We asked people for their favorite Maryland place names on Twitter yesterday. Some of the ones we got were Assawoman Bay, Whiskey Bottom, Scaggsville, Boring, Parole, Tuckahoe and North East. Today on our news wave we also got two other names – Accokeek and Accident.
Feel free to add your own choices that differ from the above in the comments below.

Some information on the places named above:

Accident – Two surveyors may have selected the same area “by accident” for a settlement in this area of western Maryland after Lord Baltimore opened it up to settlement. Some contend that this account isn’t proven and that they name may have just come from other towns with the same name.

Accokeek – It was the site of a Piscataway village also known as Moyaone. It was unlikely that it was one visited by Captain John Smith during his travels on the Potomac.

Assawoman Bay – may have originally been Assawomet, possibly of Nanticoke (a tribe of the Algonquins) origin

Boring – In Homicide: Life on the Street, the wife of Detective Beau Felton (played by Daniel Baldwin) was said to be from the town of Boring. The town got its name from a Postmaster there whose name was David Boring.

North East – An early history of the area gives no clues to the origin of the name other than the fact it was settled near the Northeast River.

Parole – The name is said to have come from a site where Confederate and Union soldiers were paroled and exchanged.

Scaggsville – The Scaggs family settled 700 acres of farmland here in the 1830s. As of 1941.

Tuckahoe – The only references I can find are for Tuckahoe Creek and Tuckahoe State Park. It may be a family name or it may be a corrupted word from American Indians who lived in the area.

Whiskey Bottom – I couldn’t find any origin of this name.

Be sure to include your own nominations for unusual place names in Maryland in the comments and you may see them in a future blog post.

WBAL.com

DEATH PENALTY

Capital punishment will be limited to murder cases with biological evidence such as DNA, videotaped evidence of a murder or a videotaped confession.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Judges are required to order the confiscation of firearms from people who have final protective orders filed against them for as long as the order. Judges now have discretion to order the subject of a temporary protective order to give up firearms.

FLAGS

Flags of the United States or Maryland displayed on state property and purchased with state money must be manufactured in the United States.

GLOBAL WARMING

Maryland will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from calendar year 2006 by 25 percent by 2020.

HATE CRIMES-HOMELESS

Maryland adds homeless people to the state’s hate crime law, providing for stronger penalties for people who target homeless people.

INTERNET SAFETY

Internet access providers must provide parental controls to enable subscribers to restrict children’s access to certain Internet sites.

PET TRUST

Maryland residents can now set up trusts for their pets to provide for them after the owner’s death.

POLICE SURVEILLANCE

Authorities are prohibited from conducting covert surveillance unless police have reasonable and articulated suspicion of illegal activity. New law requires the head of the police department or a designee to approve any covert surveillance.

SEWAGE DISPOSAL

Homeowners who live within 1,000 feet of tidal waterways will be required to upgrade failed septic systems to prevent nitrogen pollution from entering the Chesapeake Bay.

SPEED CAMERAS

Speed-monitoring cameras will be allowed statewide near schools and highway work zones. Fines would be $40 on people who drive at least 12 miles over the speed limit in those zones.

TEEN DRIVERS

Teen drivers must wait three months longer to get a provisional license to 16 years, 6 months and a full license to 18.

TEXT MESSAGE BAN

Maryland drivers no longer allowed to send text messages while driving, with fines of up to $500 for violations.

TWEEN DATING

The state’s board of education will be required to encourage county boards of education to include specific lessons on dating violence into the county boards’ health education curriculum.