(NOTE:
I wrote this a few years
ago for the City Guide in Winston-Salem, N.C.)
ON THE (FORSYTH COUNTY) ROADS AGAIN
 |
| DOWNTOWN WINSTON-SALEM |
By Tom Gillispie
Joe
Everyman here again. Good to see ya.
Don’t
slam the doors, and please don’t forget to fasten your seatbelts.
And hang onto your hats; I drive as fast as I talk.
I
don’t know if you pay attention to the names of streets, but I do.
When I drive around Forsyth County in general or Winston-Salem in
particular, I keep track.
I
see people’s names, like Karen Gene Lane, Al Sprinkle Avenue,
Katies Crossing, Amanda Place, Sally Kirk Road, Allen Easley Street,
Barbara Jane Circle and Alexander Preston Lane.
Look
at that place, Brewer Gardens Circle. I wonder how it got its name.
Bridlespur Court makes me think there ought to be a horse barn or two
there. And what about Autoserve Lane? What brought that
on?
Same with Todays Woman. Sounds like a magazine.
But
where is Forty-Foot Road 40 feet from? If that makes sense?
Whippoorwill is OK, but where does Whippers-In come from. And what
about Dixie Broadway?
There
are a bunch of Brooks, such as Brookbend, Brookberry, Brookberry Farm
road and circle, Brookcrest, Brookdale Ridge, Brookline — that’s
downtown — plus, Brookmeade, Brookmere, Brookmont… Well, you get
the idea.
I
wonder what Brook means to all of the folks around here. They have a
few Bucks, like Buck Chase, Buckeye, Buckhaven, Buckhead and
Buckhorn, plus Buckingham and Buckingham Place, but they’re way
more into Brooks than Bucks.
You’ll
find some roads that start with Old and Olde; they’ve been there
awhile.
Winston-Salem
has a Shenandoah, a Shamrock and a Donny Brook; makes me feel right
at home.
Triad
Court has a homey sound to it.
There
are trees and plants all over the place, like Riley Forest, Tulip,
Barry Oak, Crepe Myrtle and Blue Fern, plus Burning Tree. There are
cars like Ford and Cadillac.
Beacon
Hill Court, hey, Beacon Hill is a famous neighborhood in Boston,
Mass. You never heard of it? You can look it up.
There’s
a full section of war streets. Drawbridge and Gauntlet, for instance,
have a medieval military sound, and Spyglass brings up war.
Merrimac
and Monitor streets have an underwater/Civil War sound to them. And
Trafalgar sounds familiar.
I’ve
found streets that made me think of the Civil War — Appomattox,
Vicksburg, Antietem and Chancellorsville, to name four — plus
Burgoyne and Cornwallis were generals around the time of the
Revolutionary War. And Monticello, Mount Vernon, Williamsburg, Revere
and Retreat all make me think of revolutionary times.
I
didn’t, however, find a General Lee or a Stonewall Jackson.
At
least one street, Argonne, dredges up WWI. Why? There was a Battle of
Argonne Forest in France in 1918, from Sept. 26 to Nov. 11, that
claimed 117,000 Americans, 70,000 Frenchmen and 100,000 Germans. Sad.
And
I found Roosevelt Street, Eisenhower Road and MacArthur Street, plus
Pershing Avenue, Taft Street, Van Buren Street, Westmoreland,
Whittier Street and Tipperary. What’s about Tipperary? The British
sang “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” during WW1.
Continental
and Congress, yes, they make me think of the Revolutionary War. For
some reason, so does Potomac.
Capistrano
sounds familiar. They call it the Miracle of the Swallows of
Capistrano? I didn’t know that. I’ll have to look it up.
Kinnamon
rhymes with my favorite condiment, and there’s a Turmeric.
Among
these streets are movie and TV stars like Humphrey and Bogart,
Nicholson, Gleason, Gossett, Harmon and Gaynor, plus a spaceship
named Enterprise and a captain named Kirk. Bond Street, well, that’s
obvious. That street is shaken AND stirred. Heathcliff could be a
character in a book, and Exeter sounds like a character out of the TV
show Mork
and Mindy.
There are Mayberry and Griffith, plus Sanford. And Green Acres, hey,
I loved
Eva Gabor as a kid.
There
are Hondo, Stella and Reba, and I wonder what Jasper Memory is all
about.
John
Wesley has a hard ring to it, and I wonder if anyone lives at 23
Jordan Drive. Lindbergh came along before my time, but I remember
stories. Loch Lomond has a musical sound to it; same with Fiddlers
Knoll, Ludwig, Mozart and Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town).
We
have literature with Longfellow, Hemingway, Whitman and Standish, and
Allistair Road makes me think of novelist Alistair MacLean — I
love The
Guns of Navarone.
Twain, Huckleberry and Sawyer have literary rings to them. Same with
Ivanhoe and Limerick. And Hemlock? Socrates, of course.
I
found at least two Christmas streets, Noel and Excelsior.
We
have math with Euclid and religion with Franciscan, plus mythical
stories with King Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, Robin, Robinhood,
Little John, Locksley (Robin of Locksley), Will Scarlet, Nottingham
and Friar Tuck. You’ll even find a Sherwood, a Sherwood Forest and
a Sherwood Hills. And, for some reason, Silver Chalice seems to
continue that theme.
Jamestown
is familiar to most of us over 18.
We
also have education with Harvard Road and insurance with Nationwide,
Hartford and Lynch. Plus there’s food with Fries and Gyro.
Some
streets sound like sports venues to me, like Rugby, Ballpark Way,
Coliseum, Coachford, Oriole Lane, Deacon Boulevard, Piazza Drive,
Wimbledon Drive, Talladega Court, Collegian Trail, Pitcher Court and
Campus Lane. Brickyard is a nickname for Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And there’s a Big House Gaines Boulevard, named for the former
Winston-Salem State basketball coach.
Martin
Luther King Drive is pretty well known. It’s fairly near both
downtown and U.S. 52. You’ll find a bunch of streets that start
with Salem; no surprise there.
Utica
and Utopia sound like opposites.
There’s
an N.C. 66, but it’s no Route 66.
Gramercy
Park sounds familiar for some reason. In New York, you say? So do
Granada, Greenwich and Harpers Ferry. Nantucket might be a nice place
to fish. And Navajo, Cheyenne, Yuma, Dublin, Danube and New Delhi
make me think of places far away from here.
I
found at least one scotch, Cutty Sark, and Dog Leg Drive makes me
think of my dog Lady. Chippendale dredges up an image, as does
Columbine.
Also,
I like Fondly, Fun Time, Good Hope, Friendly Acres and Friendship;
can’t help it. Same with Horn-Of-Plenty and Serenity.
My
other favorite streets are Leisure, Lazy and Lazyboy, plus
Opportunity. And I really like Sugar Maple, Sugarcane and Sugarcreek.
Sweet.
Sure,
there are roads like Belews Creek Road — yes, there’s a Belews
Creek. There’s a Baux Mountain Road, with no mountain nearby, plus
a bunch of Bethabaras, Bethanias and ones that start with Sedge.
There’s Interstate 40, Business 40, Stratford Road, Country Club
Road, Peace Haven, University Parkway, Reynolda Road, Marshall and
Cherry streets, Shattalon, North Point, Northwest, Clemmonsville and
more. You’ll learn most of them.
Hey,
here’s the stopping point; time to drop you off.
It’s
been great talking and riding with you. And please don’t slam the
doors on your way out.
HEY,
the next time we see each other, you guys need to talk more.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK
MORE BLOG ENTRIES BY TOM GILLISPIE
ANECDOTES BY TOM GILLISPIE
EDITOR@WORK BLOG ENTRIES
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(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
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