Amanda Foster, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Amanda Foster (1806/7–1904) moved from being a household help at eight years of age to stewardess on a Hudson river steamship at fourteen. She obtained 'free negro' papers when traveling south, which she took a great risk in lending to a slave girl to allow her to escape to the north.

After this she re-joined her husband John in Tarrytown: he had a barber's shop there and Amanda opened a confectioner's. John died two years later and Amanda married Henry Foster, who was also a barber. Their two businesses thrived and they adopted two children.

John and Amanda were founding members of the A.M.E. Zion Church in Sleepy Hollow, which had an influx of freshly released slaves. Amanda continued the church work after the death of her second husband and 'Foster Memorial' was added to the church name in recognition of her work.

Madame Restell, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Ann Lohman (1811–78) was better known as Madame Restell, and the 'enhanced map' to Sleepy Hollow cemetery states that she was also called 'The Wickedest Woman in New York'. Lohman was born Ann Trow in Gloucestershire, UK, and married Henry Summer at the age of sixteen. The couple emigrated to the USA in 1831, where Summer died of fever shortly after.

Five years later she married Charles R. Lohman, a radical who with his friend George Matsell had been concerned with the publication of Robert Dale Owen's Moral Physiology: or, a Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question (1831) as well as Charles Knowlton's Fruits of Philosophy: or, The Private Companion of Young Married People, which was published the same year. 'Madame Restell' became interested in women's 'concerns' to such an extent that the neologism 'Restellism' became synonymous with abortion. Pressure increased on Restell's illegal activities and in 1878 – rather than face a second term of imprisonment – she died in her bath by slitting her throat. She was buried with her husband in Sleepy Hollow cemetery, upstate New York.

Washington Irving in Tarrytown, Irvington and Sleepy Hollow

In 1835 Washington Irving (1783–1859) bought a small property in Tarrytown, upstate New York, on the banks of the Hudson and expanded it in stages. He was aided by the artist George Harvey and the house displays various interests of Irving's: romanticism, Europe, etc.

The rear elevation with the Spanish Tower on the left that Irving added in 1847, with crow-stepped gables giving a Dutch appearance on the right.

More crow-stepped gables on the west elevation.

But the date '1656' is something of a mystery.

A replica of the original seating at the entrance to Sunnyside.

A replica of the ice house.

There may now be telegraph poles and lines, plus the Tappan Zee Bridge in the distance, but this photo at least gives an idea of what the view must have looked like in Irving's day.

Our informative docent rigged out in the costume of the day.

At the top of the road from Sunnyside (the junction of Broadway and West Sunnyside Lane in Irvington) is the impressive Washington Irving monument.

'WASHINGTON IRVING MONUMENT

WASHINGTON IRVING WAS THE FIRST OF EARLY AMERICA'S GREAT AUTHORS. THIS MONUMENT IS A TESTAMENT NOT ONLY TO IRVING, BUT ALSO TO THE IMAGINATION AND TENACITY OF JENNY PRINCE BLACK, A PROMINENT IRVINGTON CITIZEN, WHO WORKED FOR 18 YEARS TO MAKE IT A REALITY. IT ALSO MANIFESTS THE ARTISTRY OF SCULPTOR DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH, THE CREATOR OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, AMONG OTHER PROMINENT WORKS. THE ARCHITECT FOR THE IRVING MONUMENT WAS FRENCH'S LONGTIME COLABORATOR, CHARLES PLATT ADAMS. THE LAND WAS DONATED BY HENRY GRAVES, JR. MRS. BLACK LED THE FUND-RAISING, WHICH RANGED FROM A GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR., TO PENNIES FROM SCHOOL CHILDREN.

THE MONUMENT WAS COMPLETED AND DEDICATED IN 1927. AFTER MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF CORROSION, THE MONUMENT WAS RESTORED BY IRVINGTON LANDMARK PRESERVATION, INC., WITH SUPPORT FROM THE VILLAGE OF IRVINGTON AND FROM SAVE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE OF WASHINGTON, D.C. THE MONUMENT WAS REDEDICATED IN A VILLAGE CEREMONY IN 1998. AS A MASTERPIECE OF DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH, IT IS LISTED ON THE NEW YORK STATE AND NATIONAL REGISTERS OF HISTORIC PLACES.

IRVINGTON LANDMARK PRESERVATIONS, INC.'

'WASHINGTON

IRVING

1783–1859

ESSAYIST POET

HISTORIAN TRAVELLER

DIPLOMATIST SOLDIER

THE FIRST AUTHOR OF

OUR REPUBLIC'

'BOABDIL

THE LAST KING OF GRENADA'

'RIP VAN WINKLE

THE DREAMER OF THE KAATSKILLS'

And a few miles up the road, in Sleepy Hollow cemetery, is the enclosed Irving plot. Washington Irving died at Sunnyside.