Podunk: a small, unimportant, and isolated town
-- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
As any Podunker will tell you, there's no such thing as a small, unimportant town. The spread of cell phones, Palm Pilots and the Internet could soon mean there will be no such thing as an isolated town, either, a development many of us find disheartening.
In such an age, we're sure to treasure the many things that make a place unique - the euchre games at the Grange, the way natives say "crick" instead of "creek," the strawberry-rhubarb pie at the local diner.
Podunk might even see a resurgence - as a cultural preserve where the wired man retreats to experience an America that was.
Podunk is generally believed to be an Indian name, possibly meaning "lowland," and communities called Podunk do tend toward swampiness. Another theory, also associated with water, says the word mimics the sound of a mill wheel going "po-dunk," "po-dunk," "po-dunk."
Over the years, city media folk have made the mistake of declaring Podunk a fictional place, only to be corrected by the masses from Podunk. There are real, if unmapped, communities across America:
- Podunk, CT, in New Haven County
- Podunk, MI, in Barry County
- Another Podunk, MI, in Gladwin County
- Podunk, VT, in Windham County
- Podunk, NY, in Tompkins County
Several proud Massachusetts residents have written us about a Podunk, MA, which they insist is the original. It's not that we don't believe them, it's just that the U.S. Geological Survey doesn't include a Podunk, MA, in its databases. (All of our communities are geocoded, with latitude and longitude supplied by the USGS. Here's a nationwide Podunk search on the USGS Web site. Try it and you will find a Podunk Cemetery in MA.)
Other manifestations of Podunk have have been relegated to history books. Podunk, WI, an abandoned hamlet in Sauk County, was once a place where farmers hauled potatoes to the trains of the North Western Railroad.
The Podunk name also graces a bluegrass festival in East Hartford, CT; a rock band from Port Arthur, TX; and, of course, our company, ePodunk, Inc.
Podunk, NY, a crossroads too small to be called a hamlet, is just a few miles away from our original office near Ithaca. (Much as we would have liked to locate in Podunk proper, office space in Podunk is an oxymoron. We have since moved to Rochester, NY.)
In the 19th century, Podunk, NY, was a commercial center in the midst of farm country. Local enterprises made butter churns, tubs, barrels, carriages and bricks. Those days were livelier. In the 1880s, a vigilante group wearing white caps and masks tied the town highway superintendent to a tree and thrashed him for beating his wife. In 1888, a one-armed woman was murdered by a thief who set her house afire.
Today, a traveler who ventures off the main road toward Bolter Creek will find a cross-country ski center, a collision shop, a few houses and a smattering of for-sale signs. The place sags a little, but it has character. And a darned good name.
We're always looking for photos, post cards and anecdotes about Podunk. If you have information (or a comment on the Tao of Podunk), please send us an email.
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