Member-only story
The Silent ‘A’
more About Me — my geography, that is
[Note: my original ‘About Me Story’ was published in this publication on May 3, 2025. Here’s a LINK.]
I live in the USA state of Arkansas. It’s a weird state in many ways. Since I’m rather weird myself, I tend to fit right in.
Some weirdness examples:
Place names that are numbers: We have two towns whose names are numbers:
1. The small community of Fifty-Six, which has a population of only about 400, although it is an ‘incorporated community.’ (It was named for the school district it was in at the time of its formation, though that school district is long since gone.)
2. The unincorporated community of Number Nine. The population is uncertain, as it’s not a ‘designated census location,’ but has been estimated at around 200. (And no it’s not named for the Beatles’ song of the same name. It fact, it was named for a particular size of cotton gin, and was located in one of the foremost cotton-raising areas of the State back when cotton was a big deal.)
County Seats whose names are not those of the counties they’re the seats of: Huh? What the heck does that mean? Bear with me and I’ll explain.
1. Searcy is the county seat of White County. There is also a Searcy County, about two…
