View No. 8: Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse

Watercolor on Linen / 14“ X 20”

On day three, Hudson would have likely seen a Native American village at today’s Sleepy Hollow (where a harbor existed at the time). Being very shallow at low tide, the Dutch would call it Slappers Haben or sleeping harbor. It was the terminus of the Pocantico River, a tributary. In 1840 a railroad was built across the middle of the harbor, and a lighthouse was added in 1865.

 In the early 1900s most of the remaining harbor was landfilled for the new General Motors plant, where Louis Chevrolet had earlier built his cars. It was closed and torn down in 1996, and a new development has been built there now. In the distance stands the new four billion-dollar Mario Cuomo Bridge, which was opened in 2017.  With its 420-foot-high chamfered towers, it is likely destined to become a new Hudson River landmark.