A little birdie informs me of an interesting story getting ready to see the light of the printed (newspaper) page, from a reporter in Baltimore, Maryland, named Wendi Winters. In an email exchange recently, we were chatting about this and that, when as an aside, Winters informed me about a very interesting neighborhood subdivision in Arnold, Maryland. It turns out, according to Winters, that for the last 20 years or so, people have been living in a neighborhood with street names like Viking North Lane, Doubleday Drive, MacMillan Court, McGraw Court, Norton Lane and Crowell Street! And the people living there apparently have no idea why these streets are named after publishing houses in New York. "This is a small facet of Americana crying out to be reported on," I emailed her. "Ask your editor if you can report this story"
I told Wendi this was a good story for the world to know about, especially the publishing world in NYC. Now, a few weeks later, she's done it! .
LOOK!
Here is the published article:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/01_03-22/CBN
Arnold, Maryland community has a literary bent
By Wendi Winters, freelance reporter
For The Capital
The inspiration for naming streets in the Baltimore Maryland area often seems a combinationof ego and pre-development nature: politicians, pine trees and polliwogs areall equals in the name game.
Sometimes humor plays a part.
Wags have long snickered that Silopanna Road, home to the Chesapeake Children's Museum, just off from Spa Road, is the word "Annapolis" spelled backwards. How about the streets in a Glen Burnie neighborhood that are all laid out in alphabetical order?
Arnold, Maryland, not to be outdone, has its own whimsically named streets in one subdivision.
The Foxmoor community, just off Shore Acres Road and close by CollegeParkway, was built over a 20-year period in the 1970s and 90s.
Every street in the community was named for a once-major New York publishing house. That explains the weird juxtaposition of Norton Lane with Viking South. Doubleday Drive and MacMillan Court. Crowell Court and Loughton Lane.
Anne Adomanis, a special education teacher who has lived on Norton Lane for18 years and is only the second owner of her home, was agog at theexplanation: "It never would have dawned on me. I'm surprised."
Also surprised was neighbor Cheryl Carnwath, president of Camp Blaze. "Oh!How funny!"
Kathy Meckley, a freelance actor who lives on Doubleday Drive, had alreadyfigured it out.
"I've lived here since 1985. I always knew the streets were named for bookpublishers. I bought the house from Duvall or Wiggins, the guys who builtthe houses. I guess somebody there had a passion for reading," she said.
Clutching a stub of a stogie in his teeth, Doubleday Drive resident BarryMorihlatko was en route to play a few rounds of basketball with his son.When asked if he knew what the streets were named for, without dropping hiscigar he grunted, "Books. Publishing."
Over in Anne Arundel county's land-use department, spokesman Pam Jordanpromised to dig into the matter of why the streets acquired their literarybent.
Before she could complete her search, a message left at William UtzConstruction Co., which built the homes, was returned by Bill Wiggins, 60,one of Foxmoor's original developers. Mr. Wiggins now spends most of theyear in Daytona Beach, Fla., but commutes to Maryland often to check on newor ongoing projects.
"Thirty years ago, when we did the marketing for new subdivisions, we'd comeup with a general theme for a community," he said. "Look at all the Old English-sounding names for Chartwell and Chartridge in Severna Park. Theengineers on a project were used to naming streets and they'd come up withlists of names."
"It's not as easy as you think when you have to name streets," he continued."There was no Internet back then. You had to sit in a library. Names alwayscame out at the last minute. But building a subdivision can take years. Thelast houses in Foxmoor were built 20 years after the first. There was atremendous span of time completely developing the property."
Mr. Wiggins credits the late Melvin Beall (pronounced "Bell") with creatingthe list of street names for Foxmoor. Mr. Beall was an engineer with thePasadena firm involved in the project, John E. Arms & Associates. He passedaway over 20 years ago.
"Street names had to be simple, original, catchy. It must have worked: allthe houses in Foxmoor were fast sellers," Mr. Wiggins chuckled.
Published January 03, 2005
The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright
© 2005 The Capital, Annapolis, Md
I told Wendi this was a good story for the world to know about, especially the publishing world in NYC. Now, a few weeks later, she's done it! .
LOOK!
Here is the published article:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/01_03-22/CBN
Arnold, Maryland community has a literary bent
By Wendi Winters, freelance reporter
For The Capital
The inspiration for naming streets in the Baltimore Maryland area often seems a combinationof ego and pre-development nature: politicians, pine trees and polliwogs areall equals in the name game.
Sometimes humor plays a part.
Wags have long snickered that Silopanna Road, home to the Chesapeake Children's Museum, just off from Spa Road, is the word "Annapolis" spelled backwards. How about the streets in a Glen Burnie neighborhood that are all laid out in alphabetical order?
Arnold, Maryland, not to be outdone, has its own whimsically named streets in one subdivision.
The Foxmoor community, just off Shore Acres Road and close by CollegeParkway, was built over a 20-year period in the 1970s and 90s.
Every street in the community was named for a once-major New York publishing house. That explains the weird juxtaposition of Norton Lane with Viking South. Doubleday Drive and MacMillan Court. Crowell Court and Loughton Lane.
Anne Adomanis, a special education teacher who has lived on Norton Lane for18 years and is only the second owner of her home, was agog at theexplanation: "It never would have dawned on me. I'm surprised."
Also surprised was neighbor Cheryl Carnwath, president of Camp Blaze. "Oh!How funny!"
Kathy Meckley, a freelance actor who lives on Doubleday Drive, had alreadyfigured it out.
"I've lived here since 1985. I always knew the streets were named for bookpublishers. I bought the house from Duvall or Wiggins, the guys who builtthe houses. I guess somebody there had a passion for reading," she said.
Clutching a stub of a stogie in his teeth, Doubleday Drive resident BarryMorihlatko was en route to play a few rounds of basketball with his son.When asked if he knew what the streets were named for, without dropping hiscigar he grunted, "Books. Publishing."
Over in Anne Arundel county's land-use department, spokesman Pam Jordanpromised to dig into the matter of why the streets acquired their literarybent.
Before she could complete her search, a message left at William UtzConstruction Co., which built the homes, was returned by Bill Wiggins, 60,one of Foxmoor's original developers. Mr. Wiggins now spends most of theyear in Daytona Beach, Fla., but commutes to Maryland often to check on newor ongoing projects.
"Thirty years ago, when we did the marketing for new subdivisions, we'd comeup with a general theme for a community," he said. "Look at all the Old English-sounding names for Chartwell and Chartridge in Severna Park. Theengineers on a project were used to naming streets and they'd come up withlists of names."
"It's not as easy as you think when you have to name streets," he continued."There was no Internet back then. You had to sit in a library. Names alwayscame out at the last minute. But building a subdivision can take years. Thelast houses in Foxmoor were built 20 years after the first. There was atremendous span of time completely developing the property."
Mr. Wiggins credits the late Melvin Beall (pronounced "Bell") with creatingthe list of street names for Foxmoor. Mr. Beall was an engineer with thePasadena firm involved in the project, John E. Arms & Associates. He passedaway over 20 years ago.
"Street names had to be simple, original, catchy. It must have worked: allthe houses in Foxmoor were fast sellers," Mr. Wiggins chuckled.
Published January 03, 2005
The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright
© 2005 The Capital, Annapolis, Md
posted by DANIELBLOOM at 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/01_03-22/CBN
Arnold community has a literary bent
By Wendi Winters, For The Capital
The inspiration for naming streets in this region often seems a combination of ego and pre-development nature: politicians, pine trees and polliwogs are all equals in the name game.
Sometimes humor plays a part.
Wags have long snickered that Silopanna Road, home to the Chesapeake Children's Museum, just off from Spa Road, is the word "Annapolis" spelled backwards. How about the streets in a Glen Burnie neighborhood that are all laid out in alphabetical order?
There are the intriguing street names in the Severna Park Berrywood community. They're almost all long-gone authors, and, save for Poe, none has direct ties to Maryland. Hemingway Lane intersects Shakespeare Drive. Tolstoy Lane and Poe Court come to a crossroads. Michner Court is nestled not far from Beckworth Court.
Arnold, not to be outdone, has its own whimsically named streets in one subdivision.
The Foxmoor community, just off Shore Acres Road and close by College Parkway, was built over a 20-year period in the 1970s and '90s.
Every street in the community was named for a once-major New York publishing house. That explains the weird juxtaposition of Norton Lane with Viking South. Doubleday Drive and MacMillan Court. Crowell Court and Loughton Lane.
Anne Adomanis, a special education teacher who has lived on Norton Lane for 18 years and is only the second owner of her home, was agog at the explanation: "It never would have dawned on me. I'm surprised."
Also surprised was neighbor Cheryl Carnwath, president of Camp Blaze. "Oh! How funny!"
Kathy Meckley, a freelance actor who lives on Doubleday Drive, had already figured it out.
"I've lived here since 1985. I always knew the streets were named for book publishers. I bought the house from Duvall or Wiggins, the guys who built the houses. I guess somebody there had a passion for reading," she said.
Clutching a stub of a stogie in his teeth, Doubleday Drive resident Barry Morihlatko was en route to play a few rounds of basketball with his son. When asked if he knew what the streets were named for, without dropping his cigar he grunted, "Books. Publishing."
Over in Anne Arundel county's land-use department, spokesman Pam Jordan promised to dig into the matter of why the streets acquired their literary bent.
Before she could complete her search, a message left at William Utz Construction Co., which built the homes, was returned by Bill Wiggins, 60, one of Foxmoor's original developers. Mr. Wiggins now spends most of the year in Daytona Beach, Fla., but commutes to Maryland often to check on new or ongoing projects.
"Thirty years ago, when we did the marketing for new subdivisions, we'd come up with a general theme for a community," he said. "Look at all the Old English-sounding names for Chartwell and Chartridge in Severna Park. The engineers on a project were used to naming streets and they'd come up with lists of names."
"It's not as easy as you think when you have to name streets," he continued. "There was no Internet back then. You had to sit in a library. Names always came out at the last minute. But building a subdivision can take years. The last houses in Foxmoor were built 20 years after the first. There was a tremendous span of time completely developing the property."
Mr. Wiggins credits the late Melvin Beall (pronounced "Bell") with creating the list of street names for Foxmoor. Mr. Beall was an engineer with the Pasadena firm involved in the project, John E. Arms & Associates. He passed away over 20 years ago.
"Street names had to be simple, original, catchy. It must have worked: all the houses in Foxmoor were fast sellers," Mr. Wiggins chuckled.
If you come across any interesting nuggets like the one above, feel free to e-mail them to me. Trivia tidbits are often more fun to snack on than a seven-course meal!
Kudos to the Windsor Farm Elementary School kids who collected money to help build the library at Pensacola Beach Elementary School in Florida. All that school's library's books were lost or destroyed during Hurricane Ivan in September.
According to media specialist Linda Brooks, Windsor Farm students who made a contribution hung an ornament on the school's Caring Tree in the lobby. Within days, the tree was glittering with ornaments. The children were able to send a check for over $600 to their new friends at Pensacola Elementary.
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