A true eccentric, Schmidt compared himself to Rip Van Winkle, Paul Bunyan, Robin Hood, and Baron Munchausen; "I became some greater part of this mountain up here. Why when I walked along the road, the trees knelt down on my behalf. . . .There I was — in the land of ecstasy!"
Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, a Rip Van Winkle-like tale set in the distant future of the year 2000.
Washington Irving lived in the Village of Kinderhook in 1809 and wrote the Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow short stories which take place regionally and is the reason why the high school in Valatie is named "Ichabod Crane".
His writings on the subject of eminent domain--the right of the state to seize private property for the public good—paved the way for the expansion of railroads into North Carolina, enabling the "Rip Van Winkle State" to embrace the industrial revolution.
Ludwig van Beethoven | Vincent van Gogh | Van Morrison | Van Halen | Gus Van Sant | Anthony van Dyck | Ellen van Dijk | Van Diemen's Land | Van | Martin Van Buren | Eddie Van Halen | Melvin Van Peebles | Jean-Claude Van Damme | Jan van Eyck | Armin van Buuren | Van Cliburn | Townes Van Zandt | Van, Turkey | Dave Van Ronk | Van Dyke Parks | Van der Graaf Generator | Rip Torn | The Dick Van Dyke Show | Lee Van Cleef | Van Gogh | Han van Meegeren | Armin Van Buuren | Van Johnson | Dick Van Dyke | Van Heflin |
In a production which opened on December 24, 1860, Kuhn played Lowenna in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving.
These remained hidden behind whitewash until the 1960s leading John Betjeman to describe it as "Rip Van Winkle's Church".