Headless Horseman Bridge

We often get requests for directions to the bridge from Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Unfortunately, the bridge where Ichabod was unseated by a pumpkin is the most popular destination in Sleepy Hollow that doesn’t exist—at least, not in its original form and original location. Whatever simple wooden span crossed the Pocantico River in the late 1700’s has long since rotted away. In fact, Sleepy Hollow village historian Henry Steiner has documented at least five distinct bridges that carried the Albany Post Road over the stream. Scarcely a trace remains of any except the most recent, the 4-lane concrete and steel U.S. Route 9 (the modern successor to the colonial-era Albany Post Road) bridge constructed by William Rockefeller in 1912.