ARCHIVE 002
Ashwood Farm
Some places are inherited through deeds and legal documents.
Others are inherited in ways no document can adequately describe.
Ashwood Farm belongs to both categories.
Situated along the wooded edges of Pocantico Hills, the property has remained connected to the Van Tassel family since the late eighteenth century. Its farmhouse, Dutch colonial in origin, has been altered and expanded by successive generations, each leaving evidence of a life lived within its walls.
The barns are newer, though they stand upon older footprints. Beyond them, paddocks give way to forest, where the old carriage roads wind through hemlocks, beeches, and hickories toward the deeper reaches of the Hollow.
The farm remains a working equestrian property.
Seven horses are presently kept there.
Its current caretaker, Katherine Van Tassel, appears to possess an unusually intimate knowledge of the surrounding landscape, having spent much of her life riding the trails that connect the property to the preserve.
Whether this familiarity has any bearing on the matters under investigation remains uncertain.
The Van Tassel inheritance
The Van Tassel name has been associated with this valley for centuries.
It is a name that appears in old land records, church registers, and, perhaps most famously, the folklore of Sleepy Hollow.
The relationship between the historical family and the characters immortalized by Washington Irving has been a subject of local interest for generations.
But the family's connection to the land extends beyond literary association.
The present farmhouse occupies ground held by the family since the colonial period. Its rooms contain the accumulated belongings of generations, while its surrounding fields and wooded boundaries preserve traces of earlier uses.
Of particular interest is the western edge of the property, where maintained pasture gives way to the forest.
Available records offer little explanation for the significance of this boundary.
Reports from the western tree line
Following a recent disturbance of the earth in the surrounding valley, unusual observations were reported near the farm.
The horses reportedly displayed heightened attention toward the wooded boundary, though their reactions were not uniform.
Of greater interest are accounts of hoofbeats heard beyond the paddock fence after dark.
No corresponding rider was identified.
The sounds were described as slow, deliberate, and following the tree line rather than approaching the buildings.
Such reports are difficult to verify.
The property is, after all, a horse farm. Unusual sounds are not inherently unusual in a place where horses are kept.
Nevertheless, the distinction between the animals within the paddocks and whatever may have been moving beyond them warrants further consideration.
Related records: The Old Dutch Church · Kate Van Tassel · Gory Brook
End of available record.