Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow is a popular tourist destination in the easternmost portion of Nalké, especially during the autumn and early winter of each year. Because of a mysterious curse laid upon the village during the First Age by the pumpkinhead preacher Pedro Partridge, the evenings between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice grow far darker far faster than anywhere else in the world. As a result, Sleepy Hollow is the best place in Eden to celebrate the year-ending Festival of the Five Moons. And Halloween here ain’t half-bad either.
Late in the Second Age, when the Headless Horseman decided to make the village one of his regular haunts, the businessman Baltus van Tassel feared that business at his family’s bustling bed & breakfast would dry up. And yet, after a moonlight meeting between the two, some sort of deal was worked out and Van Tassel was able to accurately proclaim that no harm would come to those who stayed as his hotel. Predictably, business soared. People came to Sleepy Hollow because it was spooky. The Horseman just made it spookier. And all a visitor had to do to stay safe during their visit was rent a room at old Baltus van Tassel’s place, they were happy to do it.
Geography
The village is nestled into a glen carved into the Highlandian Mountains by the River Bidness. It is here, at Sleepy Hollow, that the river makes its final bend toward the Loch of Keys. And it is here, in the town’s eponymous hollow that Ichabod Crane is said to have been struck down by the Headless Horseman himself.
Architecture
The town bears a striking resemblence to the colonial towns of Northeastern America as they stood in the late seventeenth century. Some eighteenth and nineteenth century embellishments were added over time, but like other touristy towns in Eden—such as far-off Uptown—development of the town has been artificially arrested to give it that “authentic” feeling.
Notable Landmarks
The Old Dutch Cemetery and the adjacent bridge are the most popular draws in town. The nearby Van Tassel House remains the most popular hotel in the area. And taking a photo with the statue of the Horseman in the town square, erected by Katrina van Tassel near the end of the Second Age, is a must-do experience for every visitor.
I am really curious to know what was in that moonlight deal between the Horseman and van Tassel!
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