Acorn Place: Freeville Tour: Street Names

Some time ago, I wrote a post about how people name towns. It's really pretty similar with roads. In rural areas, they're often named after the town or city that they take you to. In towns, they can be named after people, places, businesses, or things. Philadelphia set a standard for the naming of gridded streets that many towns and cities have copied since. Going one way, the streets are numbered: First St, Second St, Third St, and so on. Going the other way, many of them are named after trees: Pine St., Spruce St., Chestnut St., Walnut St. Many towns have followed this model in one way or another. In New York, the gridded streets are numbered in both directions. Going one way, it's First St., Second St., and so on. Going the other way, it's First Ave., Second Ave, Third Ave., and so on. I think this could get just a little confusing.

Freeville doesn't have anything resembling a grid of streets. It's a mishmash of roads coming into town from other places and much smaller, local avenues. The streets in Freeville are named after businesses: Railroad St, Mill St, Factory St, DPW Drive; names, as in Johnson St. and Yates St.; towns and cities, as in Groton Ave. and Brooklyn Rd.; ideas, as in Union St. and Liberty St.; and then there's Cook St., which could be named after a person or

Freeville doesn't have anything resembling a grid of streets. It's a mishmash of roads coming into town from other places and much smaller, local avenues. The streets in Freeville are named after businesses: Railroad St, Mill St, Factory St, DPW Drive; names, as in Johnson St. and Yates St.; towns and cities, as in Groton Ave. and Brooklyn Rd.; ideas, as in Union St. and Liberty St.; and then there's Cook St., which could be named after a person (either with the last name Cook or who happened to be a really good cook!), but I'm not sure. And, of course, Freeville, like many American towns, is framed around Main Street.

Here's a look at some road signs around town. It looks like some of the them are due to be replaced, while others look to have been replaced fairly recently!