Paoli......a blast from the past.

[TheBigGuy]

The New York Review of Books has a review of a book (in French..the book that is) on the Corsican freedom fighter Pascal Paoli (from the time of the French Revolution)

Now this looks to be an interesitng article, as Im always interested in European history. And Corsica is of interest as its the birthplace of Napoleon (and it still has seperatist tendancys).

But what I find really interesting is that there are places in the USA named after him, including some fairly obscure places like the county seat of Orange County, Indiana.

What is telling (and actually sort of sad) is that people in the USA back in the old days, even people on someplace as isolated as the Indiana frontier, knew enough of what was happening in the outside world , and where cosmopolitian in sentiment enough, to name towns after foreign revolutionarys like Pascal Paoli.

I dont think you'd see modern Americans as aware of whats happening outside their borders as their forefathers were, or as sympathetic.

[Ouabache]

1. Paoli Indiana

is just a few miles off of US Highway 50 in southern Indiana. I drove US 50 through that area a few weeks ago. A great drive for scenery. Hills, trees.

The area was settled by a number of French, early 1800's so they probably knew about the guy from having been in France ?

French Lick is close by too, unless they have changed it to Freedom Lick, Indinana.

But -- it just wouldn't be right to call Larry Bird the 'Hick from Freedom Lick', would it?

[TheBigGuy]

2. oh..ok..wasnt aware of that French connection!

Now that you mention it that would explain the name French Lick.

Incidentally they are trying to bring in Casino gambling into the French Lick/West Baden Springs area as a tourist draw.

[goobergunch]

3. I live in Paoli PA...

according to my history teacher (who has an encyclopedic knowledge of local history) it was named after the Paoli Tavern, which named itself after Pasquale Paoli. He was seen as a model for resistance (against the British for the Americans and against the French in Paoli's case).

Miscellaneous fact: Napoleon Bonaparte was a big fan of Paoli's.