Bone and Joint Geography

The Incredible Shrinking Bones Puzzling Skeletal Anatomy

Bone and Joint Geography

Somebody recently told me about a steakhouse in Atlanta named Bones, so of course I googled it. I became distracted, however, when the “directions” map indicated a town in central Georgia named Box Ankle. Stories differ about how Box Ankle got its name. Somebody may have stumbled over a box or have been pushed; but, in either case, the fall resulted in a broken ankle.

This led me to wonder how many other places in the US have names that reference the skeleton. I already knew about Finger TN, Bird-in-Hand PA, Hand County SD, and Left Hand, WV, but those names reference anatomical regions rather than specific bones or joints.

I found a website, geotargit.com, where you can enter any word and it will tell you if it is at least part of a place name anywhere in the world. I restricted my search to “United States” and “cities” and entered the name of a bone or joint. The “cities” I found are indicated on the stick figure. (I am not sure that Box Ankle qualifies as a city based on the Google Earth view.)

Devil’s Backbone CA

Then I widened my search to include anatomical regions, any modifying words, and all geographical features, not just cities. The results included some places you likely know, e.g., Wounded Knee SD and Teaneck NJ. Other “neck” places may not be so familiar: Bull Neck VA, Goat Neck NC, Possum Neck MS, along with Goosenecks in GA, NC, TN, and WA, and Longneck DE and Sixmile Neck FL. “Bone” places include Hambone CA, Big Bone KY, Gnaw Bone IN, and Cowbone and Whalebone NC. In addition to Backbone VA and KY, Devil’s Backbone identifies mountain ridges in seven states: CA, CO, MD, NY, OH, PA, and TX. Two 11,000 foot mountains in Wyoming have the names Black Rib and The Jaw.

Snapfinger is an unincorporated area in the Greater Atlanta area. As with Box Ankle, nobody is certain of the origin of the community’s name other than that there is Snapfinger Creek nearby. Some say the creek is a tributary (finger) of a larger waterway while others contend that a surveyor broke (snapped) a finger bone while crossing the creek.

Skulls apparently held a particular fascination for place namers because there are Skull Islands in MI, NY, TN, and WA. However, in Oregon, Skull Island is a mountain. New Jersey has a bona fide Skull Mountain and Nevada has two. According to the particular regional geology, various states host Skull Rock, Skull Mesa, Skull Butte, Skull Cave, and Skull Bluff. Settlers in Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes, clearly ran out of names after a while because there are three Skull Lakes, with GA, MT, and NM each having just one.

The reasons why most of these places are so named are lost in time. In some cases, imagination ran wild. At least the namers knew something about the skeleton and left us a colorful legacy. I am taking a trip to Atlanta in October. I plan to stop by Snapfinger on the way to dinner at Bones. I’ll keep you posted.