David Purington Reminiscences of Sleepy Hollow, Part One

Well, given that we just celebrated Thanksgiving and the last post here was about something provided by a neighbor, this is an opportune time to move to another Sleepy Hollow-related set of posts, with material provided by another neighbor--with thanks given to both!

These items consist of typescripts by Purington and appear to have been done in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  There are a total of ten of these related to Carbon Canyon history and they will be bundled together in sets over coming months.

They'll be presented through scans of the originals, cropped and touched up to enhance readability.  An occasional note will be added when needed to help clairfy certain portions of the accounts.

We're starting with a four-page piece titled "Sleepy Hollow: Some Water Development and Family History" that seemed the best way to start the series, because it gives some background on the community from its founding in 1923, two years after Purington's father bought the land, up to the date of writing in 1978 when he was planning for development of a ranch he had in Sleepy Hollow.

To better read the pages, click on them to see them in an enlarged view in a separate window.

Note 1: The Oak Grove and Joe Tatar's (originally called Ichabod's) Restaurant is the area on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road, where the Party House Liquor Store building is located.  In this document, Purington mentions that he built the building on this property--this appears to be the now-shuttered store building.

Note 2:  The original Purington house and the community church are across from the eastern intersection of Carbon Canyon Road and Rosemary Lane.  The first water well was near the house along the creek.

Note 3:  The original plat map of Sleepy Hollow, from 1923, is on file with the County of San Bernardino and was reproduced on this blog.

Note 4:  Lookout Ridge is the area at the top of the northern portion of Sleepy Hollow, north of Carbon Canyon Road.

Note 5:  The tennis court, swimming pool, and area where the 4th of July picnic and stockholders' meeting was held was between the Purington place and the current liquor store property, along the creek on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road.

Note 6:  Known also as "Tidwell Oaks", the store and restaurant were located at the east end of the community on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road, where the store still stands right off the state highway, the two-story Tidwell home is at the back, and six other units exist, although all in advancing states of decay.

Note 7:  When Purington mentions existing water reservoirs (or tanks), the one on the south side of Sleepy Hollow at the top of the hill was removed a couple of years ago by the City of Chino Hills.  There is still a tank at the top of the hill on the north end.

Note 8:  In discussing acquiring water outside the community, Purington mentions the land of Mrs. Anderson across from Western Hills Golf Course.  This was formerly the Oasis Country Club and is now the Western Hills Oaks subdivision, established in the mid-1960s.  Purington wrote a separate essay about the water supply for Sleepy Hollow, which will be posted soon.

Note 9:  Purington's discussion of the Sleepy Hollow Volunteer Fire Department is expanded upon in a separate essay, to be posted later.  The Fire Hall, on a lot assigned to the local water district, became a community building where the current Sleepy Hollow Community Building is situated south of Carbon Canyon Road on Rosemary Lane.

Note 10:  Purington's home, destroyed in the big canyon fire in 1958, was situated below Lookout Ridge on the north side of Sleepy Hollow.  He mentions the remodeling of the original family home, which, again, still stands next to the highway.  Members of the Stearns family still live in the canyon.

Note 11:  Purington's pointed criticism of the water supply in Sleepy Hollow continues to be an issue, with varied pipe sizes throughout the community, though there have been marked improvements in the last few years.