Nancy's Notes

Why? Whynot!

With the elections FINALLY over and holidays coming quickly, I decided now would be the perfect opportunity to get out and explore some more territory in the Great U.S. of A. Several weeks ago, I took you with me to Truth or Consequences, Arizona, and after that trip I actually heard from an actual reader of my column who knows that town well. It’s really fun to hear from a reader or two every now and then, if only to let me know that someone is actually reading this gibberish!

I suggested in that story that perhaps we would next travel to two very interesting places in America: the towns of Why and Whynot. I hadn’t told you yet, but on our trip to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, we added another destination on the trip and went down to Why, Arizona. To drive it would take more than six hours. In the desert. It would have been fun to set down in Tucson, but why? Already onboard GoogleAir, already out west in the desert, we just decided to take advantage of our location and check out the town of Why. From the air, we could kind of see why the town is named Why: the town sits at a Y-intersection of Arizona State Routes 85 and 86. At the time of its naming, state law required all city names to have at least three letters, so the town’s founders named the town “Why” as opposed to simply, “Y.” It lies near the western border of the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and straight north of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (which I do want to visit someday!) in southern Arizona. It is only 30 miles from the Mexican border. Buzzing over and around Why, we had to wonder why anyone would want to live there.

So right now, with a break in the action and before we get completely engulfed in Thanksgiving and Christmas plans, we decided this would be the opportune time to explore the North Carolina town of Whynot. It’s a little over 1,300 miles to drive there from Stockton, so we’ve decided to continue to rely on GoogleAir, as it is the most COVID-free way to travel. Go pour yourself a glass of wine, or make a cup of hot chocolate, pop up the footrest on the recliner, and let’s get going.

Some towns get unusual names through marketing chutzpah (like Truth or Consequences!), or even bad spelling. But Whynot, North Carolina might be the most relatable story of all: it’s probably the world’s only town named out of sheer boredom.

Whynot was founded in 1860 when a post office was built along the 129-mile Fayetteville and Western Plank Road that connected Winston-Salem to Fayetteville, then the longest plank road ever built. A town meeting was held to pick a name for the new community, but as is usually the case, residents couldn’t get together on a name. Why not name it this? Why not name it that? Finally, after hours of this and that, one fed-up farmer said, “Just just name it Why Not and let’s go home!” And the bored citizenry quickly agreed. The town originally was spelled as two words; in fact, from 1893 to 1916, it was home to the Why Not Academy and Business Institute.

Whynot is a small unincorporated community that looks today about the same as it did 150 years ago. But apart from its eye-catching name in the road atlas, it probably gets most of its visitors today because it sits on the “Pottery Road Scenic Byway,” America’s largest community of ceramic artisans. Whynot is located in the Piedmont Triad region of north-central North Carolina, about eighty miles east of Charlotte. The town is located on NC 705, also known as the “North Carolina Pottery Highway,” one mile southeast of Seagrove and seven miles west of Jugtown Pottery, a historic pottery listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The North Carolina Pottery Highway contains over 100 potteries and galleries in a 15-square-mile region surrounding Seagrove. I may have to lease a U-Haul truck to get us home!

Whynot isn’t the only little burg in the Piedmont Triad that might be more interesting on the map than in real life. It’s located just seven miles from Erect, thirty miles from Climax, and forty-five miles from Horneytown. I can’t say all of that with a straight face, but seriously, folks... I didn’t make this stuff up! And no, we are not going to make any side trips!