The Washington Irving and Palenville NY Connection. Early draft-  Matt Bua   Edited jan 20th 2025

Quick Synopsis–  Washington Irving left America for 17 years (1815-1832) in order to travel, help his brother with the family business and live abroad- Before leaving America  he had never visited Palenville or the Kaaterskill Falls-Yet he placed Rip’s fictional home in this area and made the Kaaterskill Falls the true star and redeemer/ hero of the Post- Script to Rip Van WInkle! This story “popped out” of Irving seemingly fully formed one sleepless night in June of 1818 while he was at his sister’s house in England where earlier in the eve he had been reminiscing about some good ol days in Tarrytown with his brother in Law- Henry Van Wort. This happens to be  one year after Palenville “incorporated” in 1817 and 3 years after the Cataclysmic eruption of Mount Tambora which led to the “Year with out summer” in 1816- where the snow that fell in June in Palenville which led to the area’s complete crop failure that year.

It turns out The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon made Irving $9,000 dollars-which was a good sum for  a published work at this time.  He returns to America in 1832 after his 17 years abroad- and on his  ‘must see’ list was the spot  where his Rip character  was birthed from.(His traveling companions included Martin Van Buren, William Clark (1/2 of Lewis and Clark) and others) After his historic 1st visit to Palenville- he heads out west to see Black Hawk-the Sauk chief- who was still causing trouble for the Europeans out in the “Wild West”- while in parallel- a young 19 year old Abe Lincoln was making his way to find Black Hawk himself after he was elected as captain of the group who was formed to capture the Native Chief- but before  Irving or Lincoln could get  to him- he was already in captivity - (due to being ‘sold out’ but another Native American)--in some barracks outside of the barely formed area of St. Louis.(see drawing)

When Palenville’s new postmaster Hiram Smith  took over in October 29th 1833 a year after Irving’s very 1st visit to the area- he helps to  officially change the name of Palenville to ‘Irvingsville’– What was Irving visit really like? Was he mostly incognito? Or was there any fanfare?

This name change remained in place until around the time when Richard  Hardwick took over as postmaster on july 28th 1841 and   Rufus Palen returned home after serving as a Whig in congress for 2 years in 1941. I speculate that Rufus carried alot of political weight and was instrumental in changing the hamlets name back to  Palenville once he got out of office and returned home.

I was rereading parts of the Andrew Burnstein's The Original Knickerbocker- The Life of Washington Irving- to see  if there were any clues to these  questions around  his 1st Palenville visit.

 I was so pleased to find on page 256 a reference to a letter Washington wrote his brother  Peter about visiting the "veritable haunts of Rip Van Winkle" for the 1st time- in his life!. He went up to stay at The Mountain House  which had opened in 1823   and he made a point to go see "the glen" and  not just any waterfall, but "the Water fall"  meaning the true star of Rip Van Winkle--- or at least the Post script- The Kaaterskill Falls, who, as we remember, smashed the water thief to bits after he tried to make off with the sacred water -gourd found in the crotch of a tree at the tip top of the mountain- at that place called " Garden Rock".   Remember- 

  The letter of Irving  gets even better...

"The wild scenery of these mountains outdoes all my conception of it...In fact, one appears to be wafted from place to place in this country as if by magic."

“We enter the beautiful pass through the mountains called the Clove, on either hand the mountain  rise majestically thousands of feet, on the left the High  Peak, on the right the South Mountain, on whose side the sun shown with golden splendor, and the huge  precipices that rise a thousand feet above the village of Palensville (now Irvingsville) frowned  on the valley like towers and battlements of Cyclopean structure.”  

from- Thoughts and Occurrences- The Journal of  Thomas Cole (1838)  p.69

Traveling Museum Press Release****

 Step right up - and Let It RIP! —-A Tiny RIP VAN WINKLE Museum On Wheels

JOIN ARTIST and Time Traveling Impressionist, MATT BUA!

Don't miss this chance to experience his newest work ....A common silver mini- van has been retro-fitted by Bua.

With a fully functioning Time Traveling Rip Van Winkle Museum inside, and a pop out display table, the artist has brought an old "dad van" into his wonderfully mystical mythos with him. 

Creating almost a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang- meets the ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean- style car character and his own tour guide persona, Matt Bua launches his new work by driving up and down the Catskills, giving history lessons and creating select Studio Tours and Adventures in a non- linear Time Zone for the whole family.

Whatever aspect of Washington Irving’s most beloved supernatural napping slacker one is interested in- this mobile presentation will take you deeper.

Artist, Arm Chair Historian, Tiny Museum Curator, Catskills T-shirt Maker, and Time Traveling Impressionist - Matt Bua, will hold down his rolling fort.

"The Fun dad" and Glen Fall's House resident woodworker by day, artist, armchair historian and historical impressionist by night - Matt Bua has put together and truly Rip loving exhibition-  in the wake of a decade of stand still roadside attractions, : the Catamount Peoples’ Museum, The Awakened Rip Statue, The Trickster Coyote Museum, a massive replica of the head of the Statue of Liberty etc.

Matt has suddenly decided to go mobile!

The Time Traveling Rip Van Winkle Museum is something to chase down, find- get the tour and have your picture taken with. You may be given a tour by Bua's impressionist self - ie: his version of Abraham Lincoln/ Thoreau? or even one of his own original comedic characters...

Through large format images, themed collections, cultural objects and reference material- the maximal Rip celebration will draw the passerby’s in to learn more.

The museum will spotlight the “Time Traveling Rip” as he rip’s new fabrics in time - to get to the bottom of what happened in the past- and helps us remember what happens moving forward.

If you’re lucky one of Rip’s friends from the past will be your tour guide - or you may get the download from Matt Bua as himself - who’s sincere interest in the Rip tale has catapulted him into this wild experiment in DIY Time Travel.

Celebrating the Mysteries of History- Pre-historic clarities — and sneak peeks at future victories. Some of the questions this museum will aim to answer or at least dance around…..

• Did the Romantic era actually die out as generally understood? Or is it, in fact, very much alive and well?

• What did Washington Irving gain by using those 9 plus pen names though out his career which allowed him to publish his works anonymously?

•Who exactly was Washington Irving’s “Dame Nature” character he reference in his writing over the years.

•And much much MORE!

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Bibliography for Washington Irving and the Great Manitou Transmission of 1818 (2018) (Selected)

Adams, Arthur G., The Catskills: An Illustrated Historical Guide With Gazateer

Appleton, LeRoy H, American Indian Design and Decoration, Dover 1950

Black, Nancy and Weidman, Bette S., White on Red : Images of the American Indian, Kennikat Press, 1976

Brevoort, Henry, Letters to Washington Irving, 1811 

Bua, Matt, Talking Walls: Casting Out the Post Contact Stone Wall Building Myth, PS Hudson , 2015

Burstein, Andrew. The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. Persus Books, 2007

Colum, Padraic. Nordic Gods and Heroes(The Children of Odin).1920, Macmillan Company,NY

Dundes, Alan, article: Washington Irving's Vision of the Seminole Origin of Races, U.C Berkeley, 1962

Ferguson, Robert A, Rip Van Winkle and the Generational Divide in American, Columbia University

Gildersleeve, Robert A, Catskill Mountain House Trail Guide: In the Footsteps of the Hudson River School, 2005, black dome press

Girardot, Norman J, Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism: The Themes of Chaos

Haien, Jeannette Michael, Rip Van Winkle's Dream, Doubleday, 1947

Hansen, George P., The Trickster and the Paranormal, 2001

Heinberg, Richard, Memories and Visions of Paradise: Exploring the Universal Myth of a Lost Golden Age

Heitman, Danny, Washington Irving was the Original City Slicker,: Here’s what happened when he went west., HUMANITIES, July/August 2014, Volume 35, Number 4

Irving, Washington, with Pierre M. Irving: A Collaboration in Life and Letters 1859

Irving , Washington: History, Tales and Sketches, etc bio of the Prophet Muhammad. Bio of Margret Davidson 

Jones, Brian Jay, Washington Irving: An American Original, Arcade Publishing, 2008

Kemp, Kara Rebecca, Linked to his Fellow Man of Civilized Life: Washington Irving, The Transatlantic Native American, and Romantic Historiography in A History of New York and the Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Brigham Young University, 2013

Kruk, Jonathan, Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley, The History Press, 2011

Littlefield Jr., Daniel. F, Washington Irving and the American Indian, University of Arkansas 

Meyer, Marvin(editor) The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, 2007

Pritchard, Evan T, Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York, Council Oak Books, 2002 

Richardson, Judith, Possessions: The History and Uses of Haunting In the Hudson Valley

Rackham, Arthur(illustrator), Rip Van Winkle,1905

Reichart, Walter A. , Washington Irving's Influence on German Literature,

Shinn, Everett, (illustrator) Rip Van Winkle

Suba, Suzzane, (illustrator) Rip Van Winkle and other Stories, Nelson Doubleday,MCMLV

Van Zandt, Roland, The Catskill Mountain House, Hope Farm Press, 1982

Vecsey, Christopher, Traditional Ojibwa Religion and Its Historical Changes, 1983

Warner, Charles Dudley, Washington Irving Bio, 1891

Williams, Stanley T. ,The Life of Washington Irving, 2 volumes, 1935

Wyman, Sarah, article: Washington Irving's Dangerous Critique of a New Nation, SUNY New Paltz

Added 2025

Bruce, Wallace, Along the Hudson With Washington Irving, 1913

Cole, Thomas, Thoughts and Occurrences, Journals 1834-1848

Savell, Isabelle K, Martin Van Buren and Washington Irving in Rockland County,

Spataro, Barbara Krug,- Palenville: The Gem of the Catskills, April 2002

The Rambler in North America:1832-1833, Irving, Ellsworth, LaTrobe, and Pourtales Expedition, Encyl. of Oklahoma History and Culture