Backroads USA and a Town Called Knockemstiff

On weekends my husband and I like to take drives on the beautiful backroads of Ohio and I spotted a town on the map called Knockemstiff. Isn't that just a GREAT name? Legend has it that a "woman asked how she could get her cheating husband to stay home. "Knockemstiff" the preacher replied" Hence the one of many stories of how the town got its name. 

What's in a Name? Ask Knockemstiff

KNOCKEMSTIFF, Ohio - Ardith Chaney, 85, brings out a framed, yellowed newspaper clipping that she keeps with other memorabilia in her house along the highway through this hamlet in south-central Ohio. It shows the exterior of a seemingly deserted general store, an old-fashioned gasoline pump dating it as decades old.

We shy away from reading up or following guide books and just drive and enjoy the surprises.  Unfortunately we went through it not even knowing we had driven through it lol! There is no town sign (apparently it got shot up), or main street,and it really is a ghost town, but we were delighted a few miles out with this glorious scenery.
Going have to check Don Pollock's Book
A Letter From Knockemstiff and getting their noses out of joint. "knockemstiff was a moonshine haven during Prohibition, which offers another explanation for the town's name---that the moonshine would "knock 'em stiff". According to historical research, the moonshine developed here carried such names as Coffin Varnish, Tangle Leg, Stagger Soup and, not surprisingly, NockUmStiff" 



Comments

dinahmow said…
I'd been wondering about the name and figured there must be some local tales...

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