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Who said there ain't no such places? - How 50 (North) Carolina Crossroads Got Their Curious Names
Book by King, Henry
207 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1986
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June 8, 2015
Just OK as a compilation of oddball North Carolina place names (the second volume of such names), this is about as cornball as it gets. The place names aren't often that curious, the vignettes about the places are commonplace, and the anecdotes about the naming are often not very amusing or interesting.
But the value of the book is actually as an oral history of the time and places the book was written in the early 1990's. The pictures and interviews are almost exclusively of small crossroads businesses, business owners, and churches, a cross section of an older generation of North Carolinians who were typically native to the state, connected to their small communities and families, and knowledgeable about the family and historical connections of their crossroads communities. Fifteen years later, this generation has passed away or been overwhelmed in many parts of the state by an influx of immigrants from other states (I'm one of many who have made North Carolina one of the fasted growing states) and countries (the Hispanic population has increased rapidly). Often the vignettes obliquely reference this population explosion just at its inception, through the words of an old-timer who talks about how populous the area used to be and where all the old businesses, churches, and post offices and train depots used to be, followed by King's observation of new homes along the way to the crossroads.
So the value of King's books are as a window into a disappearing world. Surprisingly, 23 of the 50 place names are still noted on the North Carolina State Transportation Map 2008, so it isn't completely lost.
FYI: I wrote my review about "New! Vol. 2, Dirty Ankle is far from Bath, N. C.: How 50 Carolina crossroads got their curious names", which is a second set of 50 North Carolina place names. The ISBN on the title page verso of Volume 2 returns "Volume One: Alligator to Zephyr" in an Amazon search, and searching by author and title in Amazon does not retrieve Volume 2. Rest assured there is a Volume 2
But the value of the book is actually as an oral history of the time and places the book was written in the early 1990's. The pictures and interviews are almost exclusively of small crossroads businesses, business owners, and churches, a cross section of an older generation of North Carolinians who were typically native to the state, connected to their small communities and families, and knowledgeable about the family and historical connections of their crossroads communities. Fifteen years later, this generation has passed away or been overwhelmed in many parts of the state by an influx of immigrants from other states (I'm one of many who have made North Carolina one of the fasted growing states) and countries (the Hispanic population has increased rapidly). Often the vignettes obliquely reference this population explosion just at its inception, through the words of an old-timer who talks about how populous the area used to be and where all the old businesses, churches, and post offices and train depots used to be, followed by King's observation of new homes along the way to the crossroads.
So the value of King's books are as a window into a disappearing world. Surprisingly, 23 of the 50 place names are still noted on the North Carolina State Transportation Map 2008, so it isn't completely lost.
FYI: I wrote my review about "New! Vol. 2, Dirty Ankle is far from Bath, N. C.: How 50 Carolina crossroads got their curious names", which is a second set of 50 North Carolina place names. The ISBN on the title page verso of Volume 2 returns "Volume One: Alligator to Zephyr" in an Amazon search, and searching by author and title in Amazon does not retrieve Volume 2. Rest assured there is a Volume 2
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review