4 ms·
There's Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. There's also a lot of "New" versions of older European locations as a way to distinguish them from other similarly named plac
by dfxm12 6y ago
There's Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. There's also a lot of "New" versions of older European locations as a way to distinguish them from other similarly named places when there aren't any rivers nearby, I guess, like New Jersey. Don't forget, a lot of places in the US were also already named before European settlers arrived.
It might also simply not be needed as a matter of practicality. There are many Springfields, but probably not very many per state (although I know New Jersey has two) and certainly a max of one per zipcode. Sure Springfield, MA 12345 isn't as whimsical as Springfield-upon-the-Connecticut (or whatever) in terms of distinguishing it from Springfield, NJ 08765, but it gets the job done.
- quesera 6y agoIt's worth noting, though, that Manchester MA was renamed 30 years ago to sound quaintly affluent -- in pointed contrast to the working-class mill town of Manchester NH, just over the border.
- gumby 6y agoAh, that explains why I’d never heard of the Massachusetts town before the film came out (and was surprised to see it on the map) — it didn’t exist (by that name) when I was in school there.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> There's also a lot of "New" versions of older European locations as a way to distinguish them from other similarly named places when there aren't any rivers nearby, I guess A whole lot of those “New” places (unsurprisingly, given patterns of human habitation more generally) have rivers nearby. > There's Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. And Cardiff by the Sea, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Corona del Mar, CA.
- adolph 6y agoAt some point the USPS tried to limit states to one town per name. Buda, TX was originally named Du Pre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda,_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda,_Texas
- beardyw 6y agoThe "New" towns in the US make some sense in that they mean "Our" town of that name. Here in the UK we have towns like Newcastle where the newness has lost its novelty after a 1000 years.