Alcohol Mary Road to keep its name

Meet me at the corner of Alcohol Mary Road and Rehab Street You’ll be relieved to know that Alcohol Mary Road in Greenwood, Maine, will retain its name, despite the effort of some residents to change it. Apparently named after a woman who produced alcohol to make ends meet (it doesn’t say if she was a bootlegger), the road is a point of pride with the community. From the Bangor Daily News: GREENWOOD, Maine — Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night against changing the name of Alcohol Mary Road, after hearing from an attorney for the Hertell family and from residents who said they enjoy living on the colorfully named road. Several Alcohol Mary Road residents rallied around the memory of Alcohol Mary and said they were proud of her alcohol-making activity during Prohibition. They said the road was named for her. Arthur Hertell was silent at the meeting as attorney Jennifer Kreckel explained the family’s case to the board. Kreckel said the family is tired of getting calls from people asking whether the road’s namesake was their grandmother. She wasn’t that person, and the question is an insult to Arthur and Edwin’s grandmother, who did live on that road and who was named Mary. “They’re not trying to tell you what to do with your town,” Kreckel said. “They hold her sainted in their memories, and to have Alcohol Mary associated with that is sort of a desecration of the memory,” Kreckel said. Nancy Dewing said she’s been living on the road since the 1970s and said Alcohol Mary was a historical figure and a source of pride.
]]>