59 Washington Irving.
of beautiful country residences which lie embowered on the hillsides, or from the heights look out over the blue waters of the Tappan Zee.
The view from the summit of the hill overlooking Tarrytown is a magnificent one. The Hudson stretches away toward the north and is lost among the mountains of the Highlands. The entrance to Sleepy Hollow is also seen in this direction, just on the outskirts of
the village, with the steeple of the old Dutch Church rising above the foliage of the elm and locust trees which surround it, and its ancient burying-ground " sloping up the gentle acclivity." Toward the south you can almost see the quaintly picturesque roof of Sunnyside nestling among; the trees on the river bank. From the car win-
dows on the right, a few minutes after the train leaves Irvington, you catch a glimpse of its white gables and walls half covered with ivy and rose vines, and the little brook which Irving describes as " babbling down a neighboring ravine" and "crossing and recrossing the
lonely, rambling, down-hill lane."
There are a few architectural reminiscences of the olden time still remaining in Tarrytown, but these will not long be spared by the irresistible commercial spirit of the age.
The old Paulding Mansion was torn down a few weeks after the artist's visit. This old landmark had acquired the dignity of years before the stormy scenes of the American Revolution, during which
time it was a famous hostlery and was often visited by Washington.
A cannon-ball from a British frigate is said to have penetrated its walls and lodged in the mattress of a bed upon which a sick woman lay. Later, when the house became the home of the Pauldings, there
must often have been gathered beneath its roof the most brilliant intellectual and social life of this region. Here lived James K. Paulding, one of the pioneers of American literature, a brother-in-law of Washington Irving, and with him associated as one of the famous
trio who wrote and published the Salmagundi papers. This old homestead was the scene of Irving's first visit to Tarrytown. There
Greenburgh Public Library, The Land and People of Greenburgh
