America's Hogwarts Is In Massachusetts, J.K. Rowling Writes In New Story
ADAMS (CBS) – Harry Potter fans living in Massachusetts, rejoice: A new story from J.K. Rowling reveals that the American version of Hogwarts is located in the Bay State.
Rowling's latest screed can be read on the "Pottermore" website and serves as background for the upcoming feature film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." In it, she writes about a young Irish girl who sails to North America on the Mayflower and goes on to establish the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry "at the peak of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts."
Mount Greylock is the state's highest point and located in the town of Adams in Berkshire County.
Founded in the 17th century, Ilvermorny is described as "the great North American school of magic."
Students at the school are sorted into four houses, just as they are in Hogwarts. Some of the earliest pupils were magical children of the Wampanoag and Narraganset tribes, according to Rowling.
Young witches and wizards come from all over the continent to attend Ilvermorny, Rowling says. But if any Muggles (non-magical folk) plan to go looking for the school, there's bad news:
"It is concealed from non-magic gaze by a variety of powerful enchantments, which sometimes manifest in a wreath of misty cloud," Rowling writes.