SouthCoast Names, But in Other Places

It's not uncommon to have the same city name in numerous states but if they are just a state apart, it can cause some confusion – as it did for me.

A friend of mine called me and wanted to make plans for this weekend. They said we should go to Westport Beach. I immediately thought they meant Horseneck. I mean, wouldn't you?

Nope, they meant Westport Beach in Westport, Connecticut, which is a few hours away. Luckily we figured it out before we solidified any plans because we would have both been at two different spots.

I recall telling someone I'm from Fairhaven and their immediate response was, "You must have money, being from Connecticut and all." I laughed and said no, Fairhaven, Massachusetts – again, just a state apart from one another (or a little Rhode Island in between, depending how you get there).

There is also Richmond, Rhode Island and Richmond, Virginia which are much further apart.

Here are a few more SouthCoast places that are also the names of communities elsewhere in the United States:

– Falmouth, Maine

– Plymouth in Connecticut, Indiana, and Michigan

– Fall River in Tennessee, Kansas, and Wisconsin

And get ready for this, there are actually five different communities (some unincorporated townships) in the United States named New Bedford. You can find the others in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and Illinois.

That's not to mention the seven different Freetowns, the 11 towns called Lakeville, the 19 Rochesters, or the three dozen or so towns called Marion.

Dartmouth is a lucky one. It looks like there are no other towns in the United States that are named Dartmouth – although you can find one in Australia and in Nova Scotia, and of course the famous Ivy League college up in New Hampshire.

The way I look at it, if you are missing some mail or an Amazon package, it may have gone to the wrong state. I don't know how the post office doesn't get confused. Oh yeah, zip codes, right. Thank goodness for those.