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Home , Arthur Rackham, Rip Van Winkle, Rip Van Winkle Bridge

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delight would he decades three over For Rip. as role. famous Wyeth. N.C. and Rackham Arthur Jefferson, Joseph

known the of spirit fey the by And fever. most his in Jefferson Joseph of Rogers’ Rogers, John Melville, Herman are them among

mountain by touched been had too, Jefferson, of last the was today, rarest the Returned, Winkle notable most the Rip; of figure the with fascinated

this?” than more for ask actor poor a of purse Van Rip gnome. pestering a as Seymour, William were whom of all illustrators, and artists authors, can

and heart light the could What cheap. was board the company. Jefferson’s of member young a and Rip as - Ameri notable other many of case the in so Not

and fresh, was air the wild, was scene The lived. ever Jefferson Joseph depicts Mountain the on Winkle imaginations. our to time by left been has itself age

have they there only and there it; upon born were soil Van Rip followed. sculptures Rip other Two - im The today. it of remains that all is Cole Thomas

the till who families their and Dutchmen old few $12. Price, Home. at Winkle Van founder School River Hudson and artist fellow of

the and valley, the through scattered are farms Stray Rip sculptures, popular most his of one become notebook the in entry single

rocks. over tumble and meadows the through wind eventually would what create to inspired himself A time. to lost been far thus

trout-streams numerous and vale, the surrounds was Rogers Winkle, Van Rip Jefferson’s Joseph has painting Durand’s

hemlocks tall with covered hills of ridge A vania. of performance a attended having after 1869, of legend, mythic Irving’s

- summer the in that wonder no it’s So literature. Pennsyl in Mountain Pocono of foot the at Valley, Unlike Haggerty.

from inspiration their drew sculptures Rogers’ Paradise in farmhouse Dutch old queer a at family Ogden patron his for

People,” Common the of Artist “the Dubbed Rip. my with board to arranged had “I 1859. of summer Mountains Catskill

of figure the in inspiration found America, in the in Jefferson to came Rip acting of idea The the in Hudson, rick

mantelpieces ordinary of thousands adorned ations gone. dog his and rusted piece fowling - Hed of Crew the

- cre prized whose Rogers, John sculptor poem, his find to later years twenty gray-bearded, awaken, to Introduction Winkle’s

Melville’s than earlier years twenty Almost to only mountains, Fythauser the in asleep falls who Van Rip entitled painting a on worked School, River

us? tell to trying is Rip Klaus, Peter goat-herder, a about folktale German

Hudson the of artist an Durand, Asher 1838, In —

through Irving what that Is transforms: Art known little a story” “American his for source major

ago? centuries two almost —

area. the visiting while hamlet the in inns and the as used had Irving that mind Never houses. appearance first his since Rip envisioned have

homes country at stayed whom of some School, packed to years thirty over for it performed having writers and artists other way the this is But

River Hudson the of painters leading other and after masterpiece Irving’s described he how was question. the on silent remains himself Irving .

Cole Thomas of haunt favorite a and colonies author” American an by story American “An murky long, his during dreamed Rip that derness

art earliest America’s of one of seat the was ville stage. the on night - wil American the of disappearance the and buffalo

Statue by John Rogers John by Statue - each repeated it heard Palen Interestingly, lifetime. his in denied nor the of extinction the Horn, Big Little of intimations

he as name the of sound conformed neither Irving that fact a hometown, of was it Perhaps premonitions. dark and promise

the in magic was there fictional Dutchman’s sleepy the as remembered bright of world new a to death, convenient a died

Jefferson Joseph actor still is NY County, Greene Palenville, Rip,” ing has told we’re whom Winkle, Mrs. minus however,

- To Winkle!” Van “poor-good-for-noth to thanks Today, awakens, He story. humorous Irving’s in Winkle

Rip Winkle! Van “Rip embowered.” Paradise Van Dame for doubles who Europe, by henpecked

1891. in career his of end first that “Like blossoms that enchantment and sleep to goes Rip America, of symbol a As

the until stock Rogers’ beauty a with hometown his endows finally that hearts. our in and

in remained three All ago, long planted himself Rip told we’re which imaginations our in alive, him keep to best their

individually. chased lilac, the of appearance the it’s for poem, his in done have illustrators and artists, writers, finest

- pur be also could celebrates Melville that Rip in artist the It’s America’s of many because That’s man. than myth

they set, a as Offered Lilac.” Winkle’s Van “Rip entitled essay-cum-poem more is Dutchman sleepy the that learn to prised

each. $12 at retailed prose curious a them among Wildings,” and “Weeds - sur still are some today even that 1821 in Irving

sculptures poems, of collection thematic loosely a together put Washington by creation his since literature and art

two these first, the with Dick, Moby of author Melville, Herman letters, in Rip is alive So America. 1860s in many stunned

As wonderment. in dazed century nineteenth of genius unsung embittered, have would it but you shock not may fact This

Rip, harried a depicts It an as death his before year a just 1890, In Winkle. Van Rip as person such no is There

American Rackham, the artist, knows what Rip, the child- audiences artist, does not know; that there’s sometimes a high with his price to pay for a spirited imagination. In the end, kindly it could be said that , this most rendition of American of books, helped popularize Rackham’s the dreamy career in America. Dutchman. N.C. Wyeth’s Rip Van Winkle, on the other Two hand, is a more kindly figure that Rackham’s. American True, his eyes reveal that he has gone through an artist- unexplained transformation but the shadows in illustra- Weyth’s of the older Rip belong to the tors who’ve dusty corners of time and not the cluttered attic done their of the mind. Published by David McKay in 1921, fair share the book contained 11 to keep handsome illustrations. Rip’s image Wyeth, who rarely 1871 Jr., Eytinge, S. by drawing a of Engraving - Winkle Van Rip alive in the worked in pen and twentieth Drawing by , 1905 ink, nonethe- century are Arthur Rackham and N.C. Wyeth. less employed In 1905, Rackham illustrated Irving’s tale the pen in his for William Heinemann, London; the American drawings for Rip. edition was released the same year by Doubleday, Wyeth’s son, Page & Co. of . The year before, British Andrew, found “great gallery owners Ernest Brown and Phillips pur- quality” in those pencil draw- chased 50 color illustrations of Rip Van Winkle, ings but, according to the son, himself an accom- which they had commissioned from the artist for plished artist, the father did not. The elder Wyeth’s 300 guineas. The originals were exhibited in their self-criticism notwithstanding, this American clas- Leicester Galleries in March 1905 and by year’s sic as illustrated by him is still a collector’s treasure. end they had all been sold. Will America’s marathon sleeper survive the There was a decidedly German feeling behind twenty-first century? Rackham’s Rip, an evocation that critics did not let Only time will tell. go unnoticed in their comparisons of the British illustrator’s work with that of Durer. Rackham’s portrayal of Rip was different from that of Rip Van Winkle Rogers or Jefferson, who had seen in Irving’s character much sweetness and light. In contrast, the gnarled hands of Rackham’s Rip cast ominous shadows on the wall as he recounts the story of his long sleep to a few of the neighborhood children. History Trail These shadows, which convey anguish and pain or the threat of it, can be said to represent the darker Map with Points of Interest side of Rackham’s—and, by implication, Irving’s— imagination, rooted as they are in childhood. Courtesy of the ’s home in Sunnyside, NY Washington Irving Inn, Hunter, NY 4 5 Rip Van Winkle History Trail “A people need a past in order to have a direction in which to travel.” The Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Rip fell asleep once again. Catskills once echoed the name of Rip Van Winkle throughout its verdant That is, until now. The time is right for Washington Irving, creator of Rip Van hills. Fifty years ago visitors to this region were regaled with many incarna- Winkle and other important AmericanN tales, to take his place as the preemi- tions of Rip and his legend: Rip’s Rock, Rip’s Retreat, Rip Van Winkle Bazaar, nent author of the Catskill High Peaks. This trail is an effort to do just that Rip’s Garage; wherever you looked, there was Rip. A Rip here, a Rip there, as well as to preserve the past and to remind today’s traveler of the travels and Rip predominated everywhere. Following the heyday of the American Tourist travelers of yesteryear.

3. The Bronck Museum The Bronck Museum is an excellent way to experience 7. Washington Irving Inn firsthand the early Dutch influence in Greene County. Named after distinguished It is from these early colonists that Washington Irving American author Washington concocted the legend of Rip Van Winkle. The Museum Irving, this century-old inn is is located on Route 9W, Coxsackie, NY and is open from part of the tradition and charm May 30 to October 31. Call 518-731-6490. of the American Tourist Move- ment, which originated in the 2. The 19th century in Catskill High The Rip Van Peaks. Sophisticated travel- Winkle Bridge ers can escape everyday life at was designed this Historic Inn, © 1890, in under the

705,500 acre Catskill State Park auspices of

. R

and see spectacular Fall foliage in Grand Gorge the New n

the heart of the “Catskill High o York State public works using Prattsville Coxsackie s d Peaks,” America’s First Wilderness. u $3.4 million in loans from H Minutes from world-class skiing the Reconstruction at Hunter & Windham Mountains. Finance Corporation, CatskillsHunter a Depression-era 518-589-5560, Rte. 23A, Hunter, NY Rip Van Winkle Bridge Tannersville Catskill agency. The fin- www.washingtonirving.com Lexington Haines Falls ished bridge, named Palenville after one of Washington

Germantown Irving’s most famous characters, 5. Rip’s Rock 6. Tannersville Rip Van Winkle, measures 5,040 feet long. In 1935, bridge workers installed a According to legend, it is The Painted Village — Mark Twain could be spotted two-lane roadway and completed con- here that Rip Van Winkle taking a stroll along Main Street at the height of the struction of a Dutch-colonial-style laid down to his solemn, Victorian era. What was he doing here? Perhaps toll plaza and administration, two score undisturbed visiting one of his many friends such as Candace Annandale-on-Hudson topped off with stepped gable sleep, but not before Wheeler or Mary Mapes Dodge who had homes in roof reminiscent of Washington making merry with the nearby Onteora Park. Although it is almost certain Irving’s home, Sunnyside. The Rip ghost of that Twain did no writing while he was here, one Van Winkle Bridge opened officially to and his band of misshapen of his most famous quips, “The walls were so thin Rhinebeck traffic on July 2, 1935,at a cost of $2.4 mil- little men. To find out more you could hear them thinking in the other room,” lion taxpayer dollars and three human lives. about Rip’s Rock and other was offered by the famous humorist as a descrip- Rip related sites, visit the Mountain Top Historical tion of the Bear & Fox Inn at Onteora Park, which 4. Palenville: Village of Society’s Visitors Center in Haines Falls. For more was across from the home in which he stayed and Falling Waters information, contact MTHS at www.mths.org. was a place where he and his family often ate. Hyde Park The Home of Rip Van Winkle! This small 9. Van Winkle’s Restaurant at 10. The Early Tanners: rural village lies along State Route 23A at the KaatskillMountain Club Hunter Village Square the base of . Although others have claimed the distinction, this is This upscale bistro named after Washington Irving’s You may be surprised the only possible village from which Rip most famous character, Van Winkle’s Restaurant to learn that the moun- could have made his ascension into the Poughkeepsie offers wall-to-wall poster-size images of Rip and other tain known as Colonel’s woods, emerging two decades later shorn Catskills’ memorbilia throughout. The restaurant is Chair, that is part of of the past but sporting a flowing white located in the foothills of Hunter Mountain, home Hunter Mountain Ski beard. As a young hiker, Rip bounded up the to world class skiing. Van Winkle’s Restaurant is Bowl, is the very same mountain on which mountains as a spry subject of King George. located off Route 23A in Hunter Village. Colonel William Edwards, one of the region’s Tottering down High Peak as an old man, he earliest tanners, slew thousands of mighty . found himself to be under the rule of a differ- R 8. Rip’s Rock (again) hemlock trees. Although many modern- n ent George: Revolutionary war hero George o day visitors lament the loss of the Catskill s In early spring 1995, a single 8 ton solid block of d Washington. Unbeknownst to Rip, he had u bluestone escaped the crusher and found its way to High Peaks’ first growth forest, they rarely H slept through the entire War for Independence the top of Hunter Mountain—located off Route 23A stop to think that this action resulted in a in Greene County. For tourism information, in the Village of Hunter—to begin its twenty year second-growth forest of mixed variety that contact Greene County Department of Tourism, journey (the same amount of time it took Rip Van today is one of the area’s fastest growing tour- www.discovergreene.com. Winkle to wake from his deep sleep) to free the life- ist attractions: Fall Foliage. Colonel Edwards’ sized figure of none other than Rip himself from the home is no longer standing, but in its place 1. Sunnyside mountain’s native stone. The idea for the sculpture Hudsonis the fashionable Hunter Village Square, Perched proudly was the Hunter Mountain’s own David Slutzky. The headquarters of the Catskill Mountain on the banks of sculptor is noted Catskills High Peak artist Kevin Foundation, the premier cultural and the VanHentenryck. The sculpture, now 10 years in the arts center for the Catskill High Peaks. in Tarrytown, making, has proceeded each summer season as part of Visit www.catskillmtn.org to learn more. NY, Sunnyside the summer festival program at Hunter Mountain. Peekskill is the creation of 11. The Early Tanners: Valley Zadock American author 12. Hardenburgh House Pratt & Pratt Museum Washington Irving. Irving purchased the two- The Hardenburgh House Although most room Dutch farmhouse in 1835 for $1,800. was built in 1806 on 1.5 of us have for- Over the next decade and a half, the writer million acres given to gotten Colonel with help from his artist friend, George Johannes Hardenburgh by Edwards and his Ossining Harvey, redesigned and added to Queen Anne in 1708. This wanton destruc- the original early 18th century early stone dwelling was tion of the first structure. Together, the two men listed on the National and growth forest of the Catskill High Peaks, many of Sleepy Hollow designed Sunnyside in what is State Registers in 1994. us recall with fondness another Greene County tan- now known as the American Ro-

Located on Route 23 in ner, the Honorable Zadock Pratt, who is also one of the Tarrytown mantic style. Particular interest the Town of Roxbury, County’s Favorite Sons. Pratt was more than a tanner: he was paid by Irving to adding histori- Delaware County, on the outskirts of Prattsville, was what Emerson called a “Representative Man,” helping to cal architectural elements such as a Greene County, this unusual example of Dutch pave the way from Catskill Landing to the mountainous region steeped-gable roof and weathervanes, architecture in the Catskill High Peaks is said to of the Catskill High Peaks in search of a direct trade route for his reminiscent of the Dutch homes that be haunted by the ghost of a freed slave who once tanned hides from the Prattsville Tannery, the largest tannery in the Irving had seen as a child growing up in belonged to land owner Johannes Hardenburgh. world, to the lordly Hudson and beyond. Visit the Pratt Museum on . Call 914-631-8200. Rte. 23A in Prattsville. © Stefania Jozic, 2006