These 10 Massachusetts Towns Have The Silliest Names But Are So Worth A Visit
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Sophia
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If you’ve lived in Massachusetts for any amount of time, you’re no stranger to the fact we’ve got some pretty unusual place names. Some of them sound dirty, some of them are hilarious and some are just plain baffling. Luckily, most of them are attached to towns that are actually pretty cool. Here are a few of the towns in Massachusetts with the weirdest names that are still worth a visit.
Braintree is named after the town of Braintree in England. Name a town Braintree once, shame on you. Name a town Braintree twice…
Luckily, this town is home to plenty of cool stuff like the Blue Hills Reservation and popular shopping mecca South Shore Plaza. That helps.
Luckily, this town is home to plenty of cool stuff like the Blue Hills Reservation and popular shopping mecca South Shore Plaza. That helps.
Ah, Sandwich. Where the Sandwich police will come arrest you if you rob the Sandwich bank. It’s actually the oldest town in Massachusetts, turning 379 years old in 2018. Sandwich is the perfect base camp for exploring Cape Cod and is home to gorgeous spots like the Sandwich boardwalk and Heritage Museums and Gardens.
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Even if you've lived in Barnstable all your life, you may not have ever noticed that it’s basically a mashup of the words "barn" and "stable." But pronounced "BARN-stubble" for some reason. Barnstable is both a county (i.e. Cape Cod) and a town. It was named the second-happiest town in America by a nationwide Gallup study in 2017 in terms of depression rates and wellbeing, so residents aren’t likely to complain about the quirky name.
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Mashpee is one of those names that feels uncomfortable in about three different ways, but the town of Mashpee is actually pretty lovely. It was named after the Mashpee Wampanoag people and is home to plenty of historic sites like the Old Indian Meeting House and the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge. Not bad for a town with a name that sounds vaguely scatological.
If only Peru were as balmy as its name suggests. In reality, this Berkshire County town is as chilly as the rest of the state. It was originally called Partridgefield until the Rev. John Leland suggested the town’s name be changed to Peru "because it is like the Peru of South America, a mountain town, and if no gold or silver mines are under her rocks, she favors hard money and begins with a P." Okay, John. Sure.
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The name "Seekonk" comes from the Wamponag word for "black goose." Pretty apt onomatopoeia there. Seekonk is actually a rather charming small town full of families and quiet green spaces like the Old Grist Mill Pond.
know, super relevant for farming community in central Massachusetts. Orange is home to the North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival in the summer and was the hometown of Myrtle Bachelder, prominent chemist and Women's Army Corps officer who worked on the Manhattan Project. It's actually a pretty nice place to live, too.
Disgusting name, beautiful town. Belchertown is home to the Robert Frost Parking Trail, part of the Quabbin Reservoir and a mini Fenway Park complete with a mini Green Monster and a foul pole just like Pesky’s Pole.
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Marblehead is a pretty coastal town on the North shore. It has a pretty weird name but is a beautiful spot for a day trip in any season.
Teaticket has a name that sounds plucked from a British children’s book. It’s actually a pretty area in the larger town of Falmouth and extends to Vineyard Sound. If you’re looking for a quiet spot on the Cape to enjoy a summer afternoon, this is it.
For more Bay State weirdness, check out this list of traditions you’ll only understand if you’re from Massachusetts.
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