I'm here in the village of Black Lake, Pennsylvania.

It's the first of many strange place names I'll be covering in today's video.

It was named for this creek behind me, the Black Lake.

So-called because of the black rocks that stood out of the water.

It's also the reason there's Black Lake Township across the way in Black Lake Township, up the mountain in Cambria County.

I'm Noles.

I'm here to explore and explain.

Now, let's hop across the state over to Lancaster County, the heart of Amish country, the town of Blue Ball in 1766 an inn was opened here called the Blue Ball, and it became a popular stopping point on the Paxton Road between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

The inn was torn down in 1997, which I guess you could say left blue ball hanging, but you won't be left hanging when we go a few miles down the road to the village of Intercourse.

Now, there are two theories on how this town got its name.

First, the village was a pretty major intersection in the 1800s with the Philadelphia Pittsburgh Pike going one way and the Wilmington Erie Road going the other.

These courses of travel intersected.

Alternatively, intercourse used to mean a friendship, a camaraderie, or a unity in a different way than it means unity today.

Take the religious background of the area into account, and it makes a lot of sense.

By the way, there's a village down the road called Fertility.

Now, if we go back across the state towards Johnstown, we end up in the borough of Paint.

Paint and the surrounding Paint township were named after the nearby Paint Creek, which was naturally colorful due to iron and shale deposits.

By that logic, most creeks in the west central Pennsylvania area should be renamed Orange Juice Creek due to acid mine drainage.

Just up the road is the village of Skelp Level.

It might conjure up tales of cowboys and Indians, but it actually has nothing to do with that.

It apparently came from a clearing be hosted by settler Jacob East in 1774.

He had a team of men clearing underbrush in the vicinity of his grist mill.

Their payment was that they could drink as much of his alcohol as they wanted.

He supervised the men while holding the handle of whiskey and yelled skelp and level boys!

And the name stuck.

The village of Skelp in Blair County has been known as Skelp or Skelp level at various times, but records are sparse as to why, and there seems to be no relation between the two.

Little further south, we end up in the borough of Hollisopple now its technical name is Benson and that's what the post office knows it by.

But the man who owned the farm on which the town began had the last name Hollisopple.

And that's what the locals have always called it.

Going back east to the anthracite region, we end up in the town of shickshinny.

It's said to come from an Indian word for five mountains.

It's also said that it could be a corruption of shiggy.

Henna, an Indian word for fine stream.

Neither source says what Indian language it might come from.

Further up the valley we end up in the town of 40 Fort.

So until the late 1770s, the northern strip of Pennsylvania was claimed by both Connecticut and the Penn family.

This wasn't really a problem until 1769, when a group of 40 Connecticut settlers showed up and built a fort to which they gave a very original name a fort in which 40 men lived.

Long story short, war ensued, but the valley became part of Pennsylvania after the Revolution.

The Connecticut town that sprung up around the fort still remains today.

The world famous weather capital of the world is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

From an Indian word Punxsutunic, or land of flies or gnats.

A moravian missionary who was traveling through the area with Native Americans in 1772, wrote that a church service could not be held due to the punches or annoying small gnats that filled the air there.

Punches can also mean living dust and ashes, which is what the flies resembled since they were so numerous.

Nowadays, they've replaced the ever present flies with ever present groundhog statues.

The little town of Smethport is not a contraction of sweet meth, but rather named for two Dutch bankers.

The Smeth brothers.

A man named John Keating at one time owned 300,000 acres in northern Pennsylvania, and he laid out the McKean County seat in honor of his friends.

Keating Township is named for him, and Serious Township is named for the Serious Land Company for which all men were agents.

Now we head over to the far northwest part of the state in Erie County, and we wind up in the town of North East.

It makes a lot more sense if you look at a map of just Erie County.

North East Township came first, and then the town in the middle of it grew up to become its own municipality.

Now, if you're all excited about blue ball and intercourse earlier, don't worry, we've got something for you.

Climax, Pennsylvania is a Riverbend Village that doesn't have much written history, but if you want to visit it, there's a nice walking trail that takes you through the old climax tunnel.

Yes, really.

There is another area with the same name.

An old coal mining village along the Climax.

Known as such because it was the end of the road.

Well, that's all I've got for you today.

So if you liked the video, consider leaving a thumbs up in a comment down below.

It means a lot.

I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to go have a cigaret.