Carving Legends: Gravestones to Gourds in Sleepy Hollow

Join The Historical Society of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown for a special series of events exploring the legacy of carving in Sleepy Hollow. On Sept. 8 and 9, there will be a series of workshops on specialized gourd carving techniques with artist Jonas LG Karlsson. The Historical Society will also open its free fall exhibit that weekend – Carving Legends: Gravestones to Gourds in Sleepy Hollow – with historical rubbings and stories of the local people whose gravestones were carved by two local colonial master carvers: John Zuricher and Solomon Brewer. A key message of this exhibit will be preservation of these gravestones – take photos, not rubbings! – since these fragile examples of funerary art are being destroyed by human and environmental stressors. On November 4 and 5, there will be walking tours of the Old Dutch Church Burying Ground to see examples of Zuricher and Brewer’s work. Robert Neal Carpenter, master carver, will join these tours to explain historical carving techniques. Gravestones will include Ann Couenhoven who kept the local tavern visited by George Washington and whose stone is considered one of the finest in the Burying Ground, Catriena Van Tassel (and her Revolutionary War soldier husband Petrus) who inspired a name you may recognize from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and stones of some of the other 70+ Revolutionary War patriots. Join the workshop, come on the walking tour, and visit the free exhibit at The Historical Society (One Grove St., Tarrytown). https://www.thehistoricalsociety.net/carving-legends/.