Irving's Legend at Washington Irving's Sunnyside

a y

4 weeks ago

A Step Back in Time! Visiting Washington Irving’s Sunnyside was a total highlight! The cottage and grounds along the Hudson River are breathtaking, but our tour guide truly made the experience unforgettable. Dressed in a fantastic period costume, our guide was exceptionally friendly, warm, and brought the history to life with incredible knowledge and enthusiasm. They seamlessly wove together stories of Irving's life, his eccentric home, and classic tales like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. If you are visiting the Hudson Valley, Sunnyside is an absolute must-see. Highly recommended!

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WHS Executive Director

8 months ago

We took a guided tour of Sunnyside on 12/12/2025 and absolutely loved it. The tour was charming, thorough, and really informative—I came away learning so much more about Washington Irving and his life than I expected. The house itself is beautifully maintained, and the Christmas decorations made it feel especially cozy. I’m sure Sunnyside is wonderful during the busy fall season, but seeing it dressed for the holidays felt particularly special. Our tour guide was outstanding—extremely knowledgeable and professional. We had a very chatty group with lots of questions, and she handled everything with ease, keeping the tour engaging and enjoyable the whole time. We had a great time and would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the area.

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Cathleen Sweeney

3 months ago

We had a great tour led by tour guide Adrienne on Memorial Day! They have a very clean visitor center with everything you need - bathrooms, drinks, snacks and gifts. Our tour lasted about 30 minutes and went over the property, home and covered a history of Irving and the other members of this household. It was amazing to see so many items (beds, writing desks, candlesticks, bathtub, stove and a washing machine, to name a few) that were dated back to Irving’s time. You have to check out the original artwork of young Washington Irving meeting George and Martha Washington in Irving’s upstairs bedroom! Take some time to enjoy the property outside the home - we saw deer, fish, squirrels, birds and even a snake! Only 7 people can fit on a tour so I’d recommend buying tickets in advance if you plan on visiting on a weekend.

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K Lap

10 months ago

Recently, we went to Washington Irving’s Sunnyside to watch a magnificent telling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow as told by master storyteller, Jonathan Kruk. We purchased our tickets in advance of the show. When we arrived, the young man at the entrance to the parking lot complimented my car and was able to direct me to a nice, safe (from door dingers) parking spot, so I am very grateful. If you can see this show in October, I highly recommend you go! The whole area is very festive. I was there well ahead of Halloween. I can only imagine how crazy the area is at this point in time, as I am posting this review on October 30th... They had a little gift shop that had some great items for sale. FYI, there is no ography of any kind allowed. This includes photography, video-ography, and any other ography you can think of… However, what was cool was, at the end when they said people can take pictures of the headless Horseman. Before that, it was pretty great, not having people pulling out their phones like some sort of… We were living in the moment, which was really nice. Loved the show and very happy with our decision to go here. I think that Jonathan Kruk was born to deliver, in his own special way, Washington Irving’s, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow… Bravo! Since our time was limited, we only attended the show and checked out the gift shop. It was a cold night when we were there, but they did have hot chocolate available for purchase at a reasonable price.

Review from Google

Matt Craig

2 months ago

It was a very pleasant afternoon with tour guide Andrew. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. The cottage is small but harbors a lot of history+

Review from Google