Appalachian Names

Abstract Despite the homogenizing effects of jet travel and television, we are still a polyglot nation with delightfully different regional accents and a host of exotic place names. A hiking trip on the AT brings many aural nuances to the attentive ear, and not just from the birds’ songs. “Appalachian” sounds different in the south (from about Pennsylvania onward) than it does in the north. Ann and Myron Sutton hiked the entire AT and noted the kaleidoscope of colorful place names Americans have invented, imported or expropriated in the Appalachian region. AT aficionado Robert Reddington wrote that “the name ‘Appalachian’ is apparently derived from the word ‘Appalachee,’ a tribe of the Muskhogean Indians who lived in northwest Florida. The tribe’s name is said to mean ‘people on the other side’ (of a river, presumably) in the Choctaw language The famous Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto and his party became the first known white men to see as well as to visit the Appalachian Mountains [1539], which were mainly those in North Carolina. He is said to have named these mountains after the Apalachee tribe.”