BS: Confused Kentuckians

Subject: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 May 23 - 06:16 AM

Last night I sat down with the map of America in front of me and the with the TV on determined to get a proper undestanding of the Ken Burns series about the American Civil War - one final attempt.

I was looking at the map of Kentucky. and I was surprised how many British names
-Glasgow, Somerset, London, Winchester, Richmond
It must be very confusing for Kentuckians visiting the UK.

All those places - looking different and in a different place from where you left them.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Donuel
Date: 02 May 23 - 06:34 AM

And how did we get a Moscow Idaho?

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Charmion
Date: 02 May 23 - 09:44 AM

Do that map tour in southern Ontario, and you’ll find the same pattern. It’s the trail left by homesick immigrants clinging to wee bits of their old world.

I live in Stratford, on the (of course) Avon River. Drive southwest on Highway 7, and you’ll eventually bump into the city of London on the Thames River in Middlesex County. Take the same highway east out of Stratford, and you’ll pass the towns of New Hamburg and Baden on your way to Kitchener, which the first European settlers called Berlin.

In fact, head out in any direction from Stratford and you'll soon bump into a little dorp with a surprising name. Rostock, Dublin, Paris, Lucknow, Tilbury, Colchester, Listowel, Chatham, Woodstock, Tavistock, Alma, and dozens of others splattered across the landscape — every one a reminder of abandoned lives.

And every other city in southern Canada offers a similar hinterland tour. From Ottawa, for example, pop down the road to Kars (named for a Crimean battlefield), Richmond, Orleans (not the city in France), Perth, Limoges (where they don’t make porcelain), Wilno (settled by Poles), or Dunvegan. Name a region in Europe and you’ll eventually find one of its town names transplanted to Ontario.

No passport required.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 May 23 - 11:35 AM

I lived in Glasgow, KY for a couple of years in my wanderings as a seasonal park ranger. It's a beautiful area with rolling hills and large patches of the Eastern Hardwood forest to drive through. I was glad to leave; any time there was a heavy rain the iron in the soil leached into the water and would turn your laundry orange-brown if you weren't careful; we were in a dry county and had to drive 70 miles round trip to buy beer and wine; they had weird "blue laws" for what you could and couldn't buy on Sunday; and there were a lot of Good Ol' Boys who were still overtly racist and sexist.

Great caves, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 02 May 23 - 02:12 PM

For homesick Scandinavians, we have Upsala and Finmark, way the Hell and gone northwest of Thunder Bay. (Sorry about the spelling, BTW.)

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 May 23 - 03:47 PM

How to find Kentucky on the map

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Helen
Date: 02 May 23 - 05:51 PM

Here in the Hunter Valley area of NSW Australia, we have a lot of First Nations place names, but also a large proportion of names from UK and Ireland, but Welsh place names are very common in the coal mining areas of the valley.

Aberdeen, Aberdare, Aberglasslyn, a colliery called Stanford Merthyr (Stanford was the business name I think),Branxton, Lorn, Morpeth, Neath, Rothbury, Newcastle - with suburbs Gateshead, Hexham, Islington, Jesmond, Wallsend - and the city next door (Lake Macquarie) has suburbs Swansea, Cardiff, Toronto.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 May 23 - 10:03 PM

It is no surprise that the settlers of New England named their towns after ones in old England. I have often thought that it must make visitors from England a little dizzy to see their familiar town names all over the place.

Cambridge, MA is special: It was so named when Harvard University was founded, in recognition of its being a university town. The result is that in academia you must often specify which Cambridge you mean. (One may also find a town in Massachusetts called Harvard, and a college in Cambridge called Cambridge College.)

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 May 23 - 01:41 PM

I guess we're lucky they didn't call it Oxford, or worse yet, Oxbridge.
That would REALLY confuse the Kentuckians, sorry, I meant New Englanders.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Helen
Date: 07 May 23 - 04:19 PM

There is an area called New England here in Oz, too. It's just north of the Hunter Valley region.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 May 23 - 05:12 PM

There is no place in the UK called Oxbridge.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 08 May 23 - 04:10 PM

There is no place in the UK called Oxbridge.

Yes there is. It's a hamlet in Dorset, on the River Brit between Bridport and Beaminster.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 May 23 - 05:45 PM

Bugger. Doug'll always get me!

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Raggytash
Date: 08 May 23 - 07:13 PM

Moscow ..................https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_East_Ayrshire

In Scotland no less!!

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 May 23 - 02:24 AM

What about Pennsylvania on the way to Bath UK - not sure why but suspect WW2 vintage - I often pass through it on the way to Chippenham Folk Festival - coming up at the end of May (BH).

Also en-route Petty France & Dunkirk possibly similar as is: New Zealand near Calne, Wilts

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 12 May 23 - 03:09 AM

Let’s not forget New York, Lincolnshire…

New York, Lincolnshire, UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: G-Force
Date: 12 May 23 - 03:40 AM

Here in Surrey, UK, we've got a village called Normandy. Nobody seems to know why.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 May 23 - 09:47 PM

I know of no Oxbridge in the USA (with my luck there is one somewhere)
but there are two modest towns, Uxbridge and Oxford, located in
Massachusetts (there's a Native American-derived name)
in New England.

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 14 May 23 - 05:02 AM

I know of no Oxbridge in the USA

I picked up Steve on Oxbridge, Dorset, so I feel duty bound to point out Oxbridge, Belle Mead, NJ. It is a neighbourhood in the township of Montgomery.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Confused Kentuckians
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 May 23 - 06:01 PM

There's a place outside Boston (Lincs) called Cowbridge.