The Putnam Scoop

I get asked a lot about the name Hurricane by people who aren’t from here. They always want to know if we had one here or how else we got the name.

It’s not very exciting, really. George Washington sent a survey team through and when they came to a creek here, they saw trees all blown over in one direction, as if there had been a hurricane. They named it Hurricane Creek, and when the town grew up around it, it took the name.

We have some other interesting names here, too. Putnam County is like much of West Virginia, with little cities, towns and unincorporated communities with strange names.

Eleanor is named for Eleanor Roosevelt, who wanted affordable housing for all. There are still some of the original little square homes left, although many of them have been added on to by now.

Poca is one of my favorite names. The high school mascot is an actual Dot. Yes, the Poca Dots. We do have a sense of humor around here. And you should see that Dot dance!

The Toyota plant is in Buffalo. Part of Nitro is in Putnam, named for one of the components of gunpowder that was made there during WWI. Winfield is named for Winfield Scott, the commanding General of the American Army during the War with Mexico. (Winfield’s school mascot name is the Generals.)

We have Teays and Teays Valley, both named for Thomas Teays, a local hunter and trapper. Midway is midway between Eleanor and Buffalo, Charleston and Huntington. There’s even a tiny little place called Hometown. That’s a pretty cozy place to be from, isn’t it?

Fraziers Bottom was named by a farmer named Frazier who bought the bottom land near the Kanawha River. Scott Depot is(in)famous for Jack Whittaker, the single largest Powerball Lottery winner.

When I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, I used to make my coworkers laugh when I would send a letter addressed to Grandma Murphy in Red House, WV — and it would get to her. Don’t you love a small town? They knew Grandma Murphy.

We also have Confidence, Black Betsy, Pliny, Bancroft, Liberty and Lanham. Lots of tiny little towns, all growing larger as our roads are rerouted and improved. We can’t look around without seeing change here. This is one of the fastest growing areas of the state, second only to the eastern panhandle which is a suburb of Washington, DC.

We’re growing but so far hanging onto our sense of self and our charm. Count me as just one more proud to be from Putnam County!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Putnam Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.