Allentown: National Online News Site Covers Inbred Tag

I Spent a lot of time making fun of Allentown -- I even did a song. I actually had a DOT worker knock on my door when I lived in Saratoga and warn me to stop. There were rumors that State Troopers would not go up there without backup. Domestic disputes happened all the time. Here is a piece about a 1975 documentary on Allentown. Oh….I currently live out of state and have legally changed my name. The music shops can't keep the banjos on the shelf and the Dollar Store has a wedding registry!!!

The Hollow is a 1975 documentary about the inbred hillbilly residents of an area of New York State in Saratoga County known informally as “Allentown” for reasons that soon become abundantly clear. It begins with the following text:

Early in the 19th Century two families, the Allens and Kathans, settled in the Southern Adirondack Mountains of New York State. By 1960’s their descendants had isolated themselves in a remote hollow high in the mountains. Below lay the great Sacandaga Valley. Its rich lands rapidly filled with farms, factories and mills.

By the end of the century, the Allens and the Kathans had intermarried: all the residents in the Hollow were related. Because of their isolation, misunderstandings developed between them and the outside world.

The economic disasters of the 1930s shut down the factories and mills. In 1932 the Sacandaga River was dammed, flooding the fertile valley below the Hollow. Forced from their homes, the valley residents sought employment elsewhere, but the Allens and Kathans chose to remain up in the mountains.