Another odd place name!

While driving in Denton on the Delmarva, I came across a street with an unusual name:  Pealiquor Road.   I think that’s probably on a par with the previous “winner” of that “honor” (Toad Suck, Arkansas.)   Never having heard the word previously, I whipped the car around and went back to grab a quick picture.  My mind instantly went “into the gutter” with regard to a possible pronunciation!  (Fortunately the area was very nice, with no indication of anything resembling such a phonetic meaning.)   And for the next hour, possible explanations kept “bouncing around in my head.”

It only made sense that it “had” to be agricultural in nature.  There are rivers, streams, and cultivated fields everywhere in the area.   And after all, the first part “Pea” is a common vegetable grown locally.  I researched on-line for a definition when I arrived home. 

According to info from the Caroline County Historical Society, it apparently got its name from when the Phillips Packing Company rented land here where the separation of pea hulls from harvested peas were carried out by pea vinery machines.  The vine and pea hull by-products were compressed and sold as forage to a nearby dairyman.  The pea juice (or liquor) from this operation became so plentiful a drainage ditch was built for it.  From then on, the landing was called Pealiquor.  Footner reported a “little group of buildings” at Pealiquor Landing in the 1940s.  The landing is designated on “Topographic Map of Caroline County” 1950, revised 1971.

So, there WAS a logical reason for the unusual name!

Hugs,

Mandy