In 1825, American landscape painter Thomas Cole moved to Catskill, and founded the Hudson River School.

Photo courtesy of Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company His sleepy story reflects the tranquil landscape of the region. Many local residents assume Rip’s home was in Palenville, where the Rip Van Winkle Trail (Route 23A) begins its winding ascent up through Kaaterskill Clove to the mountaintop community of Haines Falls.įrom breweries to bridges, Rip Van Winkle’s name can be traced all over the Hudson Valley. Reich’s late father, George, grew up in the hamlet of Leeds, one of three places Rip might have lived before escaping his domineering wife for what started out as a brief sojourn in the woods. To be respected in old age like Rip, not for what he did, but for what he knows and what he can teach, I find a compelling model.” “I love the end of the story in which all the children of the town gather to hear Rip tell stories of the past. “I always find return trips to the Catskills tranquil and peaceful, much the way Rip Van Winkle carried on his life,” says Steve Reich, history professor, James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Washington Irving’s tale, published over two years (1819-20) in a collection of short stories called the “Sketch Book,” gave the Catskills a new magical, mysterious identity, which is still very much alive today, 200 years later.

So goes the opening refrain of a catchy 1961 doo-wop song by The Devotions, accompanied by the thunderous crash of a bowling ball striking pins, and the high-pitched cackling laughter of the elves Rip met, prior to his 20-year repose. “Rip Van Winkle, Rip Van Winkle, sleep, sleep, sleep.” This story originally appeared in our July 2020 issue. More than 200 years after Washington Irving’s tale was published, Catskill’s most famous resident still has a presence in the Hudson Valley. Some of the region’s residents even claim Van Winkle as their ancestor. For years, people have speculated over the historical existence of Irving’s mythic figure (shown above in a painting by N.C.

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving