Lonely Planet

PHOTOGRAPHS: LUKASZ JANYST/ALAMY, JOHN GREIM/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY, DENNIS JONES/GETTY, RBULTHUIS/GETTYOctober 2017 Lonely Planet Traveller 93SECRET MARVELSMy secret marvelSLEEPY HOLLOWCEMETERYThe rolling hills between theHudson and Pocantico Rivers inNew York State hum with historyand hobgoblins. Lantern in hand, heart inmouth, I confronted these spirits of the paston a walking tour of Sleepy HollowCemetery, ending on the site where fictionalIchabod Crane met his demise at the handsof the legendary Headless Horseman.This stumble in the dark enlightens me tosome famous and infamous interments: theRockefeller family’s two-storey, Vermontgranite, Greek-themed mausoleum standsin contrast to Scottish steel baron AndrewCarnegie’s austere Celtic cross. The restingplace of oil magnate John Dustin Archboldis neo-modern – he covered all bets witha dash of Celtic, Russian, Greek and evenPersian (peacock) iconography which viefor the attention of varied gods, ensuring a``````measure of sanctity, somewhere. Just up theroad, the ‘queen of mean’, hotelier LeonaHelmsley, interred with husband Harry,snarls behind stained glass – but without thedog to whom she bequeathed $12 million.Wild creatures stalk these 90 acres:coyotes and foxes scamper in the shadows,and screech owls linger in overhanginglinden branches. Twisted elms and tuliptrees reach out for unsuspecting hikers.The tour concludes where the new SleepyHollow Cemetery is separated from theOld Dutch Burying Ground by a ribbon ofhorse-carriage path. Don’t tarry, however,because just beyond a copse of pines, in thegraveyard of the Dutch Reformed Church,lies a certain decapitated Hessianmercenary, still prepared to rideout into the moonlit night.By Brian KluepfelO The cemetery is 1½ miles north of Metro North’sTarrytown Station on the Hudson Line. The walkfrom there takes 30 minutes. Lantern tours takeplace from 10pm in November(sleepyhollowcemetery.org).``````KOLMANSKOPSome ghost towns remain frozen in time. Some rot unappealingly. Kolmanskop, in Namibia, on the other hand, is being spectacularly consumed by desertdunes, one grain of sand at a time. Built as Consolidated Diamond Mines’ headquarters in the early 1900s, it had a bowling alley, theatre and casino.However, after richer pickings were found at Oranjemund, Kolmanskop’s time was up – it was completely abandoned by 1956.O Kolmanskop is a 15-minute drive from Lüderitz, just off the B4.