Fact or Fiction: The Van Alen House and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Sometime in February of 2014, while winging back some portion of the many feet of snow that had fallen over the course of that ridiculous winter, a highway snow plow broke off the New York State Historic marker in front of Van Alen House. While this seemed a rude way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the acquisition of the site by the Columbia County Historical Society, the sign itself demonstrates one of the most remarkable aspects of the story of the Van Alen House; the collision of fact, fiction, myth and popular culture surrounding Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

The sign states that “according to tradition,” the Van Alen House was the home of a fictional character. It doesn’t mention Washington Irving, Jesse Merwin, Ichabod Crane (more about that later) or any real person. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is not referenced. The words “based on” do not appear on the sign. Keeping in mind that “tradition” does not mean “fiction,” the New York State Department of Education, who placed the sign in the 1930s, must have believed that passersby would not only have known of Katrina Van Tassel but would also have believed that she actually lived somewhere outside the pages of a 100-plus-year-old story.  While many historic markers exhibit what are now known to be factual errors, few if any must embrace fiction as completely as does the Van Alen sign.

The real, verifiable facts regarding “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and its association with the Van Alen House and the Kinderhook area are few but simple. In 1809, Washington Irving, while recovering from the depression caused by the death of his fiancée in New York City, came to Kinderhook and stayed with the Van Ness family at what is now known as Lindenwald. Irving was friends with William Van Ness, son of Peter who had erected the house a few years before. While at Kinderhook, Irving met and befriended the local school master Jesse Merwin. The men apparently fished and hunted together, and formed such a firm friendship that they visited and corresponded with one another for the rest of their lives. One of their surviving letters, from Irving to Merwin, recalled a prank they had played during Irving’s stay with one of the local burghers’. (Written in 1851, the letter also mentions the destruction of the original schoolhouse where Merwin had taught. The school, built to replace the destroyed building, is now called the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and rests on the grounds of the Van Alen House.)

Irving stayed with the Van Ness family only a few months, but in that time must have certainly been entertained by many local families in their homes, as was the custom of the time. The Van Alens probably were among those families, since they were both prosperous and very near neighbors. Even in the unlikely event that Irving never entered the house, he certainly passed by it on numerous occasions, since the house lies between the Van Ness home and the Village of Kinderhook. Worth noting, however, are the facts that Irving spent at most a total of eight weeks at Kinderhook, and Brian Jay Jones, in his definitive biography Washington Irving, does not mention the Van Alen family or house at all.

In 1820, Irving published a collection of short stories and essays titled The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon. One of the stories in the book was “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which is regarded by most literary historians as the first “ghost story.” The book was a critical and commercial success, becoming what may be referred to now as the early 19th century’s first bestseller. It cemented both Irving’s personal fortune and his reputation as one of America’s most significant authors.

How then, did a clearly fictional ghost story become the source for the alternate reality portrayed by the historic marker?

Three people are probably to blame. Irving himself endorsed the 1851 letter to Merwin mentioned previously with the note “to the original Ichabod Crane.” Also, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon was a collection of fiction and essays, and the unsophisticated reader may have confused fact, opinion and fiction. Merwin, lifelong friend to Irving, was certainly in Irving’s mind when he wrote about Ichabod Crane. With the unprecedented success of the The Sketchbook, Crane entered the public lexicon, and at least in Kinderhook, Merwin came to be known as the inspiration for the fictional character. In later life, Merwin did nothing to disparage his connection with Crane. He occasionally dressed in early 19th-century clothing and entertained as the lusty schoolmaster at church socials.