I Was Bored
“Fake towns” is a bit harsh, as these are very real places. And really, not too many people are confusing them with the “real” towns in which they are located. I am purposely ignoring the “big” fake towns (Danielson, Willimantic, Mystic, Rockville, Winsted, Storrs) because they aren’t all that fun for this exercise.
The other, non-Connecticut, Versailles
Many seconds were devoted to researching this list. Top expert was consulted (texts with fellow fake town fan Ryan Hanrahan during a newscast). I am therefore comfortable with the following list.
Honorable Mentions:
Oneco (Sterling) – This is the only “town” listed on this page that I am not 100% sure how to pronounce. I say it like “ON-ecco” but who knows. I can think of five other possible pronunciations. *Update! See Comment at bottom.
Versailles (Sprague) – A surprise to not be in the top 10. It’s in Sprague, which no one even knows is a real town. And its pronounced “VER-sails” which is simply insulting to someone who speaks French.
Fair Haven (New Haven) – Every Haven got a city: New Haven, North Haven, West Haven, East Haven… except poor old Fair Haven. I felt compelled to put it on a list somewhere. So here you are.
At a real full-service gas station in Moosup which is in Plainfield even if Moosupers don’t know that
Moosup (Plainfield) – I got gas once at a Twilight Zone station in Moosup. It was a one-pump full service place where the guy was happy to check my oil and tires. In 2017. Anyway, I jokingly said, “WHERE AM I?!” Not understanding rhetoricals, the guy told me, “Moosup.” Making conversation, I said, “That’s part of Plainfiled, right?”
The guy stared at me quizzically. “No. It’s Moosup.” I switched the subject to sports and took pictures of the place to be sure it was real.
Tarriffville (Simsbury) – I wavered on whether to have Simsbury’s Weatogue here instead, simply because everyone who lives in Weatogue insists on saying they are from Weatogue, as if anyone outside of a 10-mile radius has any clue where the hell Weatogue is. But Tarriffville is just such a dumb fake town name, I’m going with it instead.
Scitico (Enfield) – Scitico, Scitico, Scit, Scit, Scitico… Scitico, Scitico, Scit, Scit, Scitico… Scit-i-COO-ooo-OOO!
The Top 10 “Fake” CT Towns
10. Noank (Groton) – I enjoy the thought of some out-of-stater calling this place “NONK.” I enjoy in-staters calling it “no-WANK.” I enjoy the burning hatred some people have for the place, simply because the roads are tiny and busy in the summer. I very much enjoy the lobster rolls.
9. Flanders (East Lyme) – Poor Flanders. Just a little section of East Lyme, enjoying relative anonymity next to its better-known neighboring “fake” Niantic, also of East Lyme. Then along came Ned Flanders. Now everyone associates the place with geeky unaware sanctimonious men with absurdly bushy mustaches.
8. Cos Cob (Greenwich) – It’s called Cos Freaking Cob. Pete Freaking Campbell from Mad Men lived here. It has a train station which means anytime friends come up via train, the first thing they say to me is, “Yo, what’s up with Cos Cob?”
7. Occum (Norwich) – Occum was named after some guy, and I don’t really know why it slots in at number 7 here, but I think the simplest answer is probably the most likely.
6. Gaylordsville (New Milford) – When we were dumb kids, we’d call other dumb kids buttwipes, retards, and… gaylords. (Maybe it was a Delaware thing.) Buttwipe is still a fantastic insult, but the other two are justifiably and rightfully verboten. But check this out: Gaylordsville was named for the Gaylord family from France. Except their surname was actually Gaillard. So Gaylordsville (probably) takes heat rather unnecessarily.
5. Sodom (North Canaan) – There are a bunch of Sodom vestiges around Connecticut. A Sodom Road here, a Sodom Road there. According to this article, there used to be a bunch of “fake” towns also named Sodom. But only one survived. It has a sign and everything. Taking funny pictures in front of the sign would be more of a thing if it wasn’t in the Canadian hinterland portion of the state.
4. Ekonk (Sterling) – Being Connecticut’s most onomatopoeic “fake” town name merits it big points with me. Picture Scooby-Doo kicking the Joker in the face on a fantastic Brave and Bold episode from the mind of Bat-mite. (For real.): “Ekonk!”
“Ekonk!”
3. Canaan (North Canaan) – Now, don’t get confused. The number 3 spot goes to “fake” Canaan, which is the part of North Canaan that everyone calls Canaan. Which is pretty much all of North Canaan. Except for East Canaan, which everyone refers to as East Canaan, even though it, too, is a “fake” town. Of course, Connecticut has a real Canaan, just south of the “Fake” Canaan in North Canaan, which is west of East Canaan. However, everyone refers to real Canaan as Falls Village (except for the part of it called South Canaan) rather than its proper name of Canaan. You’d be foolish to confuse any of these Canaans with New Canaan though. At least the real Canaan was founded before New Canaan, but New Canaan was founded before “fake” Canaan, which you’ll remember is actually North Canaan.
PS. Real East Hampton is decidedly southwest of Real Hampton.
2. Ballouville (Killingly) – Now that you’ve read it, you won’t be able to stop saying it: “BALLOUVILLE… BALLOUVILLE… BALLOUUUUUUUUUVILLE.”
And Connecticut’s number 1 fake town name is…
1. Mianus (Greenwich) – Duh, No brainer.
Oneco (locally pronounced “oh-KNEE-koh”) is so named because, long ago, as a very small spread out town, it only had one cow. So the farmer put up a sign in town, noting “One cow.” One day in a bad storm the “W” fell off, and being swamp Yankee farmers, the locals were too cheap to replace it. Eventually the pronunciation shifted to where it is today.
That’s of course not a true story, but the local pronunciation is “oh-KNEE-koh.”
Also, I grew up in Moosup. My mom still goes to that gas station because she grew up in the 50’s, and to her the concept of a full serve station is just how the world should work, not an archaic and awkward way to gas up.
Too bad you missed Georgetown. It’s in all three of the real towns of Redding, Weston and Wilton. And arguably partly in Ridgefield as well!
Man, you shoulda put Weatogue instead of Tariffville. I’m a native and perhaps one of the few who introduces myself as originally from Simsbury. My mom is from Brooklyn originally, but even she thinks I should put Weatogue before Simsbury.
Great list, nonetheless! Love seeing Cos Cob on here. A college friend is from there and boy do I just love addressing Christmas cards to her.
Great list!!! I can think of many more for you. Black Rock, in what is Bridgeport. Devon and Woodmont are both part of Milford. There is a Nichols near Route 15 in Trumbull. Limerock Race Track is located within the Lakeville Section of Salisbury. Collinsville jin Canton, plus Unionville in Farmington. I am sure there is many more.
Okay, the list is about Connecticut, but most of the Rhode Islanders I know wish Westerly was part of CT, so I’m gonna say that the residents of Watch Hill do. not. want. to be associated with their town, Westerly.
Frog Hollow doesn’t make the list? Hazzardville?
Phillip –
Well, Frog Hollow is a neighborhood and not so much a “town” for the purposes of this exercise. As for Hazardville, that was on the short list. My favorite part of it is that it’s named for a guy who happened to get in the hazardous business of explosives… like, what are the chances? Anyway, here’s some stuff on Hazardville.
Ivoryton, Woodville, Quinebaug?
There’s another one that’s really strange that’s so obscure I can’t rememebr it now.
Scitico? No one thinks of that as a town, borough, district, etc. If the locals say they are going to scitico, they are referring to the two plazas surrounding the food bag gas station. I live there. Pronounced Skit-uh-coh. A good one for the list is Stafford Springs. On the news, in the papers, everyone calls the entire town stafford springs but it’s actually Stafford, the stafford springs area is just the tiny downtown area
Don’t forget Huntington which is part of Shelton. Oh and Collinsville which is inside the borders of Canton.
My mother was born in Oneco long, long ago when there was a birthing home there that was apparently THE place to go back in the early 30s when one was having a baby. As for how it got its name other than for the reasons in the comment above about the one cow, the village was named after Owaneco, son of the great Mohegan Indian Sachem Uncas, who claimed ownership of large tracts of eastern Connecticut land in the early colonial days. Speaking of places named after Mohegan Tribal members, Occum (which is Mucco backwards if you’re bored) was named after Samson Occom who was one of the first ordained Christian Indian ministers (he became a a Presbyterian cleric) and who is also believed to be a direct descendant of Uncas.
Now as for Moosup, I don’t know how it really got its name but back when I was a little girl my grandfather used to tell me a story about how the town got its name which involved several Native Americans traveling down the Quinebaug River in a canoe. Spying a moose standing on a ledge over the river, one guy reportedly nudged the other fella in the canoe with him and pointing said, “Moose up” and that’s how the town got its name! It cracked my grandfather up every time he told that story so though I’m sure it wasn’t true, I still smile fondly in remembrance whenever I’m passing through the area.