Storied Tarrytown Is More Than a Halloween Spot

Enid Alvarez

Long a lure for tourists, Tarrytown, N.Y., has become a popular destination for New Yorkers driven out of the city by high home prices.

The Westchester County village, famous as the home of Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” offers easy walkability, low-key charm and a vibrant downtown.

“This past year, the real-estate market has been super-hot, very desirable, with people moving up from Manhattan, from Brooklyn,” said Karen Stroub, a licensed broker and one of the owners of William Raveis Legends Realty Group.

Washington Irving began building Sunnyside in 1835.

Enid Alvarez

Tarrytown, with a population of about 11,500 and an attractive hilly terrain, is in the town of Greenburgh on the eastern shore of the Hudson River about 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.

“Buyers want to be in the country but still walk to great restaurants,” said Ms. Stroub, who has lived in Tarrytown for more than 15 years.

Linda Zeltner and her husband, Peter, moved to the waterfront Hudson Harbor townhome and condominium complex two years ago.

“We have four or five restaurants we like that are very close, and another 14 or 15 on Main Street,” said Ms. Zeltner. “We like the blend of it being somewhat urbanesque and the ability to walk everywhere. We walk to the train, and it’s a three- or four-minute walk to the river.”

So far this year, 52 single-family homes in Tarrytown have been sold, with a median price of $676,500, according to the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service. For the same period last year, 60 homes were sold, with a median price of $598,250.

This time of year, Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, its neighboring village to the north, are overrun with Halloween tourists.

“It gets much busier—foot traffic, car traffic, and big buses, especially near the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery,” said David Davenport, a 23-year Tarrytown resident.

Ghosts and Halloween decorations at Lyndhurst. Halloween is a particularly busy time in Tarrytown and the neighboring village of Sleepy Hollow. ‘Basically, the whole month of October there is a lot of tourism, a lot of events,’ says Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell

Enid Alvarez

Throughout October, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has daytime and evening lantern tours, spooky stories series and other events. The cemetery is the resting place for Irving and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, as well as local citizens who may have inspired Irving’s characters of Ichabod Crane, Katrina Van Tassel and others in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

Next door, the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow is also open for tours. Sunnyside, Irving’s well-preserved home in Tarrytown, is also a popular spot for tourists in the fall.

“I think the TV show ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and the Johnny Depp movie really put it on the map,” Ms. Stroub said.

Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell said the village is a busy place in the weeks before Halloween. “Basically, the whole month of October there is a lot of tourism, a lot of events.” This year, the festivities culminate on Saturday in the annual Tarrytown Halloween Parade.

Tarrytown is also home to Lyndhurst, the Gothic Revival mansion owned by Gilded Age financier and railroad developer Jay Gould. It is surrounded by a 67-acre park that is about a half-mile below the Tappan Zee Bridge on Route 9.

Also located in Tarrytown is Lyndhurst, the home of the Gilded Age financier and railroad developer Jay Gould. The Gothic Revival mansion sits in its own 67-acre park.

Enid Alvarez

Construction of a new span to replace the 1955 Tappan Zee Bridge began in 2013, and portions of the new bridge are expected to open to traffic next year, Mr. Fixell said. “The construction has created some major traffic backups in the village, but overall it hasn’t been a huge imposition on the village.”

Broadway and Main Street form the commercial heart of Tarrytown, with storefront restaurants, antique shops and local businesses, many with apartments above them.

“It has the feel of a village with a lot of fun social activity,” Mr. Davenport said. “Whenever I walk the three blocks into town, I run into neighbors and friends.”

“I love the sense of community—it’s very friendly,” Ms. Stroub said. “And the proximity to the city, so you have great cultural opportunities as well as a close-knit community.”

And that easy walkability and social connectedness extends into the evening hours.

“If you spend time in other Hudson Valley river villages, you see that there’s no nightlife, nobody is on the streets,” Mr. Davenport said. “Tarrytown has a nightlife.”

Schools: There are five schools in the Tarrytown Union Free School District, which includes students from Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow High School, which serves both villages, has an overall grade of A+ from the ratings site niche.com, with a reading proficiency of 93% and 95% in math. Tarrytown children who live south of Route 119 attend public schools in Irvington. Tarrytown is also home to the private Hackley School, which has students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Parks: Pierson Park has basketball, a picnic area with pavilion, playground and tennis courts. The Scenic Hudson RiverWalk Park runs along the river. The Old Croton Aqueduct trail, which crosses the grounds of Lyndhurst, is popular with joggers, walkers and cyclists.

Transportation: The commute on Metro-North’s Hudson Line to Grand Central Terminal takes about 35 minutes. The Tappan Zee Bridge crosses the Hudson at Tarrytown, carrying the New York Thruway (Interstates 287 and 87) across the river to Rockland County and points upstate.

Dining: The Twisted Oak offers farm-to-table fare with a menu that changes daily depending on what’s in season. RiverMarket Bar and Kitchen also depends on local farms for its New American fare, with a gourmet shop near the front. The waterfront Sunset Cove features continental cuisine with an Asian/Mediterranean flair—and spectacular views of the Hudson and Tappan Zee Bridge. Muddy Water Coffee & Café is known for its coffees, baked goods and light meals.

Entertainment: The 843-seat Tarrytown Music Hall, which dates to 1885 and is Westchester’s oldest theater, has a wide variety of theater, dance and film programs. Coffee Labs Roasters has live music on weekends. In summer, Pierson Park hosts free musical events, and there are outdoor jazz nights at Lyndhurst. A farmers market is open on Saturdays from May through November in Patriot’s Park, where a statue commemorates the Revolutionary War capture of the British spy Maj. John André.

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