— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
One of America’s top Halloween destinations is less than two hours away in the Hudson Valley.
Tarrytown, New York, has scenic, historic and artistic attractions, some built or preserved courtesy of the John D. Rockefeller fortune. The area is worth a trip anytime, particularly in the fall. More information is available from Historic Hudson Valley.
Just outside of town, Washington Irving’s Sunnyside estate is open to visitors. Irving wrote about country bumpkins in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” but he was a Manhattan-raised sophisticate who served as Ambassador to Spain.
His home is large but not as grand as some, such as nearby Lyndhurst, home of robber baron Jay Gould. Lyndhurst has been used in films including a Dark Shadows movie, and more recently in “The Gilded Age,” a television series set in the late 19th century.
When we toured Sunnyside, the visit was “free form” with guides in each room in period costume. Such tours are available on some Saturdays; otherwise, tours are guided. Figure on about 30 minutes.
Other spots include Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate, and the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. The small church has 10 famous stained-glass windows, nine designed by Marc Chagall and one by Henri Matisse.
The glass works were commissioned by the Rockefeller family. Matisse sent the design to the family shortly before his death. The work’s assembly was supervised by his daughter Marguerite.
Chagall contributed nine works to the museum, which is open to visitors. Admission costs $10.
Tarrytown has a lot of shops and restaurants, along with a stretch of the Hudson Valley RiverWalk, which is free. Parking is available on the street and at the Tarrytown train station.
The Hudson Valley RiverWalk offers a variety of views. Here is the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, still known to many as the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Just north of Tarrytown is little Sleepy Hollow. The town changed its name from North Tarrytown to Sleepy Hollow in 1996. There are several other Washington Irving sites, including a Headless Horseman statue and the Old Dutch Church, where Irving and family are interred.
For more information about sites in Westchester County, New York, see the Historic Hudson Valley site, above.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
Here’ a suggestion for an additional place to visit in this area: 10 miles north of Tarrytown, in Croton-on-the-Hudson, is the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, which runs Sept 13- Nov 17. “It features over 7,000 hand-carved, illuminated pumpkins set against the mysterious backdrop of Van Cortlandt Manor’s 18th-century buildings and riverside landscape. More than 1,000 volunteers help scoop, carve, and light the pumpkins and every single jack o’lantern is hand-carved on site by a team of professional artists.” Tickets are required in advance.
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