Sleepy Hollow
Reclaiming a Lost Identity
Henry John Steiner took on
the roles of co-campaign manager and media spokesman during the 1996 renaming
of historic Sleepy Hollow. The village
had been named North Tarrytown when first incorporated in 1874, though the
historic valley of Sleepy Hollow lies within its borders. The renaming required years of public
education and personal commitment to bring about.
Reflections on the Sleepy Hollow Renaming
by Henry John Steiner
The year 2001 marks the fifth anniversary of the
Sleepy Hollow renaming. Recently, I
heard with interest that the reason the proponents had worked so long and hard
for the Sleepy Hollow name change was “to raise real estate values in the
village.” This is very far from the
case, but I can understand the wish to tie the complex reasons for renaming
into a concept so easily grasped. I
believe that mistaken notion has been, to some degree, fueled by the media
which is (often rightly) suspicious that a primarily commercial motive lurks
behind every politically controversial proposal.
Equally untrue was the claim that the name change was
all about tourism. The renaming was not
intended to be an economic magic bullet producing a one-step turn-around. Rather, it was maintained that the renaming
would serve as a banner for economic revitalization, setting a tone for
progress on that front.
As co-manager of the 1996 renaming effort, I was
impressed with the diverse reasons which brought people to favor the adoption
of Sleepy Hollow as the village name. It
seemed that each proponent of renaming had a unique perspective.
My own experience with renaming began many years ago
as a 7th grade social studies student at Washington Irving Junior High School. We were told that, historically, the area
north of Tarrytown was known as Sleepy Hollow.
My immediate reaction was, “Then why isn’t it called that?” It was another twenty-six years before I
asked the question again.
As an adult, my reasons for favoring a renaming were
many. Foremost was the idea that the
name Sleepy Hollow would link our community to its famous heritage—a link which
had been largely obscured by time. It
was not just that folks from other areas were unaware of the connection between
the village and the well-known Sleepy Hollow of Washington Irving, it appeared
that a substantial number of our own residents were unaware of the tie. The village was entitled to reclaim this
significant 19th century icon as its own and, in so doing, reclaim it for
America and the world. I also felt that
a new name—our internationally famous name—would go a long way to resolve
confusion over the village’s distinctly separate status.
I viewed the name Sleepy Hollow as a powerful village
resource which lay fallow at a time when we could ill-afford to leave it
untapped. Moreover, I believed the name
change could raise the quality of life for villagers in general. If I had any reservation about renaming, it
was in knowing that my aspirations for the village were in conflict with views
of more than a few of my friends and neighbors, who felt that an important part
of their heritage was linked with the name North Tarrytown. I still respect their views, and I see that
name as an essential and inseparable part of our village experience.
But to return to where I began—nearly every resident
of the village, by now, has had some particular experience relating to the name
change. In the years that followed, on
countless occasions, I have heard the words which were repeated only two days
ago. A young couple walked into my
office and said, “We’re looking for a place in Sleepy Hollow. It’s the name—we just like it.”
