Tarrytown is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in the
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of
Greenburgh in
Westchester County
Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is located on the eastern bank of the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
, approximately north of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and is served by a
stop on the
Metro-North Hudson Line. To the north of Tarrytown is the village of
Sleepy Hollow (formerly "North Tarrytown"), to the south the village of
Irvington and to the east unincorporated parts of Greenburgh. The
Tappan Zee Bridge crosses the
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...
at Tarrytown, carrying the
New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...
(Interstates
87 and
287) to
South Nyack,
Rockland County
Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population is 338,329, making it the state's ...
and points in
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
. The population was 11,860 at the 2020 census.
History

The Native American Weckquaesgeek tribe, who were closely related to the
Wappinger
The Wappinger ( ) were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut.
At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutc ...
Confederacy and further related to the
Mohicans
The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was ...
, lived in the area prior to European settlement. They fished the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
for
shad
The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family (biology), family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species.
The shads are Pelagic fish, pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadr ...
,
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
s and other shellfish. Their principal settlement was at what is now the foot of Church Street near the Hudson River shore, between the current location of Losee Park and the
Tappan Zee Bridge, at a place they called ''Alipconk'', or the "Place of Elms".
The first European settlers of Tarrytown were
Dutch farmers, fur trappers, and fishermen. Records show that the first Dutch residence in Tarrytown was built in 1645; however, the exact location of this residence is not known. Tarrytown sits within the lands of the former Dutch Colony of
New Netherland
New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...
which fell under English rule in 1674 with the signing of the
Treaty of Westminster. The name may come from the Dutch ''tarwe'', meaning "wheat".
In 1780, in a famous
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
incident, British Major
John André
Major John André (May 2, 1750 – October 2, 1780) was a British Army officer who served as the head of Britain's intelligence operations during the American War for Independence. In September 1780, he negotiated with Continental Army offic ...
was arrested in Tarrytown, which exposed the plans of American defector
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...
. André was traveling south through the village on the
Albany Post Road
The Albany Post Road was a post road – a road used for mail delivery – in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It connected New York City and Albany (NY), Albany along the east side of the Hudson River, a service now performed by U.S ...
when he was stopped and searched by three local militiamen
David Williams,
John Paulding, and
Isaac Van Wart. When suspicious papers were found in his boot, he was arrested as a spy, and later convicted and hanged. A circumstantial account of André's capture by militiamen was written in 1903 by the owner and publisher of the ''Tarrytown Argus'',
Marcius D. Raymond.
The writer
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...
described Tarrytown in "
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820). Irving began his story, "In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators of the
Tappan Zee
The Tappan Zee (; also Tappan Sea or Tappaan Zee) is a natural widening of the Hudson River, about across at its widest, in southeastern New York (state), New York. It stretches about along the boundary between Rockland County, New York, Rockl ...
, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port which by some is called Greenburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days."
The
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
ran through Tarrytown prior to the end of the
U.S. Civil War.
Tarrytown later became a favorite residence for many rich New Yorkers, including
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...
, who first moved to Tarrytown in 1893.
Kykuit
Kykuit ( ), known also as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room historic house museum in Pocantico Hills, a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York north of New York City. The house was built for oil tycoon and Rockefeller fa ...
, Rockefeller's elaborate mansion, was completed in 1906. In 1914, Kykuit became the site of numerous labor protests by radical
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
s, which protests were broken up by police in a series of violent clashes.
Kykuit was the intended target of at least two bombing attacks planned by anarchists associated with the radical journalists
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing.
Be ...
and
Luigi Galleani
Luigi Galleani (; 12 August 1861 – 4 November 1931) was an Italian insurrectionary anarchism, insurrectionary anarchist and Communism, communist best known for his advocacy of "propaganda of the deed", a strategy of political assassinations ...
.
On November 19, 1915, a powerful dynamite bomb was discovered at Cedar Cliff, the Tarrytown estate of
John D. Archbold, President of the
Standard Oil Company
Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...
.
Police theorized the bomb was planted by anarchists and
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW) radicals as a protest against the execution of IWW member
Joe Hill in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
.
The bomb was discovered by a gardener, John Walquist, who found four sticks of dynamite, weighing a pound each, half hidden in a rut in a driveway 50 feet from the front entrance of the residence.
The dynamite sticks were bound together by a length of wire, fitted with percussion caps, and wrapped with a piece of paper matching the color of the driveway, a path used by Archbold when going to or from his home by automobile.
The bomb was later defused by police.
The
Christ Episcopal Church,
First Baptist Church of Tarrytown,
Foster Memorial AME Zion Church,
Washington Irving High School,
North Grove Street Historic District,
Patriot's Park
Patriot's Park (originally referred to as Brookside Park) is located on U.S. Route 9 in New York, U.S. Route 9 along the boundary between Tarrytown, New York, Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, New York, Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, New York ...
, and
Tarrytown Music Hall are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Lyndhurst and
Sunnyside are listed as
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
s.
The
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
car manufacturing plant
North Tarrytown Assembly was located in North Tarrytown until 1996. Today's
Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...
's
Hudson Line runs through the abandoned property.
Sleepy Hollow Mayor Philip Zegarelli, in March 2007, met with Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell and district superintendent Howard Smith to discuss forming a
blue-ribbon panel that would explore the pros and cons of an intermunicipal agreement. The two villages have shared a school district for 55 years. The villages already shared some services, as well, to lower their expenses, but the greatest reductions, especially in school and property taxes, would come from merging the two villages. However, each village has its own assessment roll. Zegarelli, who led an unsuccessful attempt in the mid-1970s to disaffiliate Sleepy Hollow from the town of
Mount Pleasant, continues to advocate for
secession
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...
– Sleepy Hollow from Mount Pleasant and Tarrytown from
Greenburgh – as another way to save money. "If the idea is to save money, why have two levels of government?" he asked. The town of Mount Pleasant blocked Sleepy Hollow's effort to secede, largely because it did not want to lose tax revenue from
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
, Zegarelli said.
In 2014, Tarrytown was ranked second in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York, according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto.
Geography and climate
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (47.54%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 11,090 people, 4,533 households, and 2,765 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 4,688 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 77.44%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 7.04%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.22%
Native American, 6.49%
Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 5.29% from
other races, and 3.47% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 16.17% of the population.
There were 4,533 households, out of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.0% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.95. In the village, the population was spread out, with 19.7% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 34.8% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.8 males. The median income for a household in the village was $68,762, and the median income for a family was $82,445. Males had a median income of $61,699 versus $41,054 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the village was $39,472. About 1.8% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.
Transportation

Tarrytown has access to highways
I-87 and
I-287, and is the site of the eastern end of the
New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...
's
Tappan Zee Bridge. I-87 continues south to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, while I-287 heads east across Westchester to link up with the
Saw Mill River Parkway
The Saw Mill River Parkway (also known as the Saw Mill Parkway or the Saw Mill) is a limited-access road, limited-access Parkways in New York, parkway that extends for through Westchester County, New York, in the United States. It begins at the ...
, the
Sprain Brook Parkway, the
Merritt Parkway
The Merritt Parkway (also known locally as "The Merritt") is a controlled-access parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with a small section at the northern end in New Haven County. Designed for Connecticut's Gold Coast, the parkway is k ...
/
Hutchinson River Parkway
The Hutchinson River Parkway (known colloquially as the Hutch) is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkway in southern New York (state), New York in the United States. It extends for from the Bruckner Interc ...
and
I-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...
.
Tarrytown
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on th ...
railway station is served by
Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...
commuter service. Metro-North trains go to New York City's
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...
, and also go as far north as
Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...
. Tarrytown is a major stop on the
Hudson Line due to a large number of commuters crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge on
Hudson Link buses from
Rockland County
Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population is 338,329, making it the state's ...
to catch express service to
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
.
Bee-Line Bus System
The Westchester County Bee-Line System, branded on the buses in lowercase as ''the bee-line system'', is a bus system serving Westchester County, New York. The system is owned by the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation.
Histor ...
service is also provided within Tarrytown:
*
BL1T:
Tarrytown Railroad Station,
Getty Square
Getty Square is the name for downtown Yonkers, New York, Yonkers, New York (state), New York, centered on the town square, public square. Getty Square is the civic center, central business district, and Intermodal passenger transport, transit ...
intermodal transit hub in
Yonkers
Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...
, or
IRT 242nd Street Station, Bronx
*
BL1W: White Plains,
Getty Square
Getty Square is the name for downtown Yonkers, New York, Yonkers, New York (state), New York, centered on the town square, public square. Getty Square is the civic center, central business district, and Intermodal passenger transport, transit ...
intermodal transit hub in
Yonkers
Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...
, or
IRT 242nd Street Station, Bronx (via
NY 119)
*
BL13/BL13B: Ossining Railroad Station or
Port Chester
Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populati ...
Points of interest

*
Lyndhurst, a Gothic Revival mansion formerly owned by
Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...
*
Sunnyside, historic home of author
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...
*
Tarrytown Music Hall, one of the oldest surviving theaters in Westchester County; one of 6% in the US built before 1900
* Tappan Z Gallery Contemporary and Fine Art Gallery in the heart of Main Street
*
Marymount campus of Fordham University
*
Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns
*
Foster Memorial AME Zion Church
*
Hackley School
* Historical Society Serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown
*
Carrollcliffe
*
Tarrytown Reservoir
*
Tarrytown Lighthouse
*
Washington Irving High School
Education
Tarrytown was home to
Marymount College, an independent
women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...
established in 1907. Amid financial struggle, Marymount was taken over by
Fordham University
Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...
in 2002, but the effort was unsuccessful: the last graduates of "Marymount College of Fordham University" received diplomas in 2007. The historic hilltop campus was sold to the Swiss firm
EF and became a branch of its foreign exchange secondary school, the
EF International Academy.

Tarrytown is divided between two
school districts
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary or secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school district and is used to assign stud ...
:
Union Free School District of the Tarrytowns and
Irvington Union Free School District. The former school district also includes most of
Sleepy Hollow. The Tarrytown school district supervises four separate
K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to:
* K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas
* K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight
* K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...
s, as well as
Sleepy Hollow High School. A Roman Catholic elementary, the Transfiguration School (of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the count ...
), was established in 1949 and is maintained by the local parish.
Tarrytown is also home to the
Hackley School, a private
K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported sch ...
college preparatory
A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily design ...
. Situated on Castle Ridge, the school first opened in 1899.
The
Westchester Library System has its headquarters just outside Tarrytown in an
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
of
Greenburgh.
Culture
In 2018 Brooke Lea Foster of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' stated that it was one of several "Rivertowns" in New York State, which she described as among the "least suburban of suburbs, each one celebrated by buyers there for its culture and hip factor, as much as the housing stock and sophisticated post-city life."
Of those, Foster stated that Irvington was "the most charming".
[
]
Religion
Tarrytown's churches (many of which are located on Broadway, the village's largest thoroughfare) cover all major denominations. Tarrytown is served by Episcopalian, Baptist, Catholic, Christian Science, Methodist, Reformed, and Korean churches. The Foster Memorial AME Zion Church on Wildey Street is the oldest black church
The Black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are led by, African Americans, ...
in Westchester County. Tarrytown's single largest religious denomination is Roman Catholicism, with over 60% of residents of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow identifying as Catholics. Three Roman Catholic churches (Church of the Transfiguration, Immaculate Conception Church, and St. Theresa's) serve the community's Catholics and provide numerous social services including the Transfiguration School. Tarrytown is also the home of the motherhouse of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, a Catholic woman's religious order that founded and staffed the now-defunct Marymount College (now EF School).
Tarrytown also has a large Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
community, which encompasses all major denominations. Temple Beth Abraham, located on Leroy Avenue, services both the Reform and Conservative communities. The DoubleTree Inn features a Glatt Kosher kitchen, as well as an Orthodox prayer service (minyan) on the Jewish sabbath (Shabbat). The local Jewish Community Center, JCC on the Hudson, features family programs, camps, and educational opportunities from a non-denominational approach.
Notable people
Notable current and former residents of Tarrytown include:
* Louis Klopsch, world famous Christian philanthropist and editor of the Christian Herald, buried in the Tarrytown Cemetery
* Jacob M. Appel
Jacob M. Appel (born February 21, 1973) is an American polymath, author, bioethicist, physician, lawyer, and social critic.Nagamatsu, Sequoia "A Few Words with the Ubiquitous Jacob M. Appel" ''Prince Mincer'' Journal http://primemincer.com/ con ...
, author
* Adam Badeau, Union Army brevet brigadier general and author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
* Jaswant Basuta (born 1942), Pan Am Flight 103 survivor; lived in Tarrytown at the time of the incident but failed to board the flight.
* J. David Bleich (born 1936), rabbi and authority on Jewish law and ethics
* Tim Maia
Sebastião "Tim" Rodrigues Maia (; 28 September 1942 – 15 March 1998) was a Brazilian musician, songwriter, and businessman known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and humorous musical style. Maia contributed to Brazilian music withi ...
, Brazilian singer, a.k.a. "Jimmy the Brazilian", lived in Tarrytown for a time during the late 1950s and early 1960s (1959–1963) before being arrested in Miami and deported back to his South American home country after a stint of six months in jail.
* Cabell "Cab" Calloway, III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994), jazz singer and bandleader
* Greg Fitzsimmons, comedian
* Stuart W. Frost, entomologist, author, and professor at Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
* Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen Actor, actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost 5 decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in th ...
, actress in ''Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
''
* Eric Gaffney
Eric Gaffney (born December 25, 1967, in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American songwriter and recording artist, and has been home recording on cassette since 1981. An active participant in the Western Mass hardcore scene, in 1983 he founded ...
, former band member of Sebadoh
Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...
* Charles Griffes
Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and Vocal music, voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German st ...
, composer and educator
* Milo Hastings
Milo Milton Hastings (June 28, 1884 – February 25, 1957) was an American inventor, author, and nutritionist. He invented the forced-draft chicken incubator and Weeniwinks, a health-food snack. He wrote about chickens, science fiction, and h ...
, early 20th century science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
writer and health food advocate
* Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...
, writer and diplomat
* Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner, October 28, 1949), formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete.
Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yell ...
, Olympian athlete
* Bill Kerr
William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World W ...
, professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player
* Moon Kook-jin, founder of Kahr Arms
* Carolyn Ringer Lepre, academic administrator
* Kevin Meaney, stand-up comedian and actor
* Norman Mingo
Norman Theodore Mingo (January 25, 1896May 8, 1980) was an American commercial artist and illustrator. He is most famous for being commissioned to formalize the image of Alfred E. Neuman for '' Mad.''Lambiek Comiclopedia, https://www.lambiek.net ...
, illustrator
* Sylvia Nasar
Sylvia Nasar (born 17 August 1947) is an American journalist. She is best known for her biographical book of John Forbes Nash Jr., '' A Beautiful Mind'', for which she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. Nasar is Knight Pro ...
, author recognized for '' A Beautiful Mind''
* Florence Oberle, actress
* Moses F. Odell, congressman
* Clara Claiborne Park (1923–2010), author who raised awareness of autism
* Brett Pesce, professional hockey player for the New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...
* William Prince, actor
* Joe Queenan, writer
* Jenifer Rajkumar, politician
* David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...
, musician
* Jerome David Salinger, writer
* Jesse Lee Soffer, actor
* Sam Tanenhaus
Sam Tanenhaus (born October 31, 1955) is an American historian, biographer, and journalist. He currently is a writer for '' Prospect''.
Early years
Tanenhaus received his B.A. in English from Grinnell College in 1977 and a M.A. in English Liter ...
, American historian, biographer, editor of ''The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' and ''Week in Review'', and journalist
* Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
, writer
* Mark Whipple, football coach
* Vanessa L. Williams, actress
* Rockwell Kent
Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager.
Biography
Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English American, English descent. ...
, artist, illustrator
* Happy Rockefeller, former Second Lady of the United States
In popular culture
Films
*The 1962 release of '' The Brain That Wouldn't Die'' was shot in and around Tarrytown in 1959
* In the movie ''On the Waterfront
''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning and Eva Marie Saint in her film de ...
'', Edie mentions that St. Ann's, the Catholic college where she is studying to be a teacher, is in Tarrytown, out in the country.
*Main character in the movie '' The Commuter'' (2018) lives in Tarrytown.
*The 2000 festive movie The Family Man was filmed in and around Tarrytown.
Music
* The Frankie Valli song "Patch of Blue" (1970) references the town.
* The Vampire Weekend song "Finger Back" (2013) references the town.
Literature
* Washington Irving's story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in and around Tarrytown. The name "Sleepy Hollow" comes from a secluded glen located north of Tarrytown. In 1996, the residents of North Tarrytown (a village north of Tarrytown around the area of Sleepy Hollow) voted to formally change the village's name to Sleepy Hollow.
** Jessica Verday's young adult novel ''The Hollow'' is a modern interpretation of the events of Irving's story, and is likewise set in the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow area.
* The Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City ...
novel '' The Dragon's Teeth'' is set primarily in Tarrytown.
* Gabrielle Zevin's young adult novel ''Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac'' is set primarily in the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow area.
* Judy Blume
Judith Blume (née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult, and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 26 novels. Among her best-known works are '' Are You There God? It's ...
's children's novel '' Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'' is mostly set in Tarrytown, where the title character and her family spend their summer vacation.
* In F. Scott Fitzgerald's '' The Beautiful and Damned'', millionaire Adam Patch's estate is said to be in Tarrytown.
Television
* In the TV series ''Divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
'', Frances Dufresne lives in nearby Hastings and opens an art gallery on Main Street in Tarrytown.
* In the TV series ''Forever
Forever or 4ever may refer to:
Film and television Films
* ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice
* ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume
* '' ...
'', episode 21 takes place in Tarrytown.
* In the TV series ''Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...
'', Betty Draper plans to take her children on an antiquing trip to Tarrytown (Season 3, Episode 2), and her and Don's third child, Eugene Scott Draper, is born here.
*In 1970s sitcom ''Rhoda
''Rhoda'' is an American sitcom television series created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974 to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The ...
,'' Marion, the ex-wife of Rhoda's husband Joe, lives in Tarrytown.
* In season 3 episode 25 (''Sons and Lovers, Part 2'') of the TV series "Will & Grace
''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a Gay men, gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra ...
", Karen Walker says that she can imagine her friend Grace Adler living in Tarrytown.
* The children's TV series '' Jay Jay the Jet Plane'' centered on aircraft that live in Tarrytown.
Theater
* ''The Tarrytown Widow'', farcical comedy written by Charles T. Dazey, 1897.
* ''Tarrytown,'' a chamber musical by Adam Wachter which premiered in 2017.
Video games
* In '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'', Tarrey Town and its founder Hudson are named after Tarrytown and the nearby Hudson River.
* Tarrytown is going to be included as a playable location in the upcoming '' Penny Blood'' video game (spiritual successor of the '' Shadow Hearts'' series of games, a franchise well known for its usage of places which exist, or existed before, in real life).
References
External links
Village of Tarrytown official website
The Hudson Independent
local newspaper
''Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch''
local news website
{{Authority control
Villages in New York (state)
New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River
Villages in Westchester County, New York
Washington Irving
Populated places established in 1870
1870 establishments in New York (state)