I met Harriet and John at the Punch Bowl while the Abingdon Traditional Mummers were performing, and they told me about a recent trip with an Abingdon theme.
In October, Harriet and John set out across the United States, visiting places called Abingdon. Armed with postcards from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, they shared stories of bun-throwing, Morris dancing, pubs, the MG factory and everyday town life, leaving a little of this Abingdon at each stop.
Their first destination was Abingdon, Maryland, now part of Edgewood, south of Philadelphia. Named directly after Abingdon in England, it is notable as the birthplace of William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Although the town has since been absorbed into a wider urban area, the name survives on roads and businesses, including the Abingdon Grill, which they made a point of visiting.
Nearby is the site of Abingdon Plantation, now preserved among the car parks of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The plantation was owned by several prominent families, including the Custis family. Daniel Custis, who lived there for a time, was the first husband of Martha Washington, born Martha Dandridge in 1731. Widowed in 1757, Martha married George Washington two years later, bringing with her wealth and influence. Today the plantation site is carefully interpreted with plaques, including those naming enslaved people who lived and worked there.
Martha Washington’s life helps explain why the name Abingdon appears repeatedly in this part of Virginia. She was born and raised in Gloucester County, where there was already an Abingdon Parish, named by settlers after Abingdon in England. This is probably the Abingdon where Martha was born and raised. When new towns were laid out after the American Revolution, familiar and prestigious names were often reused.
The largest Abingdon on the trip was Abingdon, Virginia, incorporated under that name in 1778. Previously known as Black’s Fort or Wolf Hills, it was renamed in the post-Revolutionary period, probably in honour of Martha Washington’s family, reflecting a wider fashion for Washington-related place names at the time.
Finally, Harriet and John visited Abingdon, North Carolina, now little more than a rural crossroads, but still marked on the map and therefore still part of the story. Proof of the visit came in the form of a blue dot on a navigation screen.
The journey became more than a geographical exercise. It was a celebration of small towns and the way place-names travel and endure.
Where the American Abingdons (probably) get their names
Abingdon, Maryland – Named after Abingdon, England.
Abingdon Plantation (VA/MD) – Named within a network of colonial families linked to Abingdon Parish and the Washingtons.
Abingdon Parish, Gloucester County, VA – Named by settlers from Abingdon, England; part of Martha Washington’s local world.
Abingdon, Virginia (VA) – Renamed in 1778, probably in honour of Martha Washington’s family.
Abingdon, North Carolina – Likely an offshoot of Abingdon, Virginia.
Abingdon, Illinois – Named after Abingdon, Maryland, birthplace of its founders.