Sleepy Hollow Tract Map, 1923



This is the first of three sheets for the original 1923 tract map for Sleepy Hollow.  Copies were obtained from the San Bernardino County Archives with assistance from former county archivist and current Riverside County archivist James Hofer.  Click on this or any of the images to see them in a separate window.


The year 1923 marked the peak of a real estate development boom that swept through much of southern California over the preceding several years.  While most of this growth was in west Los Angeles, the South Bay, the western San Gabriel Valley and the eastern San Fernando Valley, there was also heightened interest in fairly closely sited vacation spots for those who might tire of the rapidly urbanizing and industrializing core of the region.  Consequently, the 1920s saw a pronounced growth in the development of such places as Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains, Idyllwild in the mountains above Hemet and certain canyon communities such as those in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County like Santiago Canyon, or Topanga Canyon between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley, or in Carbon Canyon situated between Orange and San Bernardino counties.  In this latter, a subdivision was created called Sleepy Hollow.



This is the second of three sheets of the map.  The third, which has information about the incorporators of Sleepy Hollow, as well as the county's recording and approval of the map, will be covered in another post.



The name is best known, of course, for the famed Washington Irving tale of the early 19th-century, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," relatng the story of the unfortunate Ichabod Crane, a superstitious schoolteacher competing with another man for the love of a young lady.  After leaving a party at the damsel's residence, Crane is chased by a headless horseman, said to be the ghost of a soldier whose noggin was knocked off by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War, and a pumpkin is tossed at Crane during the pursuit.  Spooked by the scary apparition, Crane vanished from the town, leaving the object of his desire to marry his rival.  Said rival was said to have a knowing look whenever the story of Crane's encounter with the "headless horseman" was brought up.



This detail shows the west end of Sleepy Hollow, including "Carbon Cañon Road" running through the tract and the unnamed community "lanes" being Oak Way Lane at the bottom, or north, and Rosemary Lane at the top, or south.  Rosemary Lane was named for the young daughter of community founders Cleve and Elizabeth Heald Purington.



Whether or not the founders of Sleepy Hollow (who will be discussed subsequently) were fans of Irving's well-known story, their little community was established in 1923 with dozens of "cabin lots," small parcels considered best suited for cabins erected for weekend getaways and the like.  With its plenteous oak trees dotting the hills, especially on the portion south of Carbon Canyon Road, a creek that generally has water year-round and which supports sycamore trees, wild walnuts and much other plant life, and a cooler climate because of its placement in a "hollow" that sits at a lower elevation than areas nearby at either end (temperatures generally range 4 to 8 degress less in Sleepy Hollow than in Brea or Chino Hills proper), the neighborhood was created to appeal to those looking for a little escape from "civilization."



This detail shows the south side of Sleepy Hollow from Rosemary Lane circling toward Carbon Canyon Road at the bottom to Francis Lane curving to a dead end at the center to a detached section, noted as Block 4, around a curved part of Carbon Canyon Road that now is a remnant left after the road was straightened--this being at the top right.


The map was certified by the San Bernardino County clerk in October 1923 and there are many interesting details about it.  First, there were three distinct blocks established.  Block 4 only covered a few lots at the eastern end of the subdivision covering an area that is now where the apartments are on the south end of the community.  Block 5 took in dozens of lots on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road, while Block 6 embraced those parcels on the north side of the thoroughfare.



Notable in this detail is the large area denoted as "Not a part of this subdivision," much of which was later added to Sleepy Hollow.  This specifically are lots to the south of Oak Way Lane, on both sides of Carbon Canyon Road and to the north of Francis Lane.  It is unclear why this parcel was not included in the original tract, however.



Also, land on either side of Carbon Canyon Road east of Rosemary Lane was excluded from the original subdivision.  It is not known at this time why this was the case--perhaps the incorporators of Sleepy Hollow did not have the funds to buy more land or maybe the owner of that area did not want to sell.




This detail shows Oak Way Lane at the top to its terminus at the east end of the northern section of the subdivision.  Note how some areas to the south of Oak Way are not included in the tract.


In any case, the eastern ends of the community were defined by those lots that were north of Oakway Lane and south of Francis Drive before it curved to the south.  It is also important to note that none of the "upper elevations" of the farthest west area of today's Sleepy Hollow were included in the original tract.  That is, all of Hay Drive, Grandview Lane and East Lane on the south side of the neighborhood were added to the tract later, as was the case with the areas along Hillside Drive on the north side.



This detail shows the area in and around the Sleepy Hollow Community Center and the eastern intersection of Carbon Canyon Road and Rosemary Lane.  Block 6, Lot 3 to the left of the highway was the residence and tract office of community founders Cleve and Elizabeth Heald Purington.  Block 5, Lot 2 (at the center) is now the parking lot for today's community center, which is on Lot 59 to the right.  Note the reference to a 3/4" iron pipe marking a boundary line towards the top--several of these notations are on the tract map.



Another noteworthy element has to do with the small Block 4, which is shown as covered within a steeply curving portion of Carbon Canyon Road that existed then, but only partially does now.  In other words, the road was straightened to the north a little and only a small portion of the old road exists now as a dead end behind the apartments mentioned above as an access for a few houses back there.  It can easily be seen as you drive eastbound along the highway just before the apartments, which was the site of a country store and cafe for many years.




This detail shows the bottom of the map where Rosemary Lane meets Carbon Canyon Road at its western terminus.  Block 5, Lot D marks the bed of Carbon [Canyon] Creek.


Carbon [Canyon] Creek is also assigned its own lot number (D) in both blocks 5 and 6 as the creek crosses under the highway and traverses both the north and south sides of the subdivision.



Another detail shows that, with Carbon [Canyon] Creek, crossing to the north side of Carbon Canyon Road, it is denoted as Block 6, Lot D.


The map is filled with other interesting details, including descriptions of boundary markers, and there are familiar landmarks that later would be built, for which we can see their lot numbers.  These include the Canyon Market, the sole commercial enterprise in the neighborhood; the Sleepy Hollow Community Center, which for years was the site of the volunteer fire station; and the location of the house and tract office run by Cleve Purington, and after his circa 1928 death, his wife Elizabeth Heald, which was essentially across from the community center area on the north side of the highway.




In this detail, the intersection of "Carbon Cañon Road" and the as-of-yet unnamed Oak Way Lane is at the bottom left.  Just above this is Bolock 6, Lot C, which is the parcel on which sits the Canyon Market store (formerly Party House Liquor #2) as well as undeveloped land.  Note that most lots had frontage of about 40 feet.


Next year will mark 90 years since the establishment of Sleepy Hollow.  Though conceived and largely used as a place for part-time, vacation use for many years, it became, from the 1950s onward, more of an established residential community, though many of the cabins still remain from the early years of the neighborhood.  This map gives us a glimpse into its origins and established a tangible sense of place for this historic part of the modern city of Chino Hills.




Another detail showing the course of Carbon [Canyon] Creek, Block 6, Lot D, on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road.



On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #8943

Another pair of incidents took place recently off westbound Carbon Canyon Road on the Brea side of Carbon Canyon, across from the new Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center and east of Olinda Ranch.

The plowing down of some of the "No Parking" signs could either have been a result of errant navigating of the state highway or a form of protest for those using the State Park and wanting to park along the highway for free rather than using the newly-opened parking lot at the Discovery Center, which entails a fee of $5.

Actually, the first of these incidents involves one sign east of the Center and could have been accidental by someone looking to park there.  This looks to have happened up to a couple of weeks back.

The other, closer to the El Rodeo Stables complex, looks like someone veered off the highway and plowed down a few of the signs there.  Most likely, this happened last weekend.

Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #27: 1960s La Vida Mineral Springs Postcard

Here is another 1960s color postcard of a portion of the old La Vida Mineral Springs on the Brea portion of Carbon Canyon.  The view looks east and takes in a carefully manicured lawn with two picnic tables used by resort visitors.  A simple white board fence separates the lawn from Carbon [Canyon] Creek, which still runs on that course along the rocky hillside to the left. 

The rust-colored sidewalk that runs along the parking lot (dig all those groovy cars, man) is still partially there, though much the worse for wear forty plus years later.  At the end of the walk, crossing the creek which veers away from the hill and toward Carbon Canyon Road, which is off to the right outside the image, is a wooden footbridge, from which a few folks have just emerged.  This leads to the cafe, which is visible directly behind the bridge.  Behind the cafe is the two-story motel building.  As to the mineral baths, those were located behind the photographer to the west.

On the reverse of the postally used card is an address to The Netherlands and message dated 27 March 1969, with a postmark from Artesia on the following day.  Obviously, the message is in Dutch, but a few items can be picked out including the word "cafe," so perhaps the person who visited bought the card there or had lunch there, as well as the place named "Artesia" and "Pomona," so maybe the sender lived in Artesia and went to visit someone in Pomona and stopped by the Springs on their way through the Canyon.  There is also a reference to the day being unseasonably warm, topping out at 89 degrees. 

The printed caption at the top reads "A restful atmosphere prevails at / LA VIDA MINERAL SPRINGS / CARBON CANYON / BREA, CALIFORNIA."  As with several other cards highlighted in this blog previously, this one was produced by Amescolor Publishers of Escondido.

As before, clicking on any image creates a new window with slightly enlarged views, although a recently-added Blogger feature is that all of the images in the post can be seen through one window after clicking any of the photos.

On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #8888

12:54 a.m. Sunday morning the 12th.  Getting ready for bed.  Another heavy screeching of tires a little east of here toward the east end of Sleepy Hollow--no sounds of a collision, though.  Just another close call.

Less than a half hour ago here in Sleepy Hollow, a relaxing evening sitting in the living room was shattered by skidding tires and three or four thudding sounds, followed by a female voice calling out: "Are you O.K.?"  Within minutes, police, fire and ambulance crews were on scene at the collision site at Carbon Canyon Road and Rosemary Lane (the portion closest to the San Bernardino/Orange counties line.) 

There, what looks like a Honda Civic was resting against a power pole on the southeast corner of the intersection (a pole that has taken numerous thrashings over the years) with much of its front end caved in, portions of the front bumper lying nearby, a shattered windshield and other assorted debris splayed in the intersection (ah, here goes a fire truck past the house on Rosemary, followed by eastbound vehicles diverted onto a detour to get around the accident scene.)

The young male driver (who else?) was uninjured and there was a female and a second vehicle parked nearby.  A neighbor thought there had been mention of another car turning onto Carbon Canyon (from Rosemary/Hillside?) and that the damaged car skidded to avoid it.

However, there was skidding well before that and several crash sounds, indicating, at least by this hearing, that the young man was driving far too fast through the area before the accident.  On a Saturday night.  Late in the evening.  Again.

Towers of Terror Troubled Turning of the Tide

For members of Hope for the Hills, opponents of Southern California Edison's Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, the name of their organization appeared to be edging closer to fulfillment when the California Public Utilities Commission decided to order Edison to submit a new report concerning the existing route and alternatives earlier this year, the direct result of an impressive lobbying effort by Hope for the Hills and the City of Chino Hills.

After an initial statement by Edison identified alternatives, including a city-proposed underground line using less power and on a different circuitry arrangement, the CPUC then ordered the utility to return with more details on the costs of the fifteen alternatives it presented on 10 January.

In last Saturday's Chino Hills Champion, an article by Marianne Napoles opened with his sobering statement:  "Chino Hills hasn't exactly abandoned its support of the Edison power lines through the Chino Hills State Park, but the option is becoming less likely with each passing day.  Napoles reported that Edison's latest 74-page report identified that the cost of the route favored by the city would run millions of dollars higher than the rough figure of $550-950 million included in the earlier report, this according to a statement by Council member Ed Graham.

The latest Hope for the Hills banner concerning the controversial Edison renewable power transmission line project north of Carbon Canyon.  This banner is along Carbon Canyon Road at the summit of the S-curve near Carriage Hills.

Graham was further quoted as saying that the reason for the additional estimate is that the January report only looked at the costs associated with the portion of the line through Chino Hills, not with connecting it with the other elements of the section (the 8th in the massive project running from Tehachapi in Kern County to points east from Chino Hills and Chino.)  Summing up, Graham stated: "The City still prefers the route through the State Park, but it looks highly unlikely based upon the increased costs.  It's unfortunate because for me, it's the best choice by far."

As for another alternative posited by the city that would use 400kV (rather than the 500kV now included in the project) in a single circuit design running underground either along Edison's right-of-way, where the massive 200ft towers now stand, or under city streets, principally Eucalyptus Avenue, the Champion article did not specify amended cost figures.  The article did, however, state the Edison argued that the proposal was not technically feasible, because of insufficient amperage, the problem of dealing with line failures at cables, including their splice and termination points, and the considerable physical and construction effects within the city with underground construction.  As the report stated, the underground alternatives pose "unacceptable risks . . . to the transmission system."

There is still the question of mediation, which along with the required new reports, was mandated by the CPUC's administrative law judge last month and this meeting has occurred this week, though Graham's statement on this is telling in terms of its vagaries: "It will be a back and forth situation to find common ground."

While Hope for the Hills has placed banners (including one that proclaims "Save Our Children," without specifying whose and why) and utilized other forms of expression for its idea that "it is not too late," Napoles' opening paragraph of her article certaily indicates that the options for the group and the City of Chino Hills are becoming more restricted as this process grinds on. 

Indeed, it seems to be the case that the delaying of the project by the CPUC was a complicit acknowledgement of the successful political pressure applied by Hope for the Hills and the City, but that pragmatism will likely dictate that the project will continue, albeit slightly modified.  Along these lines (!), the outcome of the CPUC-mandated mediation between Edison and the City will be interesting to follow

On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #s 8712-13

Over the last weekend, the utility box (or whatever it is/was--someone might leave a comment if they know) covered by the fake rock across from the entrance to the old La Vida Mineral Springs hotel on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road was finally completely destroyed by a westbound vehicle took the preceding turn too fast, crossed the opposing lane, and blasted the "rock" (maybe it should be more real next time?) and disabled the unit.  Both were removed Monday, but the "debris field", shown above this morning, remains.

Meantime, maybe up to two weeks ago and a little further to the west at the west end of the La Vida property, another westbound driver deviated from the roadway and crashed into a portion of chain-link fence (photo also from this a.m.)  Not that 95% of this fence, which a few years ago was probably intact to nearly that proportion, hasn't been similarly manhandled one way or another.

The 1930 Federal Census and Sleepy Hollow

Founded in 1923, the community of Sleepy Hollow was less than seven years old when the 1930 federal census took place. On 10 May 1930, enumerator Roy Sebring came to the neighborhood and made his way through seventeen households, counting a grand total of thirty-six citizens.

The first stop was the household of David C. Tidwell and his wife Velma.  Tidwell ran a grocery store along the south side of Carbon Canyon Road where it intersects with Rosemary Lane, and owned a house self-valued at $3,000.  Tidwell was 39 years old and a native of Opelika, Alabama, where he was born in June 1890, while his 36-year old wife was from Texas.  Tidwell came to California some time after 1900, presumably with his parents. 

Before coming to Sleepy Hollow, the Tidwells resided in the Rowland Township, in what is today either Rowland Heights or Hacienda Heights, along the Puente and Anaheim Road, which could either by Azusa Avenue, Colima Road or Fullerton Road.  David was then employed in the oil industry as a well packerm when his voter registration was updated in 1920.  In 1918, though, he and his wife lived in Los Angeles, near today's Staples Center, where David worked as a conductor for the Los Angeles Railway streetcar line.  Prior to that, in 1910, the Tidwells were out at the San Jose township near Pomona, where David was a hired man on farms or ranches. 

Two households down were three of David Tidwell's brothers, Henry, Harvy, and Andrew, whose ages ranged from 23 to 33.  The latter two were classified as general laborers, while Henry was employed as an rotary driller for an oil company.  The three rented living space, perhaps from their brother.

Between the Tidwells, was Daniel O. Stewart, the eldest of the Sleepy Hollow residents.  The Ohio native was 77 years of age, was still working as a farm laborer, and owned his own modest home valued at $1,500.

Mitford Mead and his wife Della were the next household.  Mead was from Crossville, Tennessee and followed his father Reuben's occupation as a carpenter.  In 1910, at age 17, Mead was an apprentice seaman at the United States Navy training station in San Francisco.  Eight years later, he was living in East Los Angeles and working as a carpenter for a firm that worked in the San Fernando Valley.  In the 1920 census, he had relocated to San Diego and was working in the carpentry trade.  His wife, Della, was from South Carolina and the couple was childless.  In later years, Mead made his way south again and died in San Diego at age 86.

The next household was that of Ernest U. Kysor, a 58-year old native of New York, who did not have a listed occupation and who was renter.  Kysor lived much of his life in Cherryvale, Kansas, in the southeastern part of the state and was still there in 1900, where he was living with his parents as a widow with two young daughters, ages nine and five, and working as a foreman, but for what was not stated.  Twenty years later, in 1920, he was in Wichita and was a railroad shop engineer and remarried.  Presumably, he came to Sleepy Hollow not long after migrating to California.  Later, he wound up in San Diego County, where he died in 1954.

Next came Italian-born Antonio Marolda, age 71, and his 52-year old Hungarian wife, Margarita.   The two owned a $1,500 residence and neither was then working.  Marolda came to the United States in 1882 and landed in New York, where he became a naturalized citizen fourteen years later and was then working as a laborer.  In 1900, still in Manhattan, Marolda was working as a barber and lived with a wife and six children, five of which were girls.  At some later point, he married Margarita, who came to America from Hungary in 1903.

The household following was that of Dixon Cecil, who was born in Centerville, Maryland in 1877 and lived in Baltimore for many years.  In 1900, at 23, he was still with his parents and his father was a grocery store owner, while Dixon was employed as a bartender.  Married in 1905 to an English native named Fannie, who had migrated to the United States in 1894, Cecil worked as a wheelwright, an occupation he had until just after World War I.  By 1920, he had combined past experience had taken on the new occupation of a liquor store owner.  While in Sleepy Hollow, however, Cecil was employed as a carpenter.  He remained a resident of the area until his death at age 89 in 1966.

The most unusual occupation of the Sleeply Hollowites (?) was undoubtedly that of James M. Beatty, a 48-year old native of Pennsylvania, whose job was listed as a "author."  Born in 1881 in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, just east of Pittsburgh, Beatty was a laborer in the 1900 census and lived with his widowed British-born mother.  A decade later, mother and son had relocated to Los Angeles, residing on Figueroa and Fifth streets, and James was working as a department store card writer.  In 1920, when he and his mother lived on Hope Street on Bunker Hill, Beatty was a card writer for a manufacturer of slides, presumably glass slides.  In 1930, at Sleepy Hollow, Beatty still lived with his mother and the two owned a $2,500 house.

Following was 68-year old widow Rosalie Plunkitt and a 20-year old servant name Elva Corbin. Plunkitt was from Ohio, but in 1900 was a widow with two daughters and a son, living in Escondido in San Diego County, where she operated a rooming house. A decade later, she was still managing the facility there, though her children had moved out. Her house was the highest valued in Sleepy Hollow, although at $4,000, this was still pretty modest. And, she had the female servant.

The next household was that of Fred Hiltscher, whose name might be recognized as that tied to the family who owned ranch land near Sleepy Hollow (as documented on the 1924 oil map extensively covered in this blog) and was also connected prominently in Fullerton for many years.  Born in Austria in 1871 and a migrant at age 15 to America, Hiltscher was also the only denizen of the community who had resided there in 1920, and his was a farmer the entire time.

Then, there was Elizabeth Purington and her children David and Rosemary, whose story has been told in earlier posts on this blog.  Elizabeth was recently widowed, in 1928, from Cleve Purington, who was the main figure in the founding of Sleepy Hollow in late 1923 (more on this soon.)  Notably, Elizabeth continued to work as a "real estate saleslady," continuing the work of her late husband to develop the community.  She and her children lived on the lot directly across from what is now the Sleepy Hollow Community Center, on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road.  Her daughter is the namesake for Rosemary Lane and the builder and first owner of the house I live in told me the story of how, about 1990, Rosemary, then about age 70, drove up to him as he was outside the house and talked to him about Sleepy Hollow and the fact that the little lane was named for her.

After the Puringtons, it was quite a bit further east until the next residence was reached by Sebring.  This was the home of William and Beulah Lorimer.  William, a 41-year old native of Colorado, was listed as carektaker for the "Workmen's Circle Club."  This was Camp Kinder Ring, the children's camp operated by the Los Angeles branch of the Workmen's Circle, a liberal Jewish worker's rights organization.  The history of Camp Kinder Ring has also been discussed previously in this blog.  Lorimer had been a hired man in Colorado and Idaho before coming to California and married his Arkansas-born wife in the early 1920s.  Lorimer also remained the area for many years, dying in Brea in 1969 at age 80.

Next to the Camp Kinder Ring facility was Benjamin (Bernardo) T. Belardes, age 44, who was listed as a "stock farm manager," or cattle ranch foreman.  Belardes had a notable background.  He was born at San Juan Capistrano in 1882 to Teodosio Belardes and Ramona Yorba.  Ramona, born in 1852, was from the famed Orange County family and her father was Domingo, son of Jose Antonio Yorba II, whose parents were the patriarchs of the family, Jose Antonio Yorba and Josefa Grijalva, and Catalina Verdugo (her family was, in 1784, given one of the first land grants in California, covering what is now Glendale and surrounding areas).  Jose Antonio Yorba II was the owner of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in what is now central Orange County, which he sold to Joaquin Sepulveda of Los Angeles, and then bought the Rancho Niguel, further south.  Benjamin's mother was born in what was known as the Domingo Adobe, still standing on Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano.  Domingo Yorba had married Maria Rios, whose family was prominent in the mission town and still resides in San Juan.  Teodosio Belardes and Ramona Yorba had twelve children, of whom nine were still living at San Juan Capistrano in 1900, including the eldest, Bernardo, working then as a laborer on his father's farm.  A decade later, Benjamin, newly married to a California-born woman of Irish heritage named Emma, was living in Anaheim, working as a laborer, and the couple had the first child, a boy named after his father.  In 1918, Belardes was in Hynes, a dairy community in southeast Los Angeles County that was later renamed Paramount.  At the 1920 census, the family, with three children, was still in the area, living at Artesia, before migrating to Carbon Canyon during the following decade.  It seems likely that Belardes supervised the cattle ranch on what is now the Oak Tree Estates/Downs area and Western Hills Golf Course.

Also shown as in Sleepy Hollow was 67-year old Lucius Rosenberg and his 64-year old spouse, Matilda and the two were renting a house.  Rosenberg was the son of a doctor and spent much of his childhood in western Illinois near Peoria and close to Iowa, where his wife was from.  In 1920, prior to coming to Sleepy Hollow, the Rosenbergs, who married about 1890 and lived in Colorado for a time, resided in Redondo Beach with a seventeen year old son, and Lucius and his son, George, both worked as steamfitters in an iron foundry.

Next to the Rosenbergs were Roy and Grace Rand, both 46 and from Minnesota, with Roy listed as a farmer, an occupation he had worked in from childhood.  Roy was from Warsaw, a town south of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and his parents were 1840s migrants to the state from Canada.  After his father's death, Roy, the youngest of ten children, moved with his widowed mother and two siblings to the larger town of Faribault, just east of Warsaw.  Married in 1918, the Rands moved to Burlington, a sparsely populated area of Minnesota, just east of Fargo, North Dakota, before relocating to Sleepy Hollow by 1930.

Adjacent to the Rands was the only Sleepy Hollow founder, aside from Cleve Purington's widow and children, to live in the communty in 1930.  This was English native George Wanley, age 51, who lived with his Iowa-born wife Grace, and he will be covered in a subsequent post on the creators of the neighborhood.

Finally, there was farmer Chester H. Roberts, 47, and his 41-year old wife May, both from Massachusetts.  Chester was from Gloucester, the noted coastal community, where he was plumber's apprentice in 1900 at age 18 and then a ship's painter a decade later.  As late as World War I, he was still in his hometown, but it is not known when he came to California and then to Sleepy Hollow, where they owned their spread.

It is noteworthy that, of the three dozen residents of Sleepy Hollow in May 1930, only six were children under 18.  Only three more were in their 20s, while half a dozen were 64 or older.  Six were from outside of the United States, including three from England, one Austrian, one Hungarian and one Italian.  Of the seventeen households, eleven were homeowners, but the highest declared home value was $4,000, meaning that the residences were all likely small and modest. 

Of course, the community was known to have been a place for small cabins built for weekend getaways, so it is very likely that there were many more than 17 structures and, if 9 May 1930 was a weekday, there would have been plenty of people not counted in the census who were part-time residents or vacationers who would have been in Sleepy Hollow in weekends or when summer came along several weeks later.