There is scarcely a building or place more replete with interest in America, than the cottage of Washington Irving, near Tarrytown (Fig. 59). The "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," so delightfully told in the Sketch-Book, has made every one acquainted with this neighborhood, and especially with the site of the present building, there celebrated as the "Van Tassel House," one of the most secluded and delightful nooks on the banks of the Hudson. With characteristic taste, Mr. Irving has chosen this spot, the haunt of his early days, since rendered classic ground by his elegant pen, and made it his permanent residence. The house of "Baltus Van Tassel" has been altered and rebuilt in a quaint style, partaking somewhat of the English cottage mode, but retaining strongly marked symptoms of its Dutch origin. The quaint old weather-cocks and finials, the crow-stepped gables, and the hall paved with Dutch tiles, are among the ancient and venerable ornaments of the houses of the original settlers of Manhattan, now almost extinct among us. There is also a quiet keeping in the cottage and the grounds around it, that assists in making up the charm of the whole; the gently swelling slope reaching down to the water's edge, bordered by prettily wooded ravines through which a brook meanders pleasantly; and threaded by foot-paths ingeniously contrived, so as sometimes to afford secluded walks, and at others to allow fine vistas of the broad expanse of river scenery. The cottage itself is now charmingly covered with ivy and climbing roses, and embosomed in thickets of shrubbery.
