Rip Van Winkle Hotel

1902. "Rip Van Winkle Hotel, Sleepy Hollow, Catskill Mountains, New York."

The shanty on the left is the original house from 1826. The boarding house on the right was built in 1867. The place has a fascinating history...

"I built the three-story boarding house in 1867 for a farmer who owned the site and had an impression that he might make a summer resort of the reputed spot where Rip took his famous nap...
"A stop was made for "rest" at the Rip Van Winkle Boarding House. Tourists were shown the immense barroom, opening upon the porch of the boarding house, with its famous awning extending across the creek. To sit beneath it for ten minutes brought a chill, no matter how hot the day,---owing to the current of icy air that swept down from the cool, deep ravine of Sleepy Hollow gashed into the mountain overhead. When the tourist began to shiver from this chilliness the bar-tender brought forth a fresh version of the oft-told story of horses that caught cold while their drivers drank. The horses then had to be unhitched and led to the stables, where they could be warmed and their joints limbered; the afternoon quickly sped on, while the drivers drank; nightfall made impossible any further progress up the awful road; and, far into the night the drivers drank on,---telling and enlarging upon the many version of Old Rip and his Dwarfs and their kegs of musty old ale. Little wonder that no one rembered the truth!" [3, H. A. Haring, Our Catksill Mountains, G. P. Putnam, New York, 1931.]

The buildings burned down in 1918. For pictures of how the area looks now (beautiful!), see this photo album.

In any case, be sure to click and enlarge the photo to fullscreen size and explore it and wonder whether you would have wanted to go to sleep in the Rip Van Winkle Hotel...