Community Corner
Peculiar Road Names and Unknown Origins
Here's a list of some interesting, unique and unusual road names throughout lower Fairfield County.
What's in a name?
Fairfield County is home to a variety of interesting and unusual road names. Some in Shelton are named for poets, others in Fairfield are named after Hungarians who used to live there. In Greenwich, some streets get their monikers from all things British. In the Wilton area, some road names stem from Native American influences.
Still others are interesting, but their origin is unknown. Such is the case with several Sherwood Forest-themed road names in Stamford: Robin Hood Road, Friar Tuck Lane, Nottingham Drive.
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Ron Marcus, a librarian at the Stamford Historical Society, said no one knows the background of why those streets were named after the heroic outlaw in English folklore.
"No one has ever done a study," he said. "That was one of my secret wishes—to do a project on the history of the streets of Stamford and the background—because sometimes the name that appears isn't always what it was."
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Adams Avenue, for example, is not named after President John Adams but rather Nathanial Adams—a local builder who lived in Stamford when the railroad came through.
After World War II, Marcus said, the country experienced a building boom as many areas were developed.
"So these roads went up all over the place and the developers start naming them," he said. "Some of them it's pretty obvious: They name it for themselves or a family member But some are cutesy names (like the Robin Hood roads)."
The origin behind road names is something that would require intense research and time. Marcus said the historical society would work with anyone who wants to take on the project.
"We know when they were adopted as streets but the origin of the name ... a lot of them I dare say we will never know," he said.
Here are some of the most interesting and unusual road names throughout lower Fairfield County:
Town Name Road Names Darien Tory Hole Road, Abbey Road, Scout Trail, Shagbark Road, Crooked Mile Road, Petticoat Lane, Victory Drive, Red Coat Pass FairfieldThe Hungarian roads: Hunyadi Avenue, Rakoczy Avenue, Apponyi Street
There are also two Old Post Roads in Fairfield, and neither one is near the other.
Old Dam Road, Random Road
Crown Lane, King Street, Guards Road, Maiden Lane, Old Kings Highway, Pilgrim Drive, Tory Road, Windsor Lane, Suburban Road
New Canaan Lost District Drive, Bald Hill Road, Buttery Road, Gravel Island Road, Gray Squirrel Drive, Hollywood Avenue, Huckleberry Hill, Journey's End Road, Parade Hill Road, Puddin Hill Road, Sleepy Hollow Road, Whiffle Tree Lane, Shaker Road, Cheese Spring Road, Wahackme Road, Frogtown Road, Wing Road, Weed Street Norwalk Memory Lane, Barjune Road, Junebar Lane, Dragon Lane, Singing Woods Road, Yew Street, Knowalot Lane, Pumpkin Stem, Kermit Street, Couch Street, Buda Street, Devil's Garden Road, Witch Lane Redding Poverty Hollow Road, Thankful Bradley Road Ridgefield Bypass Road was once Byass Road, Twopence Road
Shelton The Poet Roads: Bryant Lane, Poe Place, Whittier Lane, Dickinson Drive, Longfellow Road, Webster Drive, Robert Frost Drive Stamford Robin Hood Road, Nottingham Drive, Friar Tuck Lane, Camelot Court, Gutzon Borglum Road (named after the Mt. Rushmore sculptor) and Studio Road (where Borglum had a studio)
Weston Nimrod Farm Road, Wagon Wheel Lane Westport Burying Hill Road, Mary Jane Lane, Pan Handle Lane, Sniffen Road,
Wilton Hurlbutt Road and Pimpewaug Road
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