as; "a blooming lass of fresh eighteen, plump as a partridge, ripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her father's peaches, and universally famed, not merely for her beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a little of a coquette, as might be perceived in her dress. She wore ornaments of pure yellow gold to set off her charms, and a provokingly short petticoat to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round."

Ichabod was just one of the young men who hoped to win the heart of Katrina who would inherit her father's wealth.

His chief competitor was Brom Van Brunt, the local hero known for his feats of strength and daring and known as Brom Bones. Famed for his horsemanship, he was the leader of a gang of rough riders who attended every party or local feud with mischievous good humour. They could be heard whooping and hollering along the country roads. Brom's approach to Katrina was something like the caress of a bear, but she did not discourage him. Most of the other suitors gave up the pursuit of Katrina but not Ichabod who visited the Van Tassel home frequently as the singing master. Brom Bones tried to discourage him with practical jokes such as stopping up the chimney of the schoolhouse to smoke out the class or turning everything inside topsy-turvy.

This rivalry continued for some time until one autumn day when Van Tassel invited everyone to a party at his house.

Ichabod brushed his only suit and borrowed a horse named Gunpowder from the farmer with whom he was staying. The animal was a broken-down, one-eyed old plow horse. Perched like a jockey on a saddle with short stirrups, his sharp elbows stuck out like a grasshopper's, Ichabod jogged along, arms flapping like wings.

Brom Bones arrived on his favorite horse named Daredevil. Violin music called everyone to dance and Ichabod was in his element entertaining Katrina while Bram Bones sulked in the corner.

After the dance the folks sat and smoked and told ghost stories, mainly about the Headless Horseman who had been heard several times near the brook by the church.

Near the witching hour Ichabod finally rode home as the night grew darker and darker and memories of the ghost stories caused him to break into song.

Suddenly a huge horseman mounted on a black horse appeared and began trotting along the blind side of old Gunpowder. Ichabod was horror-stricken to see that the figure was gigantic in height, and headless. The stranger's head was mounted on the pommel of his saddle. Panicked, Ichabod tried to spur on his horse but the horseman kept pace as they dashed along the road. As they approached Sleepy Hollow the girths of his saddle gave way and the saddle fell off with Ichabod hanging on for dear life. He looked back just in time to see the rider rise in his stirrups and throw his head at him scoring a direct hit on Ichabod's own skull. He crashed to the dust as the rider passed him like a whirlwind.

The next morning Gun­powder was found at his master's gate but there was no sign of Ichabod. Later that day, after a search, they found the saddle trampled in the dirt, Ichabod's hat and a shattered pumpkin. They assumed he had been carried off by the headless horseman. When they examined his bundle of worldly possessions, it consisted of two shirts, a pair of corduroy pants, a pair or two of socks, a rusty razor, a hymn book and a broken pitch pipe.

The old wives insisted that Ichabod had been carried away by supernatural means and night-time travellers often imagined hearing his voice singing psalms off in the distance.

Bram Bones married Katrina and would burst into laughter when the subject of the pumpkin was brought up suggesting he knew more about the story but chose not to tell.

Years later they learned that Ichabod had relocated to a distant part of the country, continued as a schoolteacher, studied law and entered politics.

And so ended the legendary story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

The story of Sleepy Hollow was modified by Tim Burton in his 1999 movie about three murders in Sleepy Hollow. In this version Johnny Depp played Ichabod Crane, a New York detective, sent to investigate the murders.

I saw the movie in Iqaluit and bought the poster which we have framed at the cottage.

In 2013 another modified version of the story was produced as a supernatural television series that ran for four seasons.

And that, my friends, is the origin of the name of Sleepy Hollow Lane.

Paula Schwarz initiated a project to renew our sign in 2022 and did the artwork on the headboard. Some of the nameplates have been upgraded since with new owners.

— January 30, 2024.