today Picture of the day from NASA Earth Observatory features the legendary region of Sleepy Hollow, a rocky landscape with forests and streams east of the Hudson River.

In 1978, when famous American writer Washington Irving was 15, he was sent to a family friend’s house in the Lower Hudson Valley to prevent an outbreak of yellow fever in New York City.

Irving stayed in Tarrytown about 25 miles north of Manhattan on the east side of the river. According to NASA, Irving was excited to explore the lush, rocky landscapes north of Tarrytown, especially an area later named Sleepy Hollow, where he eventually settled.

Irving was finally buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1859, and the town celebrates its literary history with a festival each year.

“The place still continues under the grip of a witchcraft power, which captivates the minds of good people, making them walk in continual reverie,” Irving wrote in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

“The whole neighborhood is full of local stories, haunted places and twilight superstitions; stars shoot out and meteors shine more often in the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with all its nine times, seems to make it the favorite scene of its frolics.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

––

Through Chrissy sexton, Terre.com Editor-in-chief