Before Sleepy Hollow was turned into a burial ground in 1855, it was a favorite walking place of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Fuller and the Alcotts: a rolling woodland retreat. 

When the decision was made to dedicate the land as a burial place, Emerson, a member of the Cemetery Committee, hired Horace Cleveland and Robert Copeland to create a garden cemetery that would honor the landscape and serve as an arboretum of native plants.

Speaking at the dedication of Sleepy Hollow, Emerson expressed the hope that, 

In this quiet valley, as in the palm of Nature’s hand, we shall sleep well when we have finished our day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family are buried at Sleepy Hollow.