No Turbot in Turbotville, PA

While en route from Bethlehem, PA to Williamsport, PA, I passed signs on I-180 for a place called Turbotville.  I was amused by the name, but didn't think much beyond that.

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Last night, while looking at a website about Iqaluit (yes, I'm still obsessed with Nunavut's capital), I read something about a "turbot fishing industry".  What?!  Turbot is a word outside of the tiny borough in Pennsylvania?!

Interwebz to the rescue!  Turbot are a type of fish!  More specifically, a flatfish.  They're related to flounder and halibut!  I assume they're similarly delicious.

 My, why lovely eyes you have!

Despite how cool this fish looks, Turbotville is not named after it.  In fact, it appears that the fish lives nowhere near Turbotville, PA.  It lives in the North Atlantic (hence, Iqaluit), the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea.

So then what was Turbotville named after?!  Wikipedia has this to say:

"The original name was Snydertown, but the name was later changed for Turbot Township (originally Turbutt). The borough now lies completely inside Lewis Township. The first settlement was made by Philip Reifsnyder, a blacksmith, who built a house near the corner of Main and Paradise streets."  

So the borough was named for the township it used to be part of, but I can't find anything about the origin of the township's name.  It was probably the name of one of the early settlers in the area.

Also, Turbotville has their own bank: Turbotville National Bank!

Jersey Shore, PA

On a recent road trip for work I drove past signs for Jersey Shore, PA.  It's a town of 4000-5000 people, about mid-way between the cities of Williamsport and Lock Haven.

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I didn't actually pass through the town, but I was curious how it got its name. Some quick Wikipedia research provided this:

Jersey Shore was originally named Waynesburg by the two brothers, Reuben and Jeremiah Manning, who laid out the town circa 1785. Around the time that this was happening, a settlement arose on the eastern side of the West Branch Susquehanna River (Nippenose Township), opposite Waynesburg. A rivalry developed between the two settlements, and those on the eastern shore began referring to the settlement on the western shore as the "Jersey Shore," because the Manning family had relocated from New Jersey. The nickname became so fixed that in 1826 the original name of Waynesburg was officially abandoned and changed to Jersey Shore.

So the town was named after an insult to its founder. Spiffy!

Not New Jersey.

Fruita, CO Has Caught My Eye!

After a recent trip to Denver, I spent some time reading about types of municipalities in Colorado, during which I came across a home rule municipality in western Colorado named Fruita. 

Located near the CO/UT border, Fruita is about 20 minutes outside of Grand Junction.  For a fairly small municipality, it seems like a place with a lot of character!  First things first, there is a museum called Dinosaur Journey. While I think I'd be hardpressed to find a dinosaur museum that didn't interest me, this one offers a variety of DINO DIGS! Anyone want to dig up some dinosaur bones with me?!

Aside from dinosaurs, Fruita is also known as a hotbed for technical mountain bike trails. If you are a fairly hardcore mountain biker, you may want to check out Back Country Biker for some potential vacation ideas. :)  Mountain Bike Fruita has more information on specific trails and their difficulty.

One of the things I found most interesting about Fruita is their GIS website. It's pretty fantastic! They've got a variety of maps available from parks to zoning to utilities. So... check it out!

Oh yeah, and they have an annual festival dedicated to Mike the Headless Chicken. I kid you not.

In closing, here's a song about being a paleontologist. :)

Quakake!

Another installment of "What? This is really a town name?!", Pennsylvania.

To begin, I've never been to Quakake. I've driven very nearby, but never stopped. Honestly, until writing this blog I wasn't even quite sure how to pronounce it. Quay-Cake? Quake-ache? Qua-ka-kay? So many fun possibilities! I think it's really Quake-ache.

Despite me having no idea how to pronounce it until today, this word has existed much earlier than today! It appears in the names of several things in northeastern[ish] PA. What kind of things, you ask?

• A Town
• A Railroad
• A Creek
• A Lake

• Probably other things Google isn't telling me about
  

Really? Tell me more!
Ok.

Quakake, The Town
Quakake is in the northeastern part of Schuylkill County. Its status of U6 tells me that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. A quick look at a map proves my theory!

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Sure, it's 12 minutes from Hazleton, but... it's Hazleton.

A look at that map will also reveal a pretty cool looking rail system! Which brings me to...

Quakake, The Railroad
Well, it used to be the Quakake Railroad. Then they went bankrupt and became the Lehigh & Mahanoy Railroad. According to the Wikipedia article, the tracks have been abandoned for several decades, but since they're still on the maps I wonder if they're still there? Maybe I'll find out one day.

Quakake, The Creek
It's a creek, and eventually meets up with the Lehigh (from the west). Not much else to tell you here...

Quakeake, The Lake
Yeah. It's called Quakake Lake. :) It's pretty funny looking too!
It's about 20 minutes from Quakake, PA.

What does it mean?
The coolest book ever tells me the following:

A corruption of Cuwenkeek, "pine lands". Cuwen-hanna would signify, "pine stream".

So there you have it, kids - Quakake.