Where Is 'Riverdale' Really Located?
Despite its decidedly darker tone, Riverdale is supposed to be an all-American town. Even with a [...]
Despite its decidedly darker tone, Riverdale is supposed to be an all-American town. Even with a serial killer tormenting the town, there's still community celebrations, a "wrong side of the tracks," a hometown newspaper, and even local politics. But even with all Riverdale's small-town charm, it does still have its mysteries -- and we're not talking about what the Lodges are really up to or who the Black Hood is. The big mystery is where Riverdale is supposedly located.
As with all of the cities on The CW's comic book-inspired series, Riverdale isn't a real place, but even if the town doesn't appear on any map that doesn't mean it can't be found, and one clever and thorough fan on Reddit thinks they've done it. A user going by "srq2033" posted to the Riverdale subreddit recently that they think Archie Andrews and his friends live in New York state, specifically the Rockland/Westchester County area.
The evidence they break down is pretty straightforward. They cite a bus bound for Mamaroneck in the series' first season. In the episode "Chapter Twelve: Anatomy of a Murder", Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is on bus bound for the town. In real life, it's a town located just north of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York. They also cite that New York City -- where Veronica (Camila Mendes) is from -- is simply referred to as "the city," which is common for people around New York. There's also a mention of Riverdale being in Rockland County, which is a county in New York. This connection is made a little stronger by another tidbit of information that another town in Rockland County is named Ramapo, which in the Native American language Lenape means "sweet water."
Riverdale does have a Sweet Water River.
While the poster on Reddit doesn't get too deep into other bits of evidence -- such as Archie (KJ Apa) being able to easily travel to New York City to beat up Nick St. Clair at his prep school as well as multiple mentions of Canadian cities not being terribly far away -- there's another tie that might connect Riverdale to New York state as well as place the location for Netflix's upcoming The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series. On Riverdale, Sabrina's hometown of Greendale is said to be fairly close by with the town being generally across the river. In the 1996 Sabrina the Teenage Witch series on ABC, the titular Sabrina lived in Massachusetts. Should the Netflix series place Sabrina in Massachusetts while still keeping the town named Greendale, Riverdale being located in New York would work. The Hudson River runs through part of New York state not terribly far from the Massachusetts state line.
Wherever Riverdale is located, the town has plenty of drama on the horizon. When the show returns from a brief break on April 18th, it will be the with "A Night to Remember" with Riverdale High putting on their production of Carrie: The Musical, an event that Sprouse said during a panel at the recent PaleyFest would have a tragic turn.
"I don't think it'd be Riverdale if there wasn't something tragic about a musical episode," he said. "It can be a breath of fresh air for people who have been watching a debilitating series of events for these characters. But we still find a way to pick you up and slam you back down."
Do you think Riverdale is located in New York or do you have another geographical idea? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
