Author’s Ridge is a place oft written about. There are many who have reflected upon it with great insight and historical knowledge. Not presuming to have a similar immersion with regard to this hallowed ground, I wish only to share my observations noted from an early morning sojourn into Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
The cemetery itself is not comprised of endless rows of headstones. The area looks as if it was carved into the hillsides, one arc sloping into another, dotted with burial markers. The narrow roads allow you to pass on foot or by car and weave in and out of Sleepy Hollow. After proceeding down what are well marked roadways toward Author’s Ridge, you’ll come to an actual end where the road simply stops and to your right is the Ridge itself, as shown in today’s picture.
At the peak of this slope are the family plots of Hawthorne, Alcott, Emerson and Thoreau. While the markers for the family units are of significant size, the individual headstones reflect the character of those who lived. Henry David Thoreau’s stone is perhaps just under a foot tall and simply reads “Henry”. I have heard it is often adorned with stones, sticks and the like, as it was this morning… a commemoration from today’s naturalists/conservationists to what they consider to be a founding father of the movement.