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The "Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang" (shown on the right) was a western music vocal/musical group active in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The original members were brothers Uncle Elmer Newman and Pancake Pete Newman and sisters Sophie and Julie Murray. Sophie and Pete married in 1936; Julie
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and Elmer married in 1937. They ran a country music themed amusement park, "Sleepy Hollow Ranch" from the 1940s to 1963 in Quakertown near Philadelphia in Milford Township. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Sleepy Hollow Ranch was really the center of Country & Western music in the East. The Sleepy Hollow Ranch was known to be a local "Hot Spot" that opened in 1940 and remained a major country & western destination for almost a quarter of a century. It was usually always open on Sundays and holiday Mondays and offered a wide variety of activities: many games, pony rides, concession stands, rodeo, square dancing, country music and hymns with the Sleepy Hollow Gang, local talent, plus many stars from Hollywood to Nashville, Tennessee. The Sleepy Hollow Gang's reputation attracted entertainers such as Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, Tex Ritter, George Jones, Porter Wagoner, Eddie Arnold, Loretta Lynn, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Sally Starr, Minnie Pearl, Jimmy Dean, Elton Britt and the Carter Family. On a  typical weekend, about 1,000 people would attend, with attendance rising to 8,000 when stars performed. Read about Bob Nolan and his private collection of pictures at Sleepy Hollow Ranch, 1941! Read the Wikipedia on Bob Nolan (04-13, 1908 - 06-16, 1980 at 72 years old). Bob Nolan was one of the founding members of the Sons of The Pioneers.
The Old Timers know! They remember the summer park on Sleepy Hollow Road at the end of Miller Road called Sleepy Hollow Ranch. Just ask Ray Heffentrager. Ya know, he rode there standing
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on the back of a horse and hanging from its side and you can check out the scar on his head where he took 13 stitches. You might think we're tootin' our own horn when we say it was the "Country and Western Capital of the East Coast". But that ain't far from the truth so help me. Sally Starr was a regular. Ever heard of Roy Rogers? Not country enough? How about Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones and Patsy Cline? Gene Autry, Jimmy Dean, Eddie Arnold, Bill Haley and the Saddlemen (later known as Bill Haley and His Comets, Frankie Avalon, the Carter Family, the Everly Brothers, the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers. Got yer attention yet? Did you ever hear the song "Cool Water" or "Tumblin Tumbleweeds".....cowboy songs that painted the West with a brush of music? They were written by Bob Nolan, and boy oh boy, was he swamped by fans when he showed up with the Sons of the Pioneers in 1941.
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"Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang" (Post Card)%20%2096.jpg)
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Sleepy Hollow Ranch and the "Ranch Gang" located along the old Route 663 which is now known as Sleepy Hollow Road, between Geryville and Spinnerstown, Bucks County. Prominent members of the Gang and owners of the enterprise were the Newman brothers, here standing next to their wives the Murray sisters. This country-western showplace drew large crowds back around the middle of the twentieth century, providing a venue for many of the prominent artists of the time.
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The Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang |
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The Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang from many years ago appearing on stage at The Sleepy Hollow Ranch. From left is Pee Wee Miller, Mama Julie Murray Newman, Daddy Uncle Elmer Newman, Monty Rosci, Uncle Pancake Pete Newman and Aunt Shopie Murray Newman are appearing at Pennsburg, Pennsylvania.
The early years of Sophie and Julie Murray in the beginning of the Sleepy Hollow Ranch Gang days.
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The Day The Music Died! A Brief History Of Sleepy Hollow Ranch. Click Here!
News Article! It's been more than 50 years since the devastating fire of 1963 tore through the Sleepy Hollow Ranch in Milford Township, but.... Continue to Read More!
The Gang At The Sleepy Holloow Ranch - Photos, Comments And More!....>> Click Here!
About Milford Township
Milford Township is the northwestern cornerstone of Bucks County in southeastern Pennsylvania. Having been laid out by William Penn as his Bucks County "Dutch Township", it is steeped in the history of the early United States.
But long before the arrival of Europeans, the Lenape were stewards of the land with the Unami clan giving its name to the watershed that is essentially Milford.
Being in the Piedmont Plateau of the eastern United States, between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Mountains, Milford enjoys a temperate climate with four marked seasons. Deciduous forests predominate with considerable upland wetlands that led to the region's historical designation as the "Great Swamp", Milford
Township is connected to the adjacent Lehigh Valley (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton) and the nearby Philadelphia metropolitan area by the Pennsylvania turnpike and the Rt. 309 corridor while Rt. 663 provides the main link to Quakertown, Pennsburg and westward toward Reading.
With a balance of protected natural features and substantial human infrastructure, Milford is a tremendous community of caring and productive people
"CD" Song Titles And The Artists Who Sang The Music Of It's Time!
 All Aboard For Sleepy Hollow ~ Cowboy Dad - Murray Sisters ~ Westward Bound - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ Just Say So Long And Not Goodbye - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ It’s Hard To Say Goodbye - Pancake Pete Newman ~ Dilly Dally Polka ~ Sleepy Hollow Polka - Monty Rosci ~ I Wonder Where You Are Tonight - Murray Sisters ~ Peach Picking Time In Georgia - Pancake Pete Newman ~ Keep On The Sunny Side - Murray Sisters ~ I Hang My Head And Cry - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - Murray Sisters ~ Hobo Bill’s Last Ride - Pancake Pete Newman ~ Don’t You Cry Over Me - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ I’m Lonesome Now - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ I Was Never Nearer Heaven In My Life - Murray Sisters ~ Down Tumbleweed Trail - Carol Wynne ~ Wabash Cannonball - Uncle Elmer Newman ~ Little Green Valley - Murray Sisters ~ Sioux City Sue - Pancake Pete Newman ~ Do You Think It’s Fair - Pancake Pete Newman ~ No Vacancy - Pancake Pete Newman ~ You Never Loved Me - Murray Sisters ~ Prairie Lullaby - Carol Wynne ~ My Blue Ridge Mountain Home - Uncle Elmer & Pancake Pete Newman ~ Saddle Your Blues To A Wild Mustang - Carol Wynne.
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