I'm here in Zelienople in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

In 1802, the Baron Detmar Basse arrived from Frankfurt, Germany, and bought 10,000 acres here on the banks of Connoquenessing Creek.

He built a big manor house on the hill above town, and laid out the grid of streets that would become this village.

The same year, he named the village after his daughter Frederica, who renamed herself after her favorite doll from childhood called Zelie.

And so Zelie and the village became the manor house burned down ages ago, but the village grew into a town that has continued to grow and prosper.

And Zelienople It's just the first of many Pennsylvania place names we'll be covering in today's episode of Norse Explorers and Explains.

Up in Warren County is the borough of Starbrick.

It was named for the Star Brick Company, which operated there from 1899 to 1908.

These bricks were pressed with a star design in them and appear in many buildings in nearby Warren.

Local boys were known to melt lead and pour it into the star shaped depressions, creating perfect little sheriffs badges to play cops and robbers with.

If you were to hit our national bird going 75mph on the freeway, you would get an eagle smear.

But if you visit this beautiful little lakeside town in Sullivan County, you get Eagle's Mere.

Originally called Louis Lake and named for a British settler by the name of Louis.

The name was changed to be more poetic in the 1870s.

Mere is an English word for lake, and thus this town can be seen as meaning eagle's lake.

Due to its secluded beauty, the area was a sought after summer resort for decades and contains many gorgeous old homes today.

Down in the valley is Wilkes-Barre or Wilkes Barre or Wilkes Barre.

This is a complicated one, and not just because of the pronunciation.

As I mentioned in the first installment of the series, Connecticut settlers streamed into the Wyoming Valley in the 1760s.

It became a hotbed of anti-British sentiment and a new settlement was built by Major John Durkee and named for two men he greatly admired.

The first was Colonel John Wilkes, a member of Parliament who championed colonial independence, and the second was Colonel Isaac Barr, or Bear or Barry, a scientist of French origin who coined the phrase the Sons of Liberty.

Though Wilkes Barre is the smaller and less famous of northeast Pennsylvania's twin cities, it is the older and more strangely named of the two.

And surely that must count for something not too far away is Wyalusing.

The name comes from M'chwihilusing.

a Native American village with a name meaning home of the old warrior or place of the old fighter.

For a retired warrior who made his home there.

Perhaps while losing is a question he often asked his foes.

Oh, brother, this guy stinks.

Over in Wyoming County, we find ourselves in the township of Braintrim and the village of Skinners Eddy.

This corner of the state was mostly settled by Connecticut Yankees, as I mentioned before, and some place names still reflect that.

Sources say Braintrim is named after Braintrim.

Connecticut.

Yet I could not find a Braintrim.

Connecticut on the map.

Regardless, one of those first settlers was Ebenezer Skinner, who settled at the confluence of Tuscarora Creek and the Susquehanna River, where the water formed and Eddy his hotel and restaurant became a popular stop for those working in the river trade, and Skinner's Eddy, within the bounds of brain trim Township, was stuck on the map.

Lightstreet in Columbia County was originally called Williamsburg, and the village was once home to much industry, including a blacksmith shop, two grist mills, and two iron foundries.

In 1844, the new Reverend in town, Marmaduke Pearce applied for a post office.

This gave him the opportunity to name the town, which he changed to Lightstreet after the street he used to live on in Baltimore.

When early settlers in Lebanon County were deciding on a name for their new town, many names were suggested.

No one could reach agreement.

The only response to every suggestion seemed to be Oh no, we'll name it.

And thus, Ono, it became.

It is unknown if Yoko ever visited Waddle began as a railroad stop along the Bellefonte Central Railroad, which connected Bellefonte to State College and was named for a local doctor, Philip B. Waddle.

Waddle was never very large and has shrunk into near invisibility since the train stopped running.

In fact, one of the only buildings remaining in town is a lemonade stand not too far away.

In 1968, the Toftrees Golf Resort opened just a few miles from Penn State's main campus.

It took its name from a Bavarian term meaning among the trees, and the area around the golf course has come to have the same name.

Down south in Bedford County, we come upon Manns choice.

Congressman Joe Mann petitioned for a post office to be built at an unnamed village in Harrison Township in 1848.

The naming of that post office was therefore left up to Mann, but before he could make his choice, maps began to label the place Manns Choice as a temporary measure.

That name seemed to suit it just fine, and so it stuck.

Finally, we end up in the borough of Penn in Westmoreland County, separated from Penn Township after the Pennsylvania Railroad came through.

The borough was named for William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, meaning for a while, one could take the state from Pennsylvania Station to Pennsylvania Station and, if they felt like it, spend the night in Penn, Pennsylvania, surrounded by Penn Township.

Well, that's enough of that syllable for a while, and that'll do it for today's episode of Weird Pennsylvania place names.