The Legendary Sleepy Hollow, Sleepy Hollow, New York

“If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life,” Washington Irving once wrote, “I know of none more promising than this little valley.” The little valley he was referring to was, of course, Sleepy Hollow. Its eponymous village, home to about 10,000 people, upwards of 45,000 interments and one very famous ghost, is considered one of the most haunted places in the world.

It also happens to be just a 15-min drive from where one of my colleague-turned-friends grew up. Elizabeth and I met when I was still living and working in Connecticut. It was a good first home after moving to the US from Japan, but after 6 months, the city began to call my name. So in February, I packed my bags (again) and moved to New York.

I came here precisely because it scared me; making it in such a huge, hurried, success-hungry city after enjoying the peace and quiet of small towns for the past 8 years is certainly something to get used to. On good days, it’s an exhilarating, inspiring and wildly entertaining place to be. On bad days, it’s filthy, overstimulating and ridiculously loud. So when Elizabeth invited me to come up for Memorial Day Weekend and just *be* in a place that Irving describes as “one of the quietest…in the whole world,” my answer was a resounding yes. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).