the attempt of the British in the Summer of 1777 to capture
the Hudson Valley and separate New England from her sisters might have
been as successful as it proved disastrous. Lord George Germain sent
Burgoyne peremptory instructions to proceed down the Hudson, and the
instructions to Howe to move north to meet him were equally
peremptory, but the latter were pigeonholed and forgotten for several
weeks, and when remembered it was too late. Washington had decoyed
Howe to Pennsylvania, and Burgoyne, lacking the expected support from
the south, was defeated by the farmers.

Pocantico, "a run between two hills," the Dutch called it Sleepy Haven
Kill, hence Sleepy Hollow. "Far in the foldings of the hills winds
this wizard stream," writes the grand sachem of all the wizards, who
wove the romance of the headless horseman and the luckless
schoolmaster so tightly about the spot that they are to-day part and
parcel of it. The bridge over which the scared pedagogue scurried was
some rods further up the stream than is the present crossing, for in
those days the Post Road ran along the north side of the church, and
the entrance was originally on that side of the building, while now it
is on the western end which faces the present road.

The name Frederick Philipse was originally written Vreedryk, or
Vrederyck, Felypsen, the former meaning "rich in peace," indicating,
we presume, the difference between his peaceful occupation of breaking
into the new wilderness and that of his ancestors in Bohemia who,
being persecuted for their religious opinions, fled to Holland, from
whence Frederick emigrated to New Amsterdam, some time before 1653,
becoming a successful merchant, and later a patroon. Sen, meaning son
in Dutch, Felypsen meant the son of Felyp, Frederick the son of
Philip. On the west bank of the Pocantico Philipse built his first
manorial residence, called Castle Philipse on account of its strength
and armament, it not only being loopholed for musketry, as was common
in those days, but was also defended by several small cannon. All
these evidences of the strenuous days of old have been covered by
unsightly clapboards, and the place as it stands now looks as though
it might have seen better days, but gives no hint of its former
important station. It is related that in 1756 a Virginia colonel named
Washington called here to pay his respects to the beautiful Mary
Philipse, but the lady saw nothing attractive in the tall, ungainly