‘Round the Square: Is that weird?
ODD NAMES: Pennsylvania has some unique town names. They might now be weird to us, but folks in other places sure think we’re strange.
A list on WanderWisdom.com includes places like Big Run and Burning Well, Clearfield and Erie. Huh.
We know we have towns named Intercourse, Blue Ball, Bird-In-Hand, Paradise and Beaver.
We weren’t familiar with some of these others. There’s Asylum and Bumpville in Bradford County. Balls Mills in Lycoming County was named by Bill Ball for the family mill.
Bath Addition is in Bucks County, Beach Lake — totally inland — is in Wayne County, Chinchilla is in Lackawanna County.
Crackersport is in Lehigh County, Drums in Luzerne County, Echo in Armstrong County, Egypt in the Lehigh Valley, Forty Fort in Luzerne County and the now-defunct Free Love Valley.
Glen Campbell has nothing to do with the singer, but Glen comes from the Scottish word meaning valley and Campbell was the surname of the supervisor of the local coal company.
The region of Gravity in Wayne County was named for the gravity railroad system.
Honey Hole in Luzerne County is named for a sweet fishing spot. Hop Bottom in Susquehanna County was once known for its hops grown for regional breweries.
Intercourse. We’ve all heard of this town. It’s an Amish village where the early usage of the word commonly referred to a commercial or trading site. It’s a common tourist site for its suggestive name and for the Amish country.
Many towns were named after the hometowns of settlers — Moscow, Jersey Shore, Nebraska, Norwegian and St. Petersburg. And we have Yellow House, Two Lick Valley, Virginville, and Prosperity.
Is that weird?