“Discover America’s Most Bizarre Town Names: What Secrets Do They Hide?”
We can only assume that many years ago in England, the ancestors of John Belcher might have been part of a carnival travelling the countryside, socking away money from their amazing burp shows and performing gallant deeds to win favor with the king. It’s still better than “Fartville.”
Boring, Oregon
Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, Boring is just a few miles from Portland. It was established in 1903 as a major hub of the timber industry. The reason for labeling the city with such an uninspiring word is pretty ho-hum: it was named after William Harrison Boring, a Union soldier who was one of the area’s first settlers who also built the first schoolhouse.
Boring is anything but “boring,” with plenty of gorgeous outdoor activities like hiking and other attractions. It has two sister cities, the village of Dull in Scotland, and Bland, in New South Wales, Australia.
Chugwater, Wyoming
Chugwater is a small town of around 200 located in Platte County, Wyoming. The town was named after the “valley of the Chug,” which got its name from a legendary Mandan hunting expedition where the hunters drove bison over a local cliff and observed an audible “chugging” sound as they were trapped in the rapids below.
Visitors to Wyoming will be familiar with the iconic bronco rider silhouette on the state license plates. The rider and horse (Clayton Danks and “Steamboat”) are both Chugwater natives and the horse and rider motif is the longest running license-plate theme in the world!
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