We noticed on the map that there was a small town of Drake on our route between Hermann and Rolla and were determined to take a picture of the sign outside the town. However, as we passed the official green sign, there were several cars behind us and we couldn't stop. Further down the road we saw this sign so we stopped for the picture. This was actually the only building we saw in Drake MO.
We were surprised to see, just a few miles down the road from Drake, the community of Owensville. One sign said population 2,500 - so it was a good-sized town and had a nice water tower that said Owensville. We found this interesting that two neighboring communities had two names from our family.As a side note - Jerry said he picked Hermann from the googled list of Missouri tourist attractions because his dad's middle name was Herman.
5 comments:
When I taught social studies I came across an idea I thought looked fun but never did--have students find a town with their name (first preferably but last would work as well) and have do a report on the town. With technology it would be much easier to do today.
It looks as if Drake and Owen are taken care of.
I'm pretty sure I've never heard of anything with my name. Has anybody else run across towns or geographical locations with your name?
Rhoda, TH, Germany
Years ago I took Rhoda's idea and ran with it when teaching geography. It was before the days of internet everywhere, and it was a lot of fun. Each student had to find three places with their name in it (or as close as we could get) and write letters to the chamber of commerce of that town. (Three letters so we knew we'd get one back.) They got some fascinating stuff in the mail. Umbrellas, police dog tags, T-shirts, and of course lots of post cards and material. It was a good, fun assignment that helped them learn about some place outside of their own little world.
Never had anybody who could use Gridley, but I did have one student whose last name was Prince and was able to write to Princeville. And the info. that came back had Mom's cousin's wife listed as town clerk.
Of course in the day of internet this isn't nearly as good an idea because the notes the students got back (when I did it toward the end of teaching that course - haven't taught it in 5 years) said "Check our town website."
I think it's really interesting that you found both Drake and Owen's names so close together. Glad you had such a good trip.
Thanks Drake. I looked it up on Mapquest and in German it's Rhodt Unter Rietburg, Rheinland-Pfalz, but it's close enough for me!
That's a different place. I'm seeing a Rhoda, Erfurt, Deutschland:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rhoda,+Erfurt,+Deutschland&hl=en&sll=50.929061,11.010189&sspn=0.036408,0.090895&gl=us&z=16
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