Tuesday, August 31, 2021

About how a town got it's name ~

My wife and I were driving on vacation recently. We drove through the Smoky Mountains and got to see lots of little towns along the interstate. We would stop and eat lunch or dinner and stayed in a couple of hotels along the way. The way people do when they travel by car.

On one of the days I started seeing signs for a town. A flashback of memory made me start telling her about an imaginary guy named Howard. How I remembered that this town was where Howard was always stressed out. And that the people in the town tried to help him calm down. They never could get Howard to relax.

In my story a visitor came to town, an old Indian chief from up in the mountains. He watched and listened for a few days and then he spoke with the mayor of the town. He said this Howard is a very important man in your city but because of his stress many people were spending a lot of effort trying to relax. Then the great chief suggested to the mayor of this town that he rename his town. And that renaming the town would help Howard relax. Because then everybody, not just the people in town but everybody passing through would say this town's name it would be a reminder for Howard to relax.

That's how Chilhouie, Virginia got its name. (It's pronounced chill-howie :-)

Oh, by the way, the name of Indian chief was Chief Smoke In The Face. Someone who I have fond memories for from the past, a great Indian chief my father told my children all about when they were growing up. But that's another story...