Book Preface
You may
wonder why I chose such a strange title for my book. I am
sure all of us want to go to Paradise when we leave this life.
Sometimes, as we struggle through life's difficult times and
its temptations, we may wonder how we will ever reach Paradise.
To have the experience of reaching Paradise during this lifetime,
all one needs to do is to travel a few short miles from Intercourse,
Pennsylvania, to Paradise, Pennsylvania. They are about three
miles apart. The best way to reach Paradise is through Intercourse.
Of course, one could also visit Paradise in California, Kansas,
Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Texas, or Utah. However, it might
not be quite as unique as reaching Paradise through Intercourse.
A few
years ago, I personally contacted over 800 towns I felt had
unusual or unique names and included a questionnaire that
asked when the towns were founded, the names of the founders,
how the town names were chosen and information about the towns
today. I received nearly 600 responses. Most of the information
I received was very interesting. A number of the people who
replied to my letter sent pictures and interesting historical
facts about their towns. The extra information helped to provide
me with a great deal of material about several of the towns
that would not have been in the book without that special
help.
From the
material I received, the idea of this book resulted. You will
notice that there may not be a great deal of information about
some towns. I have not purposely left out any information
about any town. The population figures that are mentioned
for the various towns are generally based on their population
from the 2000 census records.
I realize
there will probably be many cases in which towns may be left
out of the book that have the same name as another town that
is mentioned. I have not purposely left out any town. It would
have occurred because I was not aware that the towns existed.
If this occurs, I would appreciate receiving information about
the towns that are missing so I can publish an entry about
them in my next book. If there are other towns with interesting
names and history that are not in this book, I would also
appreciate hearing about those towns so they might also be
mentioned in future books.
Please
feel free to contact me to send
me a comment about the book or another interesting town name.
Title:
Reaching Paradise Through Intercourse: American Towns with Unique
Names