If you're from Kentucky, you already know the state for horse racing, bourbon, the Derby, and fried chicken. What you might not know is that we also have some of the strangest town names in the country, most of them with a story behind them.
Here are ten of our favorites. A few of them, it turns out, also had a ballclub nearby back in the day, so we've noted where the baseball history lands. What's in a name? Read on.
1. Rabbit Hash, Kentucky
If you like small historic river towns, Rabbit Hash belongs at the top of your list. Known for the Rabbit Hash General Store, this Boone County community on the Ohio River has a population of around 300 and a dog for a mayor. The office has been held by a series of canines since the late 1990s, and the elections are a fundraiser for the historical society.
Rabbit Hash was originally called Carlton, but the mail kept getting mixed up with Carrollton downriver. The story goes that sometime in the mid-1800s, townsfolk were discussing what to serve for Christmas dinner when one man suggested rabbit hash, and the name stuck.
Rabbit Hash is a quick drive from Cincinnati or Louisville, and a perfect day trip. Boone County never had a professional ballclub, but you don't have to go far to find one. Next door in Kenton County, the Covington Blue Sox played part of the 1913 season in the Federal League before packing up for Kansas City.
2. Sugartit, Kentucky
You're probably wondering how this one happened. Start with what a sugar tit actually was: an old folk name for a homemade baby pacifier, a bit of sugar or honey wrapped in a twist of cloth. The community was formerly called Pleasant Ridge and later Gunpowder. The story goes that during the winter, local men would head to the general store and come back telling their wives they "had to have a sugar tit at the store," and the name followed.
Sugartit never incorporated, but it's a real place today with restaurants, a bank, apartments, a pub, and a gas station.
3. Big Beaver Lick, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Beaver Lick Trading Post Facebook
Boone County apparently has a knack for this, because Beaverlick is in the same county as Rabbit Hash and Sugartit. Established as a fur trading site between 1780 and 1820, the community was named for the "licks," the natural salt and mineral deposits that draw animals to the spot.
In its day Big Beaver Lick had a general store, two blacksmiths, a carriage maker, two doctors, a hotel, a flour mill, a millinery shop, and three churches. As the community dwindled, it was left with the historic homes, churches, and cemeteries you can still see today.
4. Bachelor's Rest, Kentucky
No, this is not where The Bachelor is filmed. This Pendleton County community got its name as a place where the area's bachelors would gather and socialize at the local country store.
There isn't much in Bachelor's Rest today beyond a few houses, but it's within an hour of Cincinnati. One county to the south, Cynthiana had a team in the old Blue Grass League, and you can see what we did with the Cynthiana Cobblers here.
5. Beaver Dam, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Brian Stansberry
Not a dam and not built by beavers. Beaver Dam is a city in Ohio County, Kentucky, with more than 3,500 residents packed into about three square miles, which makes it the largest city in the county.
If you visit the parks, downtown shops, or museums, you're also a half hour from Owensboro, which fielded Kitty League clubs as the Owensboro Oilers and, earlier, the Owensboro Distillers. Either one makes a good souvenir for the drive home.
6. Broad Bottom, Kentucky
We are not talking about anyone's actual behind. Broad Bottom is an unincorporated community in Pike County that takes its name from its spot on a wide, low-lying stretch of land next to Levisa Fork, one of the two rivers that come together to form the Big Sandy.
7. Hazard, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
The Perry County seat, Hazard became a major coal mining center in the 1920s. Every September the town celebrates that heritage with the Black Gold Festival downtown, and yes, cast members from The Dukes of Hazzard have shown up for it.
Hazard is also the one town on this list with a serious baseball claim. From 1948 to 1952 the Hazard Bombers played in the Class D Mountain States League, and the 1951 club went 91-33 behind a 19-year-old Johnny Podres, who went 21-3 that summer and would later win a World Series for the Brooklyn Dodgers. That team has been named one of the top 100 in minor league history. There hasn't been pro ball in Hazard since 1952, so the shirt is the closest you can get.
8. Fox Chase, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Bullitt County History Museum
According to The Bullitt County History Museum, Fox Chase got its name from the landowning Chase family and the red foxes that frequented their farm. The Chases were said to invite friends out for fox hunts.
This tiny Bullitt County city just south of Louisville off I-65 didn't incorporate until 1983 and has only about 600 residents. Imagine going to school and knowing nearly everyone in town.
9. Dwarf, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Coal Town Guy
This "small" town (pun intended) sits about two hours southeast of Lexington and was named for Jeremiah Combs, a local man whose nickname was "Short Jerry."
Dwarf sits at 930 feet above sea level, has just over 100 residents, and shares Perry County with Hazard, which means the Bombers were Dwarf's home team too.
10. Big Bone, Kentucky
Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Mattguyver
Go ahead and giggle, but Big Bone, better known as Big Bone Lick, is famous for exactly what the name says. The big bones found here in the 1700s belonged to mammoths and mastodons, which is why the state park bills itself as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology.
If you love fossils, Big Bone Lick State Historic Site has museum exhibits, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a resident bison herd. Details on visiting are here. And if the mammoths grow on you, the only other place we know of where a mammoth turns up in Kentucky is on our Paris Mammoths shirt, from another old Blue Grass League club.