Marietta, Ohio a town of about 14,000 near Ohio’s border with West Virginia was named for the French queen Marie Antoinette. She married the future King of France called Louis XVI when she was 15. Marietta was the first permanent settlement in the USA in the territory north and west of the Ohio River. For some reason the settlers thought it was a good idea to name their town after her.
Attica, New York, was named for the dry triangular plain in Greece where the city of Athens was built. It is one of the many words from the ancient Greek language used to name towns. There are several towns in the United States named after gods and goddesses and Greek Mythology. For example, there are Athenas in Oregon and Florida, Apollos in Pennsylvania and Florida, and an Arcadia in California.
One of my favorite weird names for towns is in my adopted state of Washington. Did you ever hear of a town named Humptulips? It exists. This town was named for a river and has a population of about 250.
When Ruth and I were in Cornwall a few years ago, I fell in love with the name of a series of islands off its coast. We had breakfast with a woman who was going there. Called the Isles of Scilly, they have a population of 2,224. Hugh Town, its principal settlement, has a population of 985. Five of these islands that everyone with a straight face calls The Silly Isles are inhabited. There are 140 of them totally, and their highest elevation is 167 feet. These islands are part of the British Empire.
When we were in Arizona recently, Ruth and I met a couple with a motorhome that was on a road it should never have been on. They had, fortunately, gotten gas for it in the town of Mexican Water. Mexican Water is a settlement on Navajo land 14 miles from Red Mesa. This town has a trading post with a gas station.
Hank
Security Conscious 