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Unraveling origins of place names
We are fortunate to have lots of readers who share information with us, and we rely on our community’s news as we compile each week’s information.
In our news stories we try to abide by the famous “five Ws” – who, what, when, where, why – in order to provide timely information without leaving our readers with unresolved questions.
But one reader, Lloyd Cowan, has been writing us letters that mostly contain questions. He raises some interesting points in the three notes he’s dropped by so far, and I’d like to share some of them in hopes that some of our other readers might know the answers.
Lloyd begins by telling us that historical knowledge of local place names is rapidly vanishing. Some of his questions are rhetorical, like “How dark is Dark Ridge?” and “How big is Big Ridge?”
Since those can only be discussed in relative terms, this column is not likely to produce any specific answers.
Other local monikers Lloyd mentioned likely have specific origins, and the stories behind those are the ones we hope readers will share with us.
Lloyd noticed a lot of local landmarks with feminine names. He’s curious as to which “Jenny” gave her name to Jenny Knob; who was the “Rhoda” of Rhoda Branch; and who was the “Kate” that inspired the name Kate Cove on the right-hand road of Little Savannah.
Lloyd’s questions fit right in with our ongoing quest to find out who gave the street next to The Sylva Herald office – Evalina Street – its difficult-to-pronounce name.
He wonders about the “Nettie” of Canada community’s Nettie Mountain, which raises another question: Is it Nettie Mountain as Lloyd thinks or Neddy like the maps and road signs say?
Lloyd has a lot of questions about place names in Canada. He wonders about Catheys Gap, Gages Creek and Charleys Creek, as well as names near the Blue Ridge Parkway like Wet Camp Gap.
Though I’m no expert, I’ve been to Wet Camp Gap, and it would seem to me that the name came from the spring that’s located there. I figured the presence of water made it a more appealing place for early travelers rest, causing them to designate it as the gap where they had the “wet” camp.
And Jackie Whittaker of Tuckasegee told me once that the “Charley” of Charleys Creek fame is none other than Tsali, the legendary Cherokee warrior who sacrificed himself in order that other members of the Eastern Band could stay in the mountains of Western North Carolina rather than move west to Oklahoma. According to Jackie, “Charley” was the white settlers’ name for Tsali.
Horseshoe Rock on Wolf Mountain is another name Lloyd mentioned. That’s another place I’ve been, and I’m sure the name comes from the depressions in the face of the rock that look just like a herd of horses ran across the rock face. The mystery there would seem to be how the hoof-shaped indentations were formed in the rock.
Lloyd’s second letter offered a few answers to questions we hadn’t thought of, including that the name of Canada’s Sols Creek is derived from Solomon Parker, and that Painter Knob, which lies between Cullowhee and East Fork, is so named because Cullowhee was once known as Painter.
No doubt there’s a story behind the name of every knob, gap, creek, branch or peak that bears a name, and we’d like to do our part to compile and preserve them.
Anyone who knows the origins of any local place name is invited to call me at 586-2611, or send an e-mail to lynn@thesylvaherald.com.
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