(Editor’s note: When it comes to historical significance, Maryland’s Eastern Shore can stand with just about any other area of the United States. It’s carried through today in the names given to towns, rivers, streets and creeks, but more than 200 years later, their origins may not be so widely known. Drawing from “Discover Why It’s Called …,” a 1990 booklet by John Dexter Nilsson, here is one of those stories.)
Rockawalkin Road, Ridge, Creek and once village, back close to U.S. 50 south of Hebron, all bear the this peculiar name.
A settler named Rock refused to ride a horse, and his neighbors would say, “Here comes Rock-a-walkin’.”
Or, how about Native American derivations that can yield “place of the fork in the stream” or “at the sandy ground.”
Or, the Wicomico River was originally called Rockiawackin and 1697 records mention the “Nations of the Rockawakinmany.”
Or, consider the utterance of a town drunk and the name of a sacred stone have been mentioned as sources. Take your pick!
