Army vs Navy football game today and I have put the following together to commemorate our local version of this face off vis-a-vis road signage.
My neighborhood here in Piney Point was originally developed as base housing for the Navy’s Torpedo Test Base which is now Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship. (For a good overview of the Base, it’s history and background click here.)
The roads in my development were named after famous Navy Admirals: Stark, Leahy, Furlong, Bloch and Larimer. (OK, so maybe they are not all that famous but I guess they did enough in Naval affairs to at least have had a road named after them.)
Interesting side note about these 5 roads is that they have different designations as seen here in my photos of the sign posts. When I stroll around the hood, I still can’t figure out the rhyme or reason differentiating a Drive from an Avenue versus a Street from a Road.
As for the Army road signage let’s take a drive down to Scotland Beach where you will find the following 3 roads named after 3 famous Generals. (And no doubt these 3 were/are famous.)
Keep in mind that unlike my Piney Point neighborhood which was built by the Navy, Scotland Beach was built by my Great Uncle Thomas Ridgell. His Great Granddaughter Debi has done a nice job documenting this on her “Grace’s Place at Tanner Creek” FB page:
Photo below is courtesy of John Carbone and shows the Hotel Uncle Thomas built. Note that the road in front of the hotel was formerly the connecting road, via a bridge over Tanner Creel mouth, to Pt. Lookout and is no longer around.
As for how the 3 Scotland Beach Roads came to be named after Army Generals, I haven’t been able to “run that to ground” (which is just a strange way of saying “I don’t know” (click here.)) I even asked some longtime residents of the area and they weren’t sure either.
Since Uncle Thomas did his thing way before Ike, Blood & Guts and the Be Back Dude were on the scene doing theirs’, I am betting that some retired Army bubbas landed in Scotland Beach and so honored the Generals by naming the roads after the three of them.
As for the football game today, we will have it on at Buzzy’s Country Store starting at the 3 pm kickoff. And speaking of betting, Navy is a 2.5 favorite with the over/under @ 32 points. If I were a betting guy, I’d give the points and take Navy (living midst those 5 Admirals, I have to do so!) But I’d also bet the under.
Only one song to play right?