16 September 2021

Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #62: A Real Photo Postcard of Tidwell Oaks, Sleepy Hollow, ca. 1940

It's humbling when information put out on this blog is wrong, but at least catching the mistake and correcting it can always be done in this format, which is the case with today's featured artifact from Carbon Canyon history.  Unfortunately, articles in the Chino Valley Champion from March and October 2019 relied on the false info from this source.  Hopefully, anyone reading those will come across this post and see this plea for historical redemption!

In this case, there were a number of posts that stated that Tidwell Oaks, the store, tavern and service station operated in the early years of Sleepy Hollow by David and Velma Tidwell, was situated at the east end of the community, south of Carbon Canyon Road, where some apartments, shuttered now for a couple of years, are located now.

Actually, the couple purchased their two large lots at the center of the neighborhood where Carbon Canyon Road and Rosemary Lane meet not long after the community was developed in the 1920s and built their compound.  This was recently verified by finding reference to their ownership of lots 2 and 3 in Block 5 of the tract and then noting that on copies of the original subdivision map obtained years ago from the county archives.

The last entry in this "Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact" series, from June 2020, featured a real photo postcard of folks sitting in a large patio, bordered with brick and rock walls, with large oak trees for shade—this presumably in the back or side of the structures, as well as some of the history of the Tidwell family.  Today's post takes us out to Carbon Canyon Road and a view of the main building, a log cabin-like structure, with a gas pump out front and other buildings off to the west, or right.

Rosemary Lane is at the lower left between the caption of "Tidwell Oaks / Carbon Canyon" and the light-colored car parked next to the "cabin."  A couple of other vehicles are off to the far right and some of the houses on the hillside in view—the one at the top center with the three windows at the lower portion and the span of windows going from one side to the other is still standing.

As for dating this unused card, the cars definitely look to be from the late 30s or early 40s, but the AGFA/ANSCO stamp box also was used in the Thirties and Forties, so we're just going to go with circa 1940 on this one.  Today, there are a few little remnants, including remains of concrete steps, from Tidwell Oaks and there is a parking area for the Sleepy Hollow Community Center and the bus stop that mark the location, as well. 

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