Anyplace can be named after a dead President. long ago fought battle or a civic minded leader. These places add local color to any journey.
Sweetlips, Tennessee supposedly got its name when a returning Confederate soldier bent down over a running creek, scooped up some water and declared it sweet to his lips.
Probably the person who drank from Kentucky’s Laurel Branch stream did not have the same lovely experience. The nearest settlement is called Tacky Town for reasons unknown.
Near Pecan Gap, Texas (a colorful name on its own) is Jot ‘Em Down. Little remains of the small community, which took its name from a 1930’s radio show. In fact whenever the State Highway Commission has erected signs marking the town – they are often stolen the same day.
Forty miles north of Houston, an early confrontation among church folk lead to their town being called Cut and Shoot.
Oklahoma seems to have a thing for towns describing the way a person’s looks. There is Greasy, Bowlegs and Bushyhead.
To be fair – Okies are also literary minded with the towns of Welty and Seqouyah and Arkansas gives homage to Hardy and Fitzgerald while Louisiana rounds it off with Joyce and Homer.
In the Deep South – deep hues rule with Mississippi’s Ecru, named after the post office was freshly painted and Moss, located north of Hattiesburg.
One does not have to imagine far on the identity of the local pests in Gnatville, Alabama or Sandfly, Georgia
Fiddlesticks, Florida off the Gulf of Mexico and near Fort Myers was not musically named. Instead the word refers to golf clubs, and the private course there.
In South Carolina – the town of Cheddar is pronounced SHED-ur. Now I’ve been through the state’s Moncks Corner quite a few times but have yet to see any sandaled, coarse robed guys standing by street intersections.
But then again I was headed for Meat Camp NC, and probably hungry for lunch.
