My husband and I moved to Cameron, Wisconsin 19 years ago in August of 2016.
We both are born and raised Wisconsin kids.
You would think moving to a new part of Wisconsin would be easy.
Jeremy and I found out different. We had a lot to learn.
Please remember as you read my series about moving to a new area...
1. It was not easy. We had no family or friends in the area when we moved here. My husband had a job interview here, that is what brought us to the area. We have been blessed with his employment.
2. It has been 19 years. I have learned so much. And have made many wonderful friends. The move was not easy at the start, it has been a blessing today.
And so to continue...
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| this is not a barron county road |
To get started. Barron County roads run on a grid system.
Cranberry Morning is the source for the following information. To read the entire post Click here
Barron County is laid out on a grid with every street being named
according to its distance north/south and east/west of the southwest
corner of the [perfectly square] county. If you know this, you need
never get lost in Barron County. Everything is measured from that
southwest corner.
For a transplant, that would be me, saying to me to meet up at the corner of 11 3/4 Avenue and
2 3/4 Street, kind of makes your head spin.
Now add the rest of the Barron county native language. Sure all the roads have this nice grid system. But the Barron country natives do not use the grid system. They go ahead and name the streets what they want.
I start to get use to this. I am on 19th Street. I am sharing with a native that I took 19th Street to get to X.
"Oh you mean, Airport Road!" says the Barron County Native
"No, I mean 19th Street" says I, the transplant
"No, 19th Street is Airport Road and it is River Road too." says the Barron County Native
"Ya know, where I come from, we just have ONE name for our roads. Like County Road W, or Skinner Creek or Danish Settlement." says I, the transplant.
I wish I could say it ends here, but it does not.
Oh no!
I was employed in the city of Barron. I lived in Cameron. At the time I was taking Hwy 8 to get to work. I was told of a short cut from my husband. He showed it to me. It was Hwy W. Fun, I thought to myself. I grew up on a Hwy W. I was so proud of my short cut. I shared it with my co workers the next day, all natives by the way. "Oh you mean Museum Road!" the natives said.
Come to find out Hwy W of Barron County is also know as Museum Road and 13 1/2 Avenue and
14th Avenue.
And I still wish I could say it ends here, but it does not!
Poor Farm Road aka Hospital Road aka ....
County Road O aka Airport Road aka 19th Street aka River Road
Now after 19 years, I am use to the road names. I can get around. When I meet someone new in the area. I always give them the heads up about the way the roads work in this county.
How about you? Do you live in an area with confusing road names?
Do some of the roads have more than one name?
If you are a transplant, did you have trouble understanding the way the natives explained directions?
Carla ~ Of all the places I have lived in the tri-state area, yours is the only with the "unique" road naming system I have ever come across. I found it so strange when we visited Aunt Mary last summer, I think she was on 26 3/4 or something like that!
ReplyDeleteI don't feel our area has confusing road names, but the road paths are sometimes confusing!
Down here we go by the names of the ridges! As a Barron Co. "native," I can now understand your difficulties!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I miss the days of roads being NAMES , instead of the "ugly" number system.
ReplyDeleteI can remember names, I cannot remember numbers. And doesn't "Paradise Valley Road", or
Tiger Whip Road sound a LOT nicer than 13 1/4 road?
We have a lot of roads here that change names just crossing intersections. That's confusing too.
We have road names, no numbers. I grew up in Western Massachusetts so it was the same there. I can imagine it would be hard getting used to but you have! I am loving this series, it's fun!
ReplyDeleteI know where every road you mentioned on here only by those names the Barron county native told you. So funny, I never knew them by their actual street number, just by their names.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll ever get used to the street names here. Some of them are SW 100th Street road loop. Street road loop? That's crazy! Do you think there is one in the NW too? heehee! Fun post! Hugs, Diane
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'd get lost quite a lot with that system, we have such an easy area here with all the streets either running into the ocean or towards the freeway.. It was pretty simple to learn where everything is here in Huntington Beach. Thank goodness because I don't have a great sense of direction. It was fun learning about your experience there. Hope all is well!
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Leslie
Wow. I thought I lived in a confusing area! The roads in my neighborhood are random. I live in an old beach community and there was no plan when the dirt roads were carved out. Some change names in the middle of a block. Some end, change name and then pick up several blocks later with the old name. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your story and certainly had to chuckle! Up here, creek is not creek, it is "crik", and that always makes me laugh. I have never lived in a place that had names like 3/4 for street names, that is hilarious, and very difficult to learn, I can only imagine! It is amazing how many different subcultures there are even in the United States. LOL ! Have a wonderful day :)
ReplyDeleteI'm loving your story! That would make me crazy with the different names for roads. We have a few of them, when the road switches townships it has a different name or if you turn right it's one name and if you turn left it's another. I guess we just get used to the quirks! We have a Street Road too! :)
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