What's In a (Street) Name?

The melodious street names of Newtown's Jangling Plains and Dingley Dell Road may leave you feeling like you have made it to Harmony Street in Danbury.

But Daniel Cruson, local Newtown historian, explains the meaning of those words. And they aren't necessarily harmonious.

Jangling describes the dispute between two land owners in the 1700s vying for a particular piece of land, while a dingle was an old English word for a small valley where a brook ran through.

In Monroe, Josie's Ring may sound like a charming street name.

However, Nancy Zorena of the Monroe Historical Society explained that Josie was a man named Joseph who in 1752 set a ring of fire around his field to keep the deer from eating his corn. While it kept the deer out, he never made it back alive.

Maiden Lane, also in Monroe, was known for its proliferation of eligible young women, particularly among the Judson family. According to Zorena, many a young couple took a walk down Lover's Lane, which truly had been a place where young lovers went for their evening trysts.

Had they been in Danbury, they may have started out on Flirtation Drive, which is not to be confused with Filtration Hill Road. What a difference an anagram makes!

Some descriptive names originated before the areas were residential. Monroe's Carcass Road, once the dumping ground for a tanner's dead beasts, it was changed only very recently to Abbey Road when current residents objected to the name.

There are stories but no proof that Brookfield's Gallows Hill Road was based on anything other than the name of a cemetery, according to Municipal Historian Peter Thompson. Meanwhile, the history of Obtuse Road in Brookfield was based on the difficulty in working the rocky land.

Have you ever wondered about Newtown's Aunt Park? Cruson said that according to local lore, the "aunt" was a healer who knew her way around herbs and roots. Danbury's "Aunt Hack," who Aunt Hack Road was named after, was a member of a family who farmed on the hill.

Unusual names spark the imagination and could cause one to question their actions before proceeding. Dot your Is and cross your Ts on Southbury's Manners Avenue, and pay your bills or end up on Newtown's Poor House Road. You may want to think long and hard before you face Reality Drive in Oxford, and on Halloween, you could pay a visit to Bethel's Ichabod Lane. Or you could visit Southbury's Transylvania Road, which even though it's lovely and bucolic, stirs up imaginings of Dracula's dark castle.

A couple hundred years ago, places like Newtown's Poverty Hollow was not the best place to end up. Originally established as a work farm for people to work off their debt, today Poverty Hollow is lined with luxury houses.  Southbury's Poverty Road is now the route to a private country club.

Camps are often divided about Danbury's Padanaram. While most people assume that it is a word from India, the real explanation is that it is Biblical and means fields of Aram. Regardless, one thing is for sure. It does not easily roll off unpracticed tongues. The correct pronunciation is Pa' dan A' ram.

Historians from the Danbury Museum said Old Never Sink Road sank, Noteworthy Drive is not noteworthy at all, and Ye Olde Road is new. Bethel's Bogus Mountain is open for discussion, but an explanation of that name is hard to find.

Brigid Guertin, Executive Director of Danbury Museum said, “History is full of fallacies and inaccuracies. Getting to the bottom of the story is what makes history fun.”