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Dorset’s American Place Names


North America, it seems has many place names with links to the English county of Dorset. 

Wimborne is a Southern Alberta hamlet in Canada. Each year on 1st July, it celebrates ‘Wimborne Day’ with fireworks,  live music and  lawnmower races. The latter being organised by the Lawnmower Fanatics of Alberta. Not to be outdone, Wimborne in Dorset, England has its own Mower Club.

Wareham is a town in Massachusetts, USA and was the home of Benjamin Briggs, the  captain of the Mary Celeste - a vessel discovered abandoned and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The town has the country’s oldest nail manufacturing factory. There is also a Wareham in Ontario, Canada. 

Bridport, Vermont in the USA is a small town of around 1,200 people and was founded back in 1761. Its moto is ‘there’s only one Bridport, USA.’ It also hosts a ‘Bridport Day’ on 14th June. Apparently during the American Revolution, the British burnt down every house in Bridport except one.

Weymouth, Massachusetts in the USA is the second oldest settlement in the state and has a population of around 50,000. From a Weymouth family, Albert Tirrell was the first person in the USA to be acquitted of murder using the sleepwalking defence.

Blandford, Massachusetts in the USA was originally named ‘New Glasgow’ but Governor William Shirley changed it to ‘Blandford’ after the ship which had brought him from England. In its early years, Blandford had a reputation for strong liquor and the person who could drink the most and walk the straightest was considered to be a hero.

Poole in Kentucky, USA is not named after the Dorset town but after William John Poole. He bought the land for the price of a ‘good horse and rifle’ and still found time to father twelve children.

Dorchester, a neighbourhood in Boston, USA was founded by Puritans who emigrated from Dorchester, Dorset in 1630. ‘Dorchester Day’ is a celebration held annually on the first Sunday in June to remember its founding.

Boscombe is a locality in Alberta, Canada and was established only as recently as 1942.

Unsurprisingly there are no Toller Porcorums or Sixpenny Handleys in North America. And to find a Lyme Regis you would have to travel to as far as the  north-east corner of Tasmania in Australia.

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