A New Mausoleum

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has begun construction of a community mausoleum that will accommodate 1100 burials and 300 cremations when complete in the Fall of 2007.

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Mausoleum Rendering

The exterior will be of gray granite with an arched gallery reflecting the entrance to the cemetery’s present office. Inside will be a chapel with marble accents, the roof will be of slate.

The development of this new mausoleum coincides with a trend toward above ground burials, as suburban and urban cemeteries nationwide become hemmed in by land development. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery faces the prospect that sometime in the future it will run out of space for traditional in-ground burials. Unable to expand outward (it is bordered by Route 9, the Old Croton Aqueduct, and the Village of Sleepy Hollow’s Douglas Park) the cemetery’s only viable direction is up.

A similar circumstance led to the founding of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1849. A group of local residents, concerned that the burying ground around the Old Dutch Church was running short of space, proposed a new, nondenominational cemetery that would serve the entire community. In the eyes of Washington Irving, the cemetery’s founders blundered when they named the new cemetery “Tarrytown” instead of “Sleepy Hollow.” Despite the name, Irving bought a plot. He was followed by nearly 45,000 others, including luminaries like Walter Chrysler, Andrew Carnegie, and Elizabeth Arden. The cemetery posthumously honored Irving’s request and changed the name.

Pricing for the new mausoleum has not been set, however the cemetery office is compiling a waiting list. Call during office hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Visiting hours for the cemetery grounds are Monday-Friday, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

540 North Broadway

Sleepy Hollow • 914-631-0081 www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org

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About the Author: Jim Logan