Columbia County Historical Society
  • VISIT CCHS
    • Cultural Heritage Exhibit
    • VISIT >
      • Visit Us! >
        • Historic Properties
    • SIGN UP >
      • TOUR REGISTRATION
      • Group Tours
    • Dutch Farming Heritage Trail
    • ROAD TRIPS
  • LIBRARY
    • Resources | Archives
    • LIBRARY Reading Room
    • Local Historians & Historical Societies
  • EXHIBITIONS
    • PERMANENT COLLECTION
    • Cultural Heritage Exhibit
    • 100 Years of Collecting
    • New York Portraits
    • Daguerreotypes
    • HandMade Tools
    • Federal Style
    • Columbia County Schoolhouses
    • Caned Construction
    • Washington Irving & Ichabod Crane
    • Delft Ware
    • Floral Motif
    • Shaker Baskets
    • Electric Park
    • A Study of Style
    • Elegance & Strength
    • Fragments of the Past
    • Runway Style: Historic Fashion in Miniature
    • Supreme Sacrifice: WWI
    • Civil War Panorama: Columbia County
  • ABOUT
    • Contact
    • CAREERS
    • LOGO
    • History & Heritage Magazine >
      • ADVERTISE
    • WEDDINGS | EVENTS
  • GIVE
    • JOIN >
      • COMMITTEES
    • DONATE NOW
    • SPONSORSHIPS
    • GivingTuesday2021
    • PLANNED GIVING
    • Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse Rejuvenation
    • Day of History
    • VOLUNTEER
    • Business Supporters
    • JOIN OUR BOARD
  • EVENTS
    • First Columbians 2022 - Photos
    • Zoom Lectures - 2022
    • Headless Horseman visits Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse
  • SHOP
  • Research Request
  • Thank you
  • flipbook
 On ​Saturday June 17th we celebrated the dedication of a 'Legends & Lore' historical marker naming Ichabod Crane and Jesse Merwin, as part of New York State's "PATH THROUGH HISTORY program".
Ichabod Crane Historic Marker Dedication 
Dedication of a 'Legends & Lore' historical marker awarded by the New York Folklore Society & William G. Pomeroy Foundation and honoring Washington Irving's "Sleepy Hollow" character 'Ichabod Crane'—who was patterned after Jesse Merwin, the original Kinderhook Schoolteacher who taught at the earlier one-room log cabin school here—was presented to the site, accompanied by actor Robert Ian Mackenzie's public reading of an excerpt from Irving's short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a visit from the Headless Horseman, and screening of a short half-hour film adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by documentary filmmaker Jim Ormond. The recent film features a storyteller using Irving's authentic language from the 1820 story.

Washington Irving was a friend of President Martin Van Buren and boarded at the Van Ness home in Kinderhook for about eight weeks in 1809 after the death of his fiancée.  Schoolteacher, Jesse Merwin, was also a boarder at the Van Ness home, and the two twenty-something bachelors went fishing and otherwise socialized with the small colony of intellectuals in the otherwise agrarian community. The author wrote portions of A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty in Kinderhook, during which time he befriended Jesse Merwin. the Kinderhook schoolteacher.  After Irving moved on, he and Merwin  continued a writing correspondence for more than 30 years. Known as a "classic of American literature",  Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow's greatest character was conceived right here.
 
Each year, hundreds of fourth graders from all over Columbia County visit the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and discover firsthand how arithmetic and cursive handwriting were learned in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Originally located down the road from its present location, the Schoolhouse was the second school built on the original site, and was moved to the Luykas Van Alen House property after the local school district centralized during the 1970s, when the school was restored to its 1930s appearance.


The Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse opens seasonally--all summer and fall--along with the Luykas Van Alen House.  OPEN TUES/SAT/SUN: NOON-4PM
2589 State Route 9H
Kinderhook, NY 12106
Picture
Picture
CCHS serves residents of all eighteen towns and the City of Hudson. In addition to a research library and permanent collection of more than 15,000 objects, CCHS owns and maintains the Columbia County Historical Society Museum & Library and three additional historic properties: the National Historic Landmark Luykas Van Alen House (1737); James Vanderpoel ‘House of History’ (c.1820); and Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse (c.1850).
Columbia County Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) cultural education organization founded in 1916 and chartered by the NYS Department of Education Board of Regents to collect, preserve, interpret and present the history, heritage and culture of Columbia County, New York, for its residents and visitors. 
The Columbia County  Historical Society
is ​a private 501 (c )(3) nonprofit organization
Chartered by the  Board of Regents
State Education Department, The University of the State of New York

Copyright © 2022,  Columbia County Historical Society
PO Box 311, Five Albany Avenue,  Kinderhook, New York  12106
​ 518 758 9265   |  ops @ cchsny.org
The Columbia County Historical Society is supported in part by the County of Columbia, New York
with the support of Matt Murell, Chairman of the Board at the Columbia County Board of Supervisors.
Picture
Museum Association of New York
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture