At the corner of Richmond Ave and Amsterdam Place on Staten Island…
…is a decaying graveyard known as New Springville Cemetery:
The deteriorating fence alone gives a pretty good indication of what awaits inside:
The first section of the cemetery is in decent shape…
As you make your way back, however, you soon come across dozens of broken graves…
…many barely visible in the overgrowth:
The weeds in this private fenced-in plot have grown so thick…
…it’s impossible to tell if any graves remain.
In fact, the rear of the cemetery is so overgrown, it’s unclear where it even ends:
In a way, the abandoned and foreboding atmosphere of the graveyard feels almost appropriate…
…for the final resting place of Ichabod Crane:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written by Washington Irving, is one of my favorite short stories. If you haven’t read it in a while, do yourself a favor and check it out here for free. Irving’s prose is beautifully, hauntingly, descriptive of a New York that no longer is, perhaps never was – and I love reading it every year when the air gets crisp and the leaves change color.
In the story, Sleepy Hollow’s new school teacher, Ichabod Crane, is described as follows:
“The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. 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 weather-cock, perched upon his spindle neck, to tell which way the wind blew.”
This is what the real Ichabod Crane looked like:
In fact, Colonel Ichabod Crane was not a small town school teacher, but a respected military officer with career spanning 48 years. Washington Irving met Crane in 1814 in Sackets Harbor, New York, and later used his name for his Sleepy Hollow pedagogue. Though it earned him an immortal place in American culture, the real Crane detested Irving for it.
Crane died in 1857 and was buried near his home at the New Springville Cemetery. In 1986, New York Magazine visited his grave site and found it in significant disrepair, with graffiti on the stone and its four foot obelisk cracked in two on the ground.
By 2000, the grave had been restored. While the middle portion seems to be brand new…
…the base and original obelisk are original:
Also buried here is Crane’s wife Charlotte…
…brother William…
…and, oddly, a Native American who served as his personal valet.
Crane lived nearby the cemetery at 3525 Victory Boulevard in the house pictured below.
At the time of the New York Magazine article, the house was described as “just barely” standing, abandoned and in desperate need of repairs. Nothing remains today (though they did name this ugly little parking lot Crane Street):
If you happen to pass by New Springville Cemetery, it’s definitely worth exploring, if only to visit the grave of the namesake of our favorite Sleepy Hollow pedagogue.
Just watch out for the sound of a horse approaching…
-SCOUT
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