# Most interesting thing about your hometown **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719 "2010-11-06T18:25:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/21 "2010-11-06T22:28:47Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > Mine too! 🆒 What a shocking coincidence! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/22 "2010-11-06T23:10:22Z")
King John died in Newark castle and Lord Byron had his first book printed and published here. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/23 "2010-11-06T23:32:38Z")
[World’s Largest Tree Crusher.](http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/crusher.htm) It does exactly what it’s name says. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/24 "2010-11-07T02:26:53Z")
The town’s golf course is shaped like the Playboy bunny because Hugh Hefner was going to build his mansion there (then changed his mind). It’s also one of the first planned communities in the US (after Levittown, etc.), as well as one of the first racially integrated communities. It’s not actually properly designated as a “town,” it’s a group of housing associations. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/25 "2010-11-07T02:50:48Z")
The turkey pop-up timer was invented and is [manufactured here](http://www.volkenterprises.com/). Yes, we’re dull. However, Modesto is north of here, hometown of George Lucas and inspiration for _American Graffiti_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/26 "2010-11-07T02:51:25Z")
My current home town, the city of Panama, is the only place I know of where the name of the city, its political subdivision, and its country are all the same. City: Panama Province: Panama Country: Panama ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/27 "2010-11-07T03:04:25Z")
My hometown was the staging point for George Washington’s army during the Whiskey Rebellion. It was the home of Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner in the early part of the 20th century. Every major Army General of the last 60 years has lived here at some point. It was the northernmost major town invaded by the Confederate States of America during the Gettysburg Campaign and the old courthouse still bears the scars from the battle. Molly Pitcher is buried here. Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/28 "2010-11-07T03:09:39Z")
[Parry Sound, Ontario.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parry_Sound,_Ontario) Bobby Orr, the greatest NHL defenseman of all time, is from there. Former Premier of Ontario, Ernie Eves, lived there for a long time. There was also a large cordite factory set up in the nearby village of Nobel. Said cordite was stashed in old freight sheds in the former town of [Depot Harbour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depot_Harbour,_Ontario), which had basically been abandoned after the railway stopped going there. During preparations for VJ Day celebrations, a gust of wind picked up some embers from a bonfire and carried it over to the freight sheds. Cue Earth Shattering Kaboom, and a fire so bright you could read a newspaper on the streets of Parry Sound, close to ten miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/29 "2010-11-07T03:25:39Z")
Jon Benet Ramsey ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/30 "2010-11-07T03:32:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Mine is the home of the first ironworks in America, and of 2 of the top 3 grossing restaurants in the US. Except for the First Ironworks in America in Quincy, MA! (Strictly speaking, established first, but didn’t last as long – Saugus was a more economical site) I could’vesworn that one of the towns in NJ claimed the title of Oldest Ironworks in America, too. My hometown in NJ is the hometown of writers Janet Evanovixh and Troy Soos, and football players Drew Pearson, Joe Theisman, and Alex Wojciechowicz. Not to mention artist Joe Csatari, assistant to Normal Rockwell, and who took over his commissions after he died (lots of my neighbors showed up as characters in his Boy Scout paintings). aside from that, not nuch – Harry Houdini reportedly escaped from a straitjacket in a speeding car rushing down the street a block from my elementary school. Pepper Mill’s hometown is more interesting – it’s where the Nartians landed in the Orson Wells version of _War of the Worlds_ broadcast in 1938. Scripter Howard Koch reportedly thought it sounded rural and believable. There’s a monument to it now in a park there: > **[File:Landingsite statue.JPG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Landingsite_statue.JPG)** > > Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. The following 5 pages use this file: ---
**Author:** ![shannahc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@shannahc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shannahc)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/31 "2010-11-07T04:00:54Z")
It’s the location of the world’s [largest man-made accidental explosion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_explosion). ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/32 "2010-11-07T04:17:10Z")
Elvis Presley, particularly Graceland. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/33 "2010-11-07T05:18:15Z")
Abraham Lincoln’s parents lived there (before Abe was born) in a cabin that Thomas built, which is still there. It’s not on the original site though. The L & N railroad started there. General John Hunt Morgan shelled the town during the Civil War. There’s a cannon ball in the wall of a building on the town square that was supposedly fired by Morgan’s troops. Custer and the 7th cavalry were stationed there for a couple of years. The house Custer and his wife lived in is still there. My sister was married there. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/34 "2010-11-07T05:23:23Z")
Some of you, especially UK, NZ, or AU folks, may have been [Plunket Babies](http://www.plunket.org.nz/), or were looked after by [Karitane Nurses](http://www.blissfulbabies.co.nz/nurse.html#nurse). Well, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karitane) is where I grew up, and it’s where Sir Truby King started the Plunket movement. Also of minor note, Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig filmed part of [a movie they were in](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_%282003_film%29) there. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/35 "2010-11-07T08:47:55Z")
People you may know from my town: Doug Free, offensive lineman for the NFL Dallas Cowboys Kathy (Behnke) Sleckman, contestant on Survivor: Micronesia Otherwise our claim to fame is that in 1962 a 20 pound chunk of the Russian satellite Sputnik 4 landed on our main street. Just recently there has been a festival started to mark the anniversary of this event. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/36 "2010-11-07T12:20:07Z")
My original hometown is the only town I’ve ever heard of that served as [a national capital for a single day.](http://timelines.com/1777/9/27/lancaster-pennsylvania-is-the-capital-of-the-united-states-for-one-day) Other than that, it’s a surprisingly boring place that tourists flock to for their own bizarre reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/37 "2010-11-07T12:30:12Z")
I’m from the same town (now city) as [Gordon Pinsent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Pinsent). (And a handful of other relatively famous people, but Gordon is the most interesting one.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/38 "2010-11-07T13:33:46Z")
It has the longest one in the world! (Well, at any rate, the longest one used primarily for [pleasure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southend_Pier).) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/39 "2010-11-07T14:04:45Z")
Winston Churchill gave his Iron Curtain speech in my hometown. Henry Bellaman, author of _King’s Row_, is from there. My current town? We have a goat. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/40 "2010-11-07T16:03:33Z")
Lots of cool things about my city, but I enjoy pointing out that it is the world’s most populous island on fresh water. We also had the world’s first wholly rubber-tired metro and the world’s first successful surgical removal of a kidney. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719.md?page=3)