Would you move to Accident?

Hear a name often enough, and you won't think twice about it. But that doesn't change the fact that Maryland has some oddly named places.

Accident, for instance. Or Boring. Or Bivalve.

I wonder if a strange name keeps people from moving in. I'd like to think it instead attracts residents who like a little whimsy in their lives, or at least their mailing addresses.

Accident, in Western Maryland, does not appear to be named after a disaster. Historian Mary Miller Strauss writes in "Flowery Vale," a history of Accident, that it's impossible to say for sure, but she believes a story about land speculation.

When Lord Baltimore opened lands "westward of Fort Cumberland" to settlers, two friends from Prince George's County rushed out - separately - to survey and claim property. William Deakins Jr. had just finished surveying 682 acres when Brooke Beall showed up and said "he had selected the same tract for his survey, calling attention to his axe marks on the trees to prove his claim."

Deakins replied that it appeared that they had selected the same land "by accident." Since he and Beall were friends and land was abundant, he proposed that Beall take over the survey already made. To this Beall agreed, although his warrant called for 778 acres. John Hanson Jr., deputy county surveyor, made out the survey to Beall, and they named the tract Accident.

What about Boring in Baltimore County? It was named after a postmaster, not because it's ... well, you know. (One resident writes, "Is Boring boring? Well yes it is, but in a good way.")

Bivalve on the Eastern Shore also has a post office-related history, according to "Bivalve United Methodist Church Centennial Celebration 1886-1986" by Paul Willing. It was originally called Waltersville, after a local family. But there was already a Waltersville post office elsewhere in Maryland, so in 1887, the newly appointed postmaster had to think of another name for his office. I'll bet you can guess what he came up with.

But why? In honor of oysters, "mainstay of the watermen's livelihood," Willing writes. And that's how Waltersville became Bivalve. Maryland is also home to not one but two towns that share their names with famous 1969 concerts - Woodstock (north of Ellicott City) and Altamont (in Western Maryland). You can't make this stuff up.

Oddly named Maryland places

Appeal in Southern Maryland

Bald Eagle in Prince George's County

Bestpitch on the Eastern Shore

Brink in Montgomery County

Butler in Baltimore County

Crapo on the Eastern Shore

Delmar on the Eastern Shore - half in Maryland, half in Delaware. (There's also a Marydel and a Pen Mar.)

Detour in Carroll County

Gist in Carroll County

Parole in Anne Arundel County (Whenever I've passed by, I've wondered if prisoners were once released there en masse. Actually, it was an exchange site for Union and Confederate prisoners of war.)

Peacock Corners on the Eastern Shore