Welcome to Podunk, New York, located in Tompkins County.Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@nyup.com
Posted on 05/26/2025 8:33:16 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
"A hypothetical small town regarded as typically dull or insignificant."
That's the definition Google assigns to the word "Podunk." For many it's a mythical place filled with country bumpkins and nothing to do.
As it turns out, Podunk actually exists and it's right in Upstate New York.
There are no official signs to let you know you've arrived, other than map coordinates and the nod of a street sign reading "Podunk Road," but one can actually visit the hamlet of Podunk, New York. The tiny no-stoplight-town, made up of a handful of houses, is inside the town [township] of Ulysses, nestled within the village of Trumansburg.
There is the Podunk Cross Country Ski Center, but even that is in Covert, north of Podunk itself. And, as if to keep itself a mystery, Covert is sometimes listed as Trumansburg or Interlaken.
Map coordinates will take you to the heart of Podunk and you leave almost as soon as you arrive. The hamlet's Pennsylvania Ave. is decidedly less grand, though possibly more scenic than the nation's capitol avenue of the same name, as it is sandwiched between Bolter Creek and Taughannock Creek.
The tiny town is a six minute drive from picturesque Taughannock Falls State Park and 20 minutes away from downtown Ithaca.
While taking photo evidence that I was in Podunk, a local man leaving his house said, "You should see this place in the fall, it's really colorful."
...This Tompkins County dwelling is not alone. There is a Podunk in Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Michigan...
The word itself was traced back to Algonquin origins, according to NPR, though no one is exactly sure what it means.
(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...
Welcome to Podunk, New York, located in Tompkins County.Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@nyup.com
Podunk is not just an imaginary place but also the name of several real towns in the United States. There are towns named Podunk in Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Michigan.Is Podunk a Village? [Brave search]
Stay out of South Podunk after dark.
Piffle - my town is just a wide space on the road, one general store, one restaurant and one tavern/restaurant. Oh, and a post office.
Not far from where I grew up in north-central PA. Beautiful area w/ amazing lakes if you like that. Comes w/ NY state taxes though, so the PA wilds are a better option.
“Stay out of South Podunk after dark.”
Is that the same as Chris Rock’s advice on South Kackalackey? 😉
Not to be confused with Boondocks, USA, on I-35 in Iowa.
The town of podunk is in Connecticut.
As noted above.
Heh... there’s also Peculiar, Cass County, Missouri, and their motto is “Where the ‘odds’ are with you”.
Michigan has both Hell and Paradise. We have a Montague, but not a Capulet. OTOH, as with US most states, we have Springfield, and in reference to Roman myth, we have a Romulus and a Remus. Also there's a Ganges, named after the river in India, but no one knows why.
My hometown is just a spit and stone’s throw away from the official PODUNK. Never heard of it but know the area..my town didn’t even have “one horse”...no signal lights..a couple of STOP signs - main highway from Binghamton to Ithaca. I had it on GoogleMap the other day to show my caregiver and she said, “does anyone live there?”
The trick would be finding it. :^)
Yep - lake country is beautiful - beautiful parks - Watkins Glen, Taughannock Falls, Buttermilk - had lots of Sunday School picnics and family reunions in the parks...lots of walking when young...wouldn’t want to - unable to - today!
I worked in a summer camp in a small village during my college years. I remember the big news in town one year is that they got curbs in the main street going thru the village. It did have a light, but only a flashing one.
CC
We have no stop signs through the main road through town, neither stop lights either; the speed limit goes from 50mph before town, 40 through the wide space then back up to 50. Elk like to roam the main road at times.
Most names around here are tribal names, we’ve five native tribes in the area.
Piffle - my town is just a wide space on the road, one general store, one restaurant and one tavern/restaurant. Oh, and a post office.
My entire county has just one redlight. DC bureaucrats do not want places like we live in to exist. If people are all corralled into urban areas, we are easier to control.
True that. From one large town south of us to the next largest town north of us a distance of almost 100 miles, there are no traffic lights even in little wide spot towns.
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