The Portland daily press., 1890-01-17
MAINE HEicAsoRhoops.
The Queer Local Names Found ali
over New England.
New York Sum-

lNeW York sum-
"Can you direct me to the Richardson
neighborhood?" said q newspaper man,
tramping along dusty country road
last summer. Two farmers leaned on
their rakes and looked at each other in
quiringly.
Richardson neighborhood? Never
heard o no such place. Guess you must
mean the Coop. Used to Richardson
live there once"
1t is just this way ak over New Eng
land. Every township is subdivided into
localities and neighborhoods bearing odd
and distinctive names. Often they are
more than odd; they are quaint and &C.
centric, and sometimes laughable. This
same Coop was bounded on the east by
the Rock o Dundee, on the north by the
City, a solitary house, standing where
four roads met, and on the west by Shada-
gee. And so it is in every town, there is
an unwritten geography of New England.
THE HOGS GREASE.
Boston may have at one time been
blessed with queer subdivisions of this
sort, but they have now nearly AL been
swallowed up in the North End, the West
End, the South End, etc. Lynn, on the
other hand, abounds with them. There
are Rail Hill, Breeds End, Blood Swamp,
New Light Hill, Pan Swamp, Vinegar
Hill, Sadlera Rock and Pudding Hill.
This last name came to be applied from
the fact that the father of Preserved
Sprague, who lived in this section, was
noted for the quality of his puddings
What is now Market square was once
known as Kite End. ltreceived its name
at the hand; of the late Joshua c. Oliver,
who published q little sheet known as
The Tattler. and, out of spite, he nick
named the locality Kite End, and its peo-
pie Kite Enders.
Manchester, N. H., boasts of section
known as the Barbary Coast, a name
given it by IN old sailor. Here too, are
found Jacobs Ladder, Pig Village and
Phinenton square. The city itself has
been variously known as Harrytown,
Tyngston, D,lryfield and Nomoskeag.
In the suburbs of Bangor, Me-, on the
line of the Old Veazie railroad, is vii
lage still known as Hogtown. Years
ago, when the railroad was in full opera
ton and trains used to drag lazily along
between Bangor and Oldtown, terrible
accident occurred there one morning. A
woman living near the track was the
happy possessor of a very large hog, and
the animal in its meanderings came
upon the road in front of an advancing
train. The hog had never been accus-
toned to turn out for anything, and did
not propose to commence with a trifiing
thing like an engine. 1t therefore held
its ground, and a dying hog was soon
rolling down the embankment.
The train stopped, as was its custom
upon all occasions, even to allow q pas
senger to alight and cut twig. Out
came an angry woman, brandishing her
arms and wildly calling upon the con-
ductor of the train to pay for the fatally
injured porker In those days the con-
ductor of the line was of as much i'm
portance as the general manager, and he
fatty refused TO pay for the hog, saying
that the owner ought to have kept him
away from the track. This settled the
matter, and he started his train and left
her. When that train returned, how
ever, there was sorrow on board. The
woman had taken the fat from the hog,
and for a long distance had CREASED the
rails so that it was impossible to pass the
place None of the modern appliances
for surmounting such obstacles were
then known, and the train was hopeless
ly stalled. a crew was employed to help
the trainmen, and it took hours to clean
the grease from the rails so that the train
could proceed. Since that time the place
has been called Hogtown.
OTHER ODD NAMES.
To everybody in the city of Portland
the neighbcring town of Cape Elizabeth
is known by the simpler name of Poo
duck This is ii contraction of its an
cient Indian name of Purpooduck.
Augusta has among its subdivisions
Rotten Row, Slab City, Mud Mills, and
Britts Gully. Suburban Lewiston is
made up o. patches" There are the
Baby patch the Strawberry patch, the
Bleachery ! II patch, the Foundry patch,
Water street patch, aud the Gas House
patch.
Portsnlo@ t., n. H., has its oddly named
localities, "a. these have been well de-
scribed in fnoma: Bailey Aldrich's
''Story of Il nal Boy" One of the best
known is Christian Shore. The name of
the district is supposed to have come
from some early settler named Christian,
who lived upon anl owned the land on
that side of S -i.g berry Bank creek, as
the inlet now call2l The Forth pond was
named by the early colonist.
In Providence r. l., and its vicinity
there are locatinAs known by some Pc
cular names that ara not to he found in
the napa or directories. rhorc are Squaw
Hollow Chicken Foot alley, Bulldog
square, Si..o Fly Village, Maiden's
Prayer par!, and IA variety Ct others less
familiar 10 the general public.
In this state Gloucester is especially
rich in these queer localities Loblolly
cove is situated en- the eastern side of the
cape, and was probably the scene of an
old time feast, at which "loblolly," a
dish made from Indian meal, was the
bill of fare. Cat pond is probably named
from the plant called pussy Willow"
which grew on its margin. Donefudg-
ing is the name applied to that strip of
Squam river between the cut bridge and
the old town landing. There are various
derivations of this. One is that, the
river being shallow near this locality,
the boatmen in the olden time, who used
poles to propel their crafts, were done
Judging" or propelling with their poles
when the deep water in this vicinity was
reached. Goose cove, on the northern
side of the cape, was probably SO called
from the tame geese which were kept in
that place.