There’s a local brouhaha about changing the name of a local road. Thankfully, it’s not over if the road was named after a problematic person, but because it’s named after a problematic reptile

From the article:

A debate is brewing over the possibility of changing the name of Moccasin Wallow Road in Parrish.

“Moccasin wallow, that’s where the moccasins wallow” said Pat Neal, president of Neal Communities. “That’s where the cottonmouth is, a venomous snake, the only venomous snake in Florida.”

That’s one of the main reasons the developer is hoping the name changes. He would like to see it changed to a name like North River Road. His North River Ranch development is now being built in Parrish.

The story is pretty much set out as developer versus locals, and I’m usually leery of those kind of tropey narratives. Still, I haven’t heard any local outcry against the current name. Yeah, both my brother and I found the name amusing when we each came down here for the first time. However, that’s one of the charms of living in a small town-ish area.

I’m one of the 3,000 signatures on a local petition to keep the road name. I know Parrish is slowly turning from “old Florida small town” to “new Florida suburban center along the 75 corridor.” Yet, as it becomes more uniform with other areas, it would be nice to keep some of our uniqueness. Like a road name “Moccasin Wallow.”