Street names

My hometown of Sackville, N.B., has a Union Street.  Only in recent years did I realize that it must have been named for the 1926 union of Methodist, Congregational and some Presbyterian churches that formed the United Church of Canada. (Sackville had been an important Methodist centre.)

You can learn something about a town from its street names.  Sackville has Lansdowne, Lorne and Dufferin streets, all named after Governors-General of Canada.  One of its oldest streets is Charlotte Street, which probably honours Charlotte of Mecklenburg, wife of George III when Sackville was a new community.  We lived on West Avenue, but it wasn't named for being on the west side of town (though it was) but after someone called West.

I live on Greensides Avenue, which is a rather bland name, like something a real estate developer would come up with.  Two of the newest streets in my neighbourhood are called Acores and Minho, presumably named with the Portuguese immigrant community in mind.

Some street names have a particular charm.  I remember from my visit to St. John's, Newfoundland, a street called Strawberry Marsh Road.  I wish I could think of names like that!