In my frequent business travels, I often come across highway signs showiing multiple towns that together look and sound to me like a person's name. Over the years I've amassed quite a collection of these. At some point, I decided they definitely must be characters in a travelog novel set in New England, where nearly all of these sign-derived names occur.

 

Because of the Baroque/Industrial Age era sound of many of these names, and because of the Interstate Highway route numbers where the bulk of these names are found range from 84-95 (Rtes. 84, 89, 90, 91, 93, and 95), this novel is both set in a 21 year period of the America Industrial Age from 1884-1895, and the book's title is the simple yet somewhat cryptic: 84-95.

 

The rules for the book's character's names are simple:

 

1. The names must appear one right after the other on a road sign. (Most often they are one above the other.) All the words on each line must be included in the name. That means no picking and choosing which words to use.... it has to look like a name on the sign. Hence the only initials are N, S, E, and W, and there is also the common abbreviation St. as part of a few last names because in many cities, there are also street names on the highway signs, although I've re-purposed it to stand for Saint.

 

2. It has to be a real-sounding 1800s name. Many are rejected outright because they don't sound like names; for instance, although it is a perfectly good last name, I don't think anyone would ever give their kid a first name of Tewksbury!

 

3. I have to like it.

 

The one that started it all was Barnet Peacham, so he is the lead character in this imaginary late 1800s Industrial Age New England travelog novel that I will never write (hence the "imaginary" part) but thoroughly enjoy discovering new characters for.

 

Mr. Peacham is a kind and gentle soul who is well-liked in the community. Danville Hardwick came right after that and is Barnet Peacham's best friend. Barton Glover is a mechanic who is madly in love with society lady, Bethel Royalton. Unfortunately, due to his low social standing, she is completely unattainable. Miss Royalton's dear friend, society lady Sharon Stratton, however, has no compunctions whatsoever about gleefully, and often maliciously, leading the lovestruck Barton Glover on about Miss Royalton's (non-existant) love for him.

 

Much thanks to my lovely wife Nancy and my best buddy Don and his delightful wife Barbara who, in one impromptu brainstorming session, helped me flesh out many of the characters with careers and/or characteristics. Some of the characters' professions come from historical data on the towns in their names. For instance, Ayer Harvard is a philanthropist because the town of Ayer MA is named for the man who donated the money to build the the community's first town hall.

 

 

Barnet Peacham ----------------------- our hero
Danville Hardwick --------------------- his best friend

Barton Glover -------------------------- mechanic

Barton Newport -------------------------- postmaster 

Essex Westbrook ------------------------- wealthy landowner

Randolph Milton -------------------------- mountaineer/woodsman

Freeport St. Dorchester ----------------- grocer

W. Newton Wellesley -------------------- professor

Auburn Worcester ------------------------ industrialist

Waltham Weston ------------------------- farmer

Flynt St. Palmer --------------------------- judge

Gilman Lebanon -------------------------- miller

Bozrah Montville -------------------------- British tourist

Lewiston Auburn -------------------------- ferry operator

Lawrence Andover ------------------------ school master

Ayer Harvard ------------------------------ philanthropist
Marion Wolcott ---------------------------- governor's wife
Marion Milldale ---------------------------- M.W.'s neighbor/best friend
Norton Easton ----------------------------- college professor
Milford Marlborough Lawrence --------- wealthy factory and mine owner
Lowell Tewksbury ------------------------- textile mill owner and hunter
Chelsea Lyme ------------------------------ architect
Dover Durham ----------------------------- violin in the "Dover Quartet" Dover Somersworth ----------------------- viola in the "Dover Quartet"

Dover Madbury ----------------------------- cello in the "Dover Quartet"
Dover Concord ----------------------------- bass in the "Dover Quartet"
Durham Concord --------------------------- Dover Concord's twin brother

Hampton Manchester --------------------- wealthy merchant

 

*  Jack Bruce and Peter King wrote a song called "Theme for an Imaginary Western" that appeared on Jack Bruce's 1969 album Songs for a Tailor. However, I heard it on the rock group Mountain's Climbing! album, because Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi co-produced the Jack Bruce album and liked the song enough to get his own band to play it, too. I always thought it was cool that they wrote the theme song but didn't bother with the actual movie, so I've basically done the same thing here: characters, but no book.

 

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