The Fictional American Town That Got Voted Into Existence

This area was settled in the 1600s, but didn’t become what it is today until recently.

You may have grown up, as so many American schoolchildren have, with The Legend of Sleepy Hollowembedded firmly in your brain. Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman was required reading for many kids back in the old days. This story from 1820 was written by Washington Irving and some may have believed for years that the town of Sleepy Hollow was real. Truth be told it wasn’t…until recently.

The famous story was written about the landmarks in North Tarrytown, Massachusetts, but the town wasn’t affected much by the story at first. Then fans of sleepy Hollow began showing up in North Tarrytown. In the 20th century the small town was home to auto manufacturing. But when those jobs dried up in 1996 the town lost its income and many of its inhabitants. In an effort to revitalize the town it was renamed to match the moniker of Irving’s story. Now there is tourism all year round (not just at Halloween) and Washington Irving himself is buried there. Have a look in the video below.

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