I’ll start with Weed, California, in far northern California near Mount Shasta. The town is named after a man named Abner Weed, but of course they play up the slang meaning of weed for the tourists.
And speaking of weed, the Bong Bridge connects Superior, Wisconsin to Duluth, Minnesota. It’s named after WWII fighter pilot Richard I. Bong, who was born in Superior. There’s also a Richard I. Bong Memorial Airport in Superior, also named after Major Bong. Heh heh, “major bong”.
On a different note, there’s a town called Hell in Norway. I’m sure it means something completely innocent in Norwegian, but it sounds funny to English speakers for obvious reasons.
Intercourse, Pennsylvania (Note this is in Amish country):
Intercourse was founded in 1754.[4] The community was originally named “Cross Keys”, after a local tavern. Intercourse became the name in 1814. The village website gives several theories for the origins of the name:
Another theory concerns two famous roads that crossed here. The Old King’s highway from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (now the Old Philadelphia Pike) ran east and west through the center of the town. The road from Wilmington to Erie intersected in the middle. The joining of these two roads is claimed by some to be the basis for the town ‘Cross Keys’ or eventually ‘Intercourse’.[5] A final idea comes from the use of language during the early days of the village. The word ‘intercourse’ was commonly used to describe the ‘fellowship’ and ‘social interaction and support’ shared in the community of faith, which was much a part of a rural village like this one.[5]
Another theory is that it is derived from a sign at an old racecourse on the edge of town which said “Enter course”.[6]
Licking, Missouri is named after a mineral lick in the area.
One night while I was working in public safety communications, I heard a dispatcher ask on the air if another agency had an officer in the Licking area.
Boring, Oregon is named after soldier and pioneer William Boring.
It is it is twinned or rather “tripletted” with Dull in Scotland which is thought to be named after the Pictish for “water-meadow, haugh” and Bland, NSW named after surgeon William Bland.
Nobody really knows the origin of Accident, Maryland’s name, but one popular story says that Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr., friends from Prince George’s County, were conducting separate surveys in the area at the time and “by accident” Deakins claimed land already surveyed by Beall.
I’ve been there. There’s a nice creamery there but otherwise if the sign wasn’t there you’d never know it was a town, it’s that small. They don’t have a traffic light or even a stop sign on Main Street, which is really just the Garrett Highway.
French Lick, Indiana, was originally a French trading post built near a spring and a salt lick.
Twatt, Shetland, Scotland
Twatt, Orkney, Scotland
from their Wikipedia pages:
The settlement name originates from the Old Norseþveit, meaning ‘small parcel of land’. The Norse word commonly produces in England the place name element Thwaite.
If I ever become a gazillionaire, I am going to visit both towns, find a worthy gentlemen with family roots in both communities, and bribe lobby the Crown to make him a Lord of Parliament.
And, just a few miles away from Intercourse is Blue Ball, PA; it gets its name from an inn which was located there, which had, as its sign, a blue ball on a post.
Near me is a town called Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. During prohibition the town was at a crossroads that made liquor running a big thing. Because of the stills and liquor transport that was going on, the town earned the nickname “Helltown”.
When zip codes were distributed, Mount Pleasant was happy to be given 15666 even though it was suggested the number be skipped.
Today, a local brewery named Helltown produces great craft beer there. They name their beers with Hell associated names. They’ve done some collaborations with All Saints Brewing. Very cool stuff.
There’s also Bird-In-Hand, Pa. Big Amish population. From the wiki page: “The town is home to the Bank of Bird-in-Hand, the first bank in the United States to open following the passage of the Dodd -Frank Act.”
