24-1/2 M. TARRYTOWN, Pop. 5,807. (Train 51 passes 9:08a; No. 3, 9:27a; No. 41, 1:41p; No. 25, 3:23p; No. 19, 6:13p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:40a; No. 26, 9:00a; No. 16, 3:18p; No. 22, 4:43p.) Situated on a sloping hill that rises to a considerable height above the Tappan Zee, historic Tarrytown stands on the site of an Indian village, Alipoonk (place of elms), burned by the Dutch in 1644. Irving explains that the housewives of the countryside gave the town its name because their husbands were inclined to linger at the village tavern, but literal minded historians think it was more likely that the name came from Tarwen dorp or Tarwetown, "wheat town." There were perhaps a dozen Dutch families here in 1680 when Frederick Philipse acquired title to Philipse Manor, several thousand acres, in what is now Westchester county. Just above Tarrytown is the valley of the Pocantico creek, the mouth of which is marked by the projection of Kingsland Point. [Illustration: Washington Irving Washington Irving (1783-1859) was intended for a legal profession, but although called to the bar preferred to amuse himself with literary ventures. The first of these, with the exception of the satirical miscellany, "Salmagundi," was the delightful "Knickerbocker History of New York," wherein the pedantry of local antiquaries is laughed at, and the solid Dutch burgher established as a definite comedy type. When the commercial house established by his father and run by his brother began to go under in 1815, Irving went to England to look into the affairs of the Liverpool house, and as it was soon necessary to declare bankruptcy, his misfortune forced him to write for his living. Returning to America in 1832 after 17 years' absence, he found his name a household word. The only interruption to his literary career was the four years (1842-1846) he spent as ambassador to Spain. For the rest, he passed some little time travelling, but in the main kept retreat at "Sunnyside," where he died, Nov. 28, 1859.]