August 7, 2020

Towns Named Richmond

By roads-rus

When I google most common town names in the world, Richmond shows up on many lists. According to the on-line version of England’s The Daily Mail, Richmond is the British town name most used around the world. There are Richmonds on 3 continents–North America, Europe, and Africa. Three Dukes of Richmond account for this explosion.

There are reportedly at least 30 Richmonds in the United States. The ones in Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, and California are fairly large; but most of them like the Richmonds in Kansas and 3 New England States are villages at best or are unincorporated. There’s a Richmond where I came from, but the word “Heights” has been added to it. Richmond Heights is a ring community that was once pretty affluent but like most big city ring communities close to the city center it has become somewhat less so. Its name might eventually change since it was suggested by Robert E. Lee, who thought that its placement resembled Richmond, Virginia, the largest Richmond in the world for now. Richmond, BC may become larger soon.

In Canada there’s also a Richmond in Ontario, but it’s much smaller than the Vancouver area Richmond. According to Barclay Simpson, who has written a book about The Richmonds in our world, there are 6 Richmonds in Canada. The one in Nova Scotia was once fairly large, but most of it was destroyed in the Halifax Explosion of 1917. The Richmond In South Africa near Cape Town is well promoted, but the one that is part of Johannesburg is less so. Perhaps over time their names will change too. There are Richmonds in 4 of the six political entities in Australia. Only Western Australia and The Northern Territory lack Richmonds. There are at least 4 Richmonds in Great Britain. Sir Mick Jagger of Rolling Stones fame, according to The Daily Mail, lives in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames.

Proving that fame is fleeting, Dwayne Johnson is considered by some to be the most famous person in the world. You may be more familiar with his nickname, The Rock. Along the same lines, 2 still alive and fairly famous celebrities, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty who are brother and sister, were born in Richmond, VA; but they didn’t stay there for very long.

Hank

About roads-rus

Since the beginning, I've had to avoid writing about the downside of travel in order to sell more than 100 articles. Just because something negative happened doesn't mean your trip was ruined. But tell that to publishers who are into 5-star cruise and tropical beach fantasies. I want to tell what happened on my way to the beach, and it may not have been all that pleasant. My number one rule of the road is...today's disaster is tomorrow's great story. My travel experiences have appeared in about twenty magazines and newspapers. I've been in all 50 states more than once and more than 50 countries. Ruth and I love to travel internationally--Japan, Canada, China, Argentina, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, etc. Within the next 2 years we will have visited all of the European countries. But our favorite destination is Australia. Ruth and I have been there 9 times. I've written a book about Australia's Outback, ALONE NEAR ALICE, which is available through both Amazon & Barnes & Noble. My first fictional work, MOVING FORWARD, GETTING NOWHERE, has recently been posted on Amazon. It's a contemporary, hopefully funny re-telling of The Odyssey. View all posts by roads-rus
This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2020 at 11:13 pm and posted in Town Names. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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