You Live Where?

Have you ever wondered how towns get their names? While watching news coverage of storms the other night, meteorologists kept zooming in on little towns some people have probably never heard of, which made me a little curious.

Some towns are named after animals like: Little Crab, Squirrel Flat (did someone run over a squirrel and decide to name a town after it?), Frog Pond, Gnat Hill (this is Tennessee; I know there are plenty of gnats), Possum Trot, and Beaver Hill. Some are named after hills and valleys like: Minor Hill (is there a Major Hill somewhere?), Middle Valley (what is it in the middle of?), Happy Hill (that sounds like a nice place to live).

Mt. Pleasant is located near Mt. Joy. There is also a town called Friendship (those all sound really idealic, don't they?). There is a town called Bible Hill (now that sounds like a really good place).

Here are some others that caught my attention: Yell (is that located in a holler?), Moss, Only, Prospect, Lick Skillet (did you know this town got its name after hungry campers made a dinner and one camper showed up after all of the food had already been eaten? So he licked the skillet, thus the name, Lick Skillet), Wheel, Sharp Place (is there a Dull Place?), Speck, and there is even a town named Nameless (Nameless has several legends about where its name originated from. One of those legends is: when the residents applied for a post office, they left the place for their town name blank and the post office sent the application back stamped "Nameless". The name, or lack there of, stuck).

Now, I know you usually do not sit around thinking about unusual town names, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered, "Where did these names come from?". I looked up a few on the internet, to see if there were stories behind their names, but did not have much luck. Maybe you will be able to find some more silly town names if you decide to do a little research of your own. Have fun!

-Holly

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