Early explorers and surveyors had quite some liberty in choosing names for the lakes, ponds, mountains, rivers, streams, brooks, and other land features they encountered. In the United States, many names existed from the Native Americans. However, most minor landmarks served little purpose and were not worth naming. Over time, hunters’ and travelers’ simple descriptions of these places spread by word of mouth and eventually became official. Government-sponsored surveys filled in the gaps keeping the colloquial etymologies in mind.

The wonderfully detailed images below come from three USGS topographic maps of the Big Moose-Old Forge-West Canada Lakes region of the Adirondack Park in New York State. They are from the edition of July 1903 reprinted 1951, March 1901 reprinted 1949, and June 1903 reprinted 1948. Let’s have a look at some memorable names:

First, we have Witchhopple Lake. Apparently witchhopple is a type of plant, although it sounds more like a disease.

Witchhopple Lake

Next, we have Deadmans Gulch. For those who don’t know, a gulch is a steep valley formed by a stream. Odds are no one died here – instead the name probably stems from dangerous floods after heavy rain.

Deadman's Gulch

No, this is not a dessert made of cats. Kitty Cobble was probably named after the size and shape of the stones in the area (a cobble is a rock measuring from 3-12 inches in diameter). Someone probably thought the rocks formed the silhouette of a cat’s head.

Kitty Cobble

The name Queer Lake is perfect for this irregular body of water. Only God knows how this one was formed.

Queer Lake

Say the name of the next one five times fast. Shingle Shanty Pond. Shingle Shanty Pond. Shingle Shanty Pond. Shingle Shanty Pond. Shingle Shanty Pond. No shanty is shown on the map – it must have fallen apart before the turn of the century.

Shingle Shanty Pond

Notice how Stink Lake is located next to Balsam Lake. What are the odds?

Stink Lake

What a terror you are, Terror Lake. This one is as oddly shaped as Queer Lake.

Terror Lake

Finally, we have a lake whose name shall be censored for this post. There are two potential reasons for naming this body of water N***** Lake. 1) the lake is dark in color 2) the lake was discovered by an African-American and at the time, it was common practice to honor such an individual by naming it thus. Decades later, this lake was renamed ‘Negro Lake’.

N***** Lake