The Southern Appalachian Mountains have some interesting place names. From Goose Pimple Junction to Frog Level Road, this episode shares stories about the origins of some of these strangely-named places (and people).
Written by Jules Corriere with Leon Overbay and Deborah Montanti
Edited by Wayne Winkler
Music by Brett McCluskey
Original Music by Heather McCluskey
Sound Effects Gary Degner
Sound Engineer Michael D'Avella
Stage Manager Phyllis Fabozzi
Production Assistant Matthew Gulley
SPONSORED BY:
Gary and Sandee Degner
SPECIAL THANKS
Leon Overbay- In Memoriam
Pamela Daniels
Theresa Hammons
LORI
Each month we bring you stories from right here in the heart of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
LEON
It is great to be back here again at the International Storytelling Center. And welcome to the episode we’re calling, “Where’d That Name Come From?”
LORI
We’ll be telling stories tonight about some of the famous and not so famous places with bizarre names.
LEON
Now, Lori, I’ll admit some places around here might have unusual names, but bizarre?
LORI
Yes. Bizarre. Maybe since you’ve lived here your whole life, some of these hollers and road names sound normal to you. But as relative newcomer from New Mexico, I have to tell you, there are some truly ridiculous names in East Tennessee.
LEON
New Mexico? Yeah, when I was in the Air Force I spent some time in New Mexico. So you’re saying East Tennessee names are strange compared with the more normal names, say, in New Mexico.
LORI
That’s what I’m saying, Leon.
LEON
I remember driving through New Mexico with Pam, oh it was years ago. Right after we got married. We took a little trip, just to get away from the base. Passed through a little town called “Truth or Consequences”.
LORI
OK, well, every state has to have one of those place names to point to that---
LEON
And you know, Lori, we drove all the way through, and at the other end of that highway from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, was a charming little town called Elephant Butt.
LORI
I think it’s pronounced Elephant Butte.
LEON
I think it’s still a lot more strange than any of our town names. I mean, at least our place names make sense.
LORI
Oh really, stranger than Possum Holler?
LEON
Yep, I’m gonna tell you all about Possum Holler and why that makes sense. To start with, as you can imagine, it was named for all the tasty little possums that go running around the knobs and hollers. My mouth waters thinking about them, they go so well with sweet taters. There’s so many persimmon trees growing in that holler, and all the possum seem to congregate there to eat off the persimmon. So, it’s Possum Holler. See how that works? Makes sense, would you says.
LORI
Yes, I guess so.
LEON
So tell me Lori, how many Elephant Butts do you see roaming freely around New Mexico?
LORI
Uh…
LEON
Case closed. Welcome to a Night with the Yarn Exchange. I’m Leon-born-and-bred-in East-Tennessee-Overbay.
LORI
And I’m Lori-born-somewhere-else-but-glad-I-landed-here Olmstead. We’ve got a fun show tonight folks, full of stories from right here in the heart of Appalachia.
LEON
And music from right here, too. Amethyst Kiah joins us tonight as our musical guest, and it is great to have her back on the program. If you were lucky, you might have heard Amethyst play at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, so you are in for a treat.
LORI
We are also lucky enough to have with us this week’s Teller In residence at the International Storytelling Center, Michael Reno Harrell.
LEON
Before we get going, how many people are here with us tonight for the first time?
(Wait for applause)
LEON
Well, you sure picked a great night to see what we’re all about. We perform here the fourth Monday of every month at the International Storytelling Center, and in between, we are out in the hills, knobs, and hollers, holding interviews, listening to stories and occasionally partaking of the finer cultural experiences.
LORI
Yes, Leon, and I think we all know you mean sampling the moonshine whenever you’re over in Malone Holler.
DAVID C
I will testify to that for you, Leon! Around these parts, when you say you’re going to Malone Holler, you will occasionally be asked to pick up an extra quart of their medicinal goodness. Malone Holler is synonymous for the best moonshine this side of Sam’s Gap.
LORI
How’d Malone Holler get its name?
DAVID C
Easy. From old man Malone. But not the new old man Malone. I’m talking about the old- old man Malone.
LORI
And Buckner’s Gap?
DAVID C
Sam’s Gap is one of the two Gaps that separates us from Asheville, North Carolina. It was named after the Sams family, who moved over the mountain into North Carolina around the Flag Pond area in the 1830’s. The top of it is at over thirty-seven hundred feet. It’s called a Gap because the Gap is the span of space between the peaks, sometimes sheer drop offs. And while our Appalachians might not be as high as the Rockies, they are the oldest mountains in the world, with ridges worn and twisted with time, making it almost impossible to get over with anything more than a pack mule and your own two feet. Until that interstate was finally put in a few years ago, travelling through other towns located along the way, like Wolf Laurel and Mars Hill was really tough, so most people bypassed them. Travelers would take the train, and before that the stage coach, which circumvented those huge gaps, making it possible to come to Jonesborough, but really difficult to get up to say, Beech Mountain or Spruce Pine.
LORI
Beach Mountain? Was there some sort of beach up in the mountains or something?
DAVID C
No, Beech Mountain was named after all the Beech Trees growing up the side.
LEON
It’s still difficult to get up to Beech Mountain. I don’t even try after October.
DAVID C
And that’s why in these parts, a lot of the traditions and music and stories have been preserved, because there wasn’t a lot of outside influence. Over a couple of hundred years, the stories might have changed some as they were handed down to bigger liars than the original tellers. But they’re not changed that much. And the music, when you listen to it, you can almost hear the fiddle strings stretching all the way back to Ireland and Scotland. It’s a rich culture.
LEON
OK, OK, now that’s enough of that. We’ve been talking about names. And I’ve got one for you that you might have heard before from Tennessee Ernie Ford.
ORLANDO
Would that be Goose Pimple Junction?
LEON
It would indeed be Goose Pimple Junction.
ORLANDO
Some of you out there are laughing, but let me assure you that this place is real. Every year they have someone go out with paint and adjust the population number on the sign. I think the current population is 154.
ASHLEY
Now, I don’t care where you’re from, but to me, Goose Pimple Junction is just a weird name. Where did it even come from?
ORLANDO
The lady who lived on the corner across Junction Road from Goose Pimple Junction told me her husband had named it many years ago. She said…
ANITA
(In Old Lady Voice) There was a family who lived in the knobs across the way, and the father beat the children who would cry and yell so loud that my husband said it gave him Goose Pimples.
PHYLLIS
No, no, no. It came from bystanders watching teenagers learning how to drive in the Knobs. There was one of them, way back when, who would drive in such a way that you lost your breath watching him come down the hill, levelling out at the junction. So they started calling it Goose Pimple Junction.
KATY
Well, I also hear tell that it was Tennessee Ernie Ford who first referred to Goose Pimple Junction on his radio show, when he told a story about where he came from. HE actually came from Anderson Street, in Bristol, Tennessee, but he often visited his grandmother, who lived in the house across the junction road, so he used a little poetic license to say Goose Pimple Junction was his home, because he thought it would get a laugh. Then, the name stuck.
JASON
Eventually, about 1982, a banker for the old Tri-Cities Bank owned it and somehow got it put on a map and put the sign up that identifies it as Goose Pimple Junction and the population number.
LORI
So, which one is true?
JASON
Which one do you like the best? See Lori, around here, the truth, like most people you’ll meet, is relative.
AMANDA
Well, I have a question about a place. Actually a road. Whenever I go with my mom to Food City, we pass a sign that reads Palma L. Robertson Memorial Highway.
LORI
OK, what’s your question, Amanda?
AMANDA
Who was Palma, and why did she have a road named after her?
LORI
That’s a good question. And I’m not sure of the answer, because, you know, I’m from New Mexico.
AMANDA
Yeah. Home of Elephant Butt.
LORI
That’s Butte.
ASHLEY
Don’t worry Lori, I got this one. First of all, Palma was a man, not a woman. Palma Robertson Served in the Tennessee State legislature representing Lamar, Limestone, Fall Branch, Gray and Boones Creek. He served for 13 years and died in office. The Washington County Commission appointed his wife to serve out the remainder of his term. He’s remembered as being a tireless advocate for the creation of the Quillen College of Medicine on the Campus of ETSU. So there you go. Now you know.
LORI
Thanks, Ashley. And right down from the Palma L. Robertson Memorial Highway is Bugaboo Springs. Yes, you heard me. Bugaboo Springs. Leon Overbay has a story about it.
LEON
(Tells the poem of Bugaboo Springs.)
LORI
Thank you Leon. I will remember to stay far away from that place at night! You’ve convinced me.
MARCY
Well, I’ve got a little story I want to share. There’s a man named Chuck Alley. He was the state planning person here in the tri-cities area. HE was always at planning commission meetings and if we had something interesting with zoning , Chuck was there. He did everything within the guidelines of the state. He worked very diligently, and did a great job for us. When it was time for him to retire, the town, as we do often, decided to name a street or road in his honor. But his name was Alley. So it had to be an alley. Now, when you go to Pal’s and the Medicine Shoppe, that little street right there, you will find Chuck Alley.
LEON
You know, we have a lot of fun telling stories about place names, but something else that is fun, is the line we get to dance along in telling stories from the region, with a great friend in the cast, the director of the Heritage Alliance, Deborah Montanti. We keep her very busy in our segment called “Ask the Historian”.
DEB
You can say that again. But you’re right it is fun. Especially at my end, when I get to have a chance to set the record straight on some of these legends that get a little bigger with each decade. Tonight’s episode is especially fun for me, because I really am interested in names. Names are important. They help us trace back to primary sources and original documents and the proof we need to know who did what and where and when.
LEON
Professor Plum in the billiard room with the candle stick.
DEB
In a way, yes, if you’re talking about the game Clue. Names are clues to the past. I mean, as long as we’ve got living memories around, we can point, hold common knowledge about a certain place. But what happens when that living memory leaves, fades, or dies? Without the proper names, the common knowledge dies with it. One of the traditions I admire in Jonesborough which I think is unique, is that when houses in the historic district get sold- which isn’t very often—the new owners tend to honor the original builders, by hyphenating the name of the house- like the Naff-Henley House. You know who used to be, that is the first name. And you know who is there now, that is the second name. It is so great for record keeping, because we can follow the property names back through time. Another important thing we do is to keep alive the stories of our origins here, through street names and town names. Jonesborough was named for North Carolina legislator Willie Jones, whose support had been most instrumental in the decision to locate a courthouse in the western lands. Though he never visited the lands west of the mountains, the new Washington District County seat was named in his honor.
LEON
Deb, why don’t you tell us about Jonesborough’s name, and how it’s been spelled different ways through the years.
DEB
Sure thing, Leon. So the North Carolina legislation that established Jonesborough spells the town JONESBOROUGH with an ough at the end, a very typical and common spelling in the English tradition. But by the early 1800’s, newspapers and other printed material commonly spelled the town JONESBORO, cutting off the ugh. If you understand the limitations of 18th and 19th century typesetting you begin to see that abbreviations are commonplace. Combine that with the revolutionary generation’s inclination to cast aside all ties with England and you end up with at town spelled, by force of habit, JONESBORO. The spelling was never officially changed to the shortened version…it just sort of happened. In 1983, the Jonesborough Board of Mayor and Aldermen, when Jimmy Neil Smith was mayor, officially declared the spelling to be JONESBOROUGH.
LEON
So Deb, you’re telling me Jimmy Neil Smith put the UGH in Jonesborough.
DEB
I hadn’t thought of it that way before Leon, but yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
LEON
Thanks Deborah. This has been another installment of “Ask the Historian”.
LORI
Indeed. Well, Leon, As long as we’re talking about names tonight, how about we say something about family names. Ever wonder about those?
AMANDA
My mom wanted to name me Amy Renee. She’d picked that name out for a girl and liked it for months. But my dad, recently back from Vietnam, said no. He said Amy Renee sounded too much like Hand Grenade. So, I became Theresa.
LISA
Well, my sister didn’t have a middle name. There were five of us siblings. And we always thought it was strange that we had one and she didn’t.
ASHLEY
Too bad sis, I guess all the names got used up before you were born.
LISA
So out of pity for her I thought it was time, when she got to the age of 62, for her to have a middle name just like everyone else. It was Thanksgiving 2013, and we all decided that everyone- grandchildren included0 would consider a name that was fitting for her. I always called her Joan Anne so that’s what I submitted.
JASON
How about Eloise?
PHYLLIS
No, I think she’s more like a Caroline.
STEPHEN
Clementine!
PHYLLIS
Clementine?!
STEPHEN
I’m entitled to my own submission. I submit Clementine.
ANITA
Eve!
ORLANDO
Alejandra Bertalina Domingo Guadalupe!
DANA
Uh, what about Anne?
LISA
The names continued to be submitted until 2 weeks before Christmas Eve, and we narrowed it down to a few names. Then we took a Vote.
KATY
What’s it going to be! Who will I become?!
LISA
On Christmas Day we all Skyped and our families were gathered around our computers and the announcement was made.
KATY
Let me open this up…it says, Adelle! I’m Joan Adelle Brown Harris! I love it!
LISA
Everyone went
ALL
AHHHHHHHH
LISA
Because we knew it was the right choice. Dareth, my granddaughter with a unique name herself, submitted the winning name.
LORI
And that was a true story.
PHYLLIS
IN Jonesborough, people aren’t the only ones to get a new name later in life. We rename our buildings quite often.
DANA
You’re right Phyllis. In Jonesborough, it’s common for properties to bear two names. In most cases those names indicate the original owner or builder of the property and its present day inhabitants. You’ll see a sign out front of the building, like the Blaire-Moore House. And of course, the Naff-Henly House on Main Street, built in 1840 by the tailor Jacob Naff and lovingly cared for today by Sue and Gerald Henly. Sue has even been a member of the Yarn Exchange. Last December, she lent us her front porch to perform on during our Main Street Christmas show. Jacob Naff, the original builder, was also known for his hospitality, so the Henley continue to carry on a long tradition.
DAVID K
But Jacob Naff also had another piece of property just outside of town. That property does not bear his name. It was known as Duncan’s Meadow. This piece of property behind the Visitor’s Center bears the name of its 20th century owner, instead. Robert Mitchel Duncan, who purchased it in March of 1904. It appears to have been a small working farm. Duncan was a harness and saddle maker who owned his own shop and according to the 1910 census, he owned the farm free and clear. When he died, the property passed to his wife and then to their children. When their daughter Blanch Duncan dies, she willed property to John France, who became a great neighbor and a real friend to the town of Jonesborough. Later, John France, with his wife Ruby, sold Duncan’s Meadow to the town of Jonesborough in 1980. The Town Hall complex, the Visitor Center and the library are all built on this property.
PAUL
Let me tell you a little more about John France, and how he influenced even the youngest of us in Jonesborough. But to do this, I have to start with baseball. Baseball was the game in Jonesborough during the twentieth Century. I should know, because I was around for most of it. The kids would all meet at Duncan’s Meadow. All ages. Black and white. We all played baseball together. John France used to sit way out there.
AISLING
John France is the reason I played baseball.
ASHTON
Me Too!
JASMINE
It was always way more fun to play baseball when John France watched our games.
NIKYRA
I always wanted to hit the ball when John France came.
JANAE
I wanted to hit a home run all the time, but especially when John France was there.
CLAIRE
It was very rewarding.
OLIVIA
See, we always wanted to play baseball. And we always wanted to make a single or a double or a home run.
CLAIRE
Who doesn’t?
OLIVIA
But John France encouraged us to do our best. He’d cheer for us, and at the end of the game, we got rewarded by him.
CLAIRE
If you made it to first base, he gave you a penny. If you got a double, you got two pennies.
JANAE
If you got a triple, you got three pennies.
CLAIRE
And if you got a home run, that was a whole nickel!
OLIVIA
After the game, we’d go down to Furches, to that great big candy counter with all the candy in glass containers.
JANAE
It was the most beautiful sight you ever saw.
NIKYRA
I still remember those jars of candy.
Claire
Now, we have organized sports and trophies. The trophies last longer.
NIKYRA
But I sure miss that candy!
PAUL
Play Ball!
SFX
Bat hitting a ball.
PERSON
So nothing got named after John France?
JULES
It goes that way sometimes. There are so many people out there who do great things. Maybe not great things in the way of cutting through the first trails like Daniel Boone, or establishing the first seat of law west of the mountains like William Jones. Or becoming Washington County’s first full-time guidance counselor like Marion Mckinney or the first African American to serve on our board of Mayor and Alderman like her husband Ernest McKinney. Not all of us get our name on a street sign, or a building, but a street sign or building doesn’t guarantee remembrance. How we move people, how we make people feel, how we make a difference in just one life- in a way that gets passed down through time. That’s a way we remember those important to us, through time and time.
CLAIRE
John France and his pennies.
KATY
Jimmy Neil Smith, putting the Ugh back in Jonesborough.
ANITA
Dareth giving Aunt Joan a middle name.
LEON
Old-Old Man Malone and his glorious recipe.
JULES
My dad, on top of being a career military man, was also an historian and archaeologist. I used to go on digs with him in Jamestown, Fort Crawford, Yorktown and Williamsburg. I remember sifting with him. Between the dirt and the artifacts, there was always a story. A piece of a clay pipe wasn’t just a piece of pipe. He’d let me hold it, show me the hole at one end, and usually the other end was filled in. Not from the dirt, but from use. And he’d tell me why there were so many pieces of pipe to be found.
JASON
When they made the clay pipes for smoking tobacco, they’d make the stem really long, because they wanted the most use out of it. As the long stem began to clog near the tip, they would just snap off about a quarter inch or half an inch, and keep on smoking until it was down to the stump. Then, they’d make a new clay pipe. There were so many tobacco fields here, everyone farmed tobacco to ship back to the king. For a time, roads that had been carved out in Jamestown were planted with tobacco.
JULES
I remember he’d always get excited when they’d find a dried well that became the trash dump.
JASON
Look at this. You can tell a lot about people by the things they throw away. See this broken comb? This family was affluent.
SARAH
But it’s just a broken comb, Daddy. How does that make them rich?
JASON
Look. See this carving? Look at how fine the teeth are cut into the bone. And look at the bone. I’d guess this is whale bone. Most likely brought over on the voyage, because no one was making anything so fine here yet. They weren’t carving whale bone and making porcelain just yet. They were still carving out the wilderness and learning to live with the locals.
SARAH
You mean Indians?
JASON
You mean the Powhatan?
SARAH
Yes. And the Pamunkey.
JASON
Yes. You’ve been listening. Good. So, look, a comb like this, even if had been broken, would not be thrown away. It’s is still big enough to use, especially if it was the only one you had. If you weren’t worried that the next one might not come in on a ship coming from England for another 10 months or longer. And if you weren’t worried about the money it would cost to buy another comb that came from way across the known world.
SARAH
How do you know so much, Daddy?
JASON
I was about to ask you that.
JULES
Dad was from Chicago, but he was stationed in a lot of places in the South, and Civil War History was really his thing. Couldn’t get enough of it. He talked with longtimers in each area we lived, listening to the old stories, and when he was off duty, he’d follow the clues in the old stories and do some snooping around. We had an old drawer filled with small artifacts he’d pick up- musket balls, buttons, pipes. Of course, if he found big stuff, he’d put in the call, and the large artifacts would go to the museums. He spent years doing this, and I spent years tagging along. He ended up writing a weekly column in the local newspaper about local history and legends, called “Denbigh Gone By”. Before long, he didn’t have to go out and look for old timers to talk with, they came to him. Residents even Christened him an honorary Southerner, because he was doing so much to preserve and share the stories that were starting to be lost. And rediscovering forgotten history. When I was older, I remember the phone would ring, and he’d be talking about troop sizes and armaments, and this was way after he retired from the army.
SFX:
Phone Ring
SARAH
What’s up with that call, Dad? Are they calling you back to serve?
JASON
It was a professor from William and Mary. He wanted to know how many soldiers were in the Warwick Beauregards, and where they mustered out of.
SFX
Phone Ring
JASON
I believe that would have been about the first week of July, 1861. Over at Young’s Mill Plantation.
SARAH
Um, Dad?
JASON
Just helping out someone with the Historical Society in Louisiana, tracking down skirmishes that their local battalion was involved in.
SFX
Ring
JASON
No, no ,no, That would be the Battle of Dam Number One. It did happen in Newport News, but this was before Warwick County was annexed. If you look under Warwick County, Dam Number One, you will find it. You’re welcome.
JULES
This went on for years. And the calls came from all over. North and South. History enthusiast to Historian. Dad wrote several books on Civil War History, especially pertaining to the Tidewater Region, but he was a font of knowledge in all the battles. My favorite call, though, was about ten years ago. Someone called with a question, and usually, my dad would either know the answer, or know someone who did know the answer, and that was that. But this one call, it stumped him. He didn’t know. So he decided to call the National Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. He got on the line with the curator, and asked the question. And the curator said:
STEPHEN
Hmmm, I don’t know the answer to that question. I’ve never come across it before. But I’m going to put you in touch with someone. If anyone knows, he will. Write this down. His name is John Curry---
JULES
To which my Dad responded—
JASON
Speaking!
JULES
They had a great laugh. This was shortly before Dad’s illness took hold. We laughed about it for the longest time. As the illness took over, I began to remember those early days, out with my Pop, digging in the dirt, and this one special day. He held up a piece of imported porcelain, and the name of the maker was almost intact. We could just about make out his name. And Dad spoke it out loud.
JASON
You know, we all die twice. Once, in our physical form. When we’ve used up the time in our bodies. And then, the second time. When the last person, who knows the last story about you, also passes away. When you come across the old grave markers, say hello to them by name. Call their names out loud. And, remember the things people talk to you about. And retell it if you can.
SARAH
Even from Uncle Bubba?
JASON
Especially from Uncle Bubba. He’s got some stories. But…remember the words you are allowed to say and those you are not allowed to say when you repeat it, and don’t let me catch you telling his stories verbatim. Got it?
SARAH
Got it. Um, Daddy? Why?
JASON
That’s the answer I want you to dig for. OK? You might not find it until you get a lot older. But I know you’ll find it. How about lunch?
JULES
So. After years of digging, sometimes in the dirt, most times into the memories of the people I meet, I’m beginning to find the answer. What’s in a name? A story worth telling. From Goose Pimple Junction, where Tennessee Ernie Ford claimed his home, to Frog Level Road and Possum Holler, with the best possum and sweet taters this side of Buckner’s Gap. From the Palma L. Robertson Memorial Highway, to Aunt Joan who now has a middle name and a story to go with it. We remember you all. Your story lives on in us, and now, your story lives on in our listeners, and your legacy continues. From all of us here at A Night with the Yarn Exchange, where we exchange our stories from a stronger community, we say, good night.
LEON
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