Mystery solved: How Swansea’s Possum College Road got its name

Today’s subject matter: Possum College Road in Swansea.

Yup. Possum College Road. I recently ran across the name in a bit of business that had nothing to do with pink-eyed opossums or post-high school educations.

So, in my finest investigative reporting style – sitting on the sofa with my pajamas on and the television tuned in to a fix-it-yourself-until-you-foul-it-up show – I started poking around.

I called the telephone number listed for the town of Swansea.

A nice lady answered the phone. I asked her my question: “Do you know how Possum College Road got its name?”

There was brief pause. “Can you hold on one minute?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said.

Less than a minute later, a man got on the phone. The mayor of Swansea. Ray Spires.

“You know, I don’t know who all lives out that way,” he said.

“Oh,” I said. “Well, do you know how the road got its name?”

“Sure don’t.”

“Oh.”

Not to be deterred, I dialed up the Lexington County Museum where I had the pleasure of chatting with J.R. Fennell (“Like the herb except for an extra ‘L’.”) He’s the director of the museum.

“You know, I’ve seen the name before,” Fennell said. “It’s a weird name. I can tell you that.”

Fennell promised to do some research and get back to me.

10-4.

In the meantime, I put on my street clothes and set out for Swansea.

I drove past El Cheapo’s and a place called the Crystal Lake Celebration Hall. Past a used car lot where a sign noted that “We Buy and Sell Nicer Vehicles.” (Nicer, say, than mean cars.) Past another sign that said, “Lumber 4 Sale.”

And then, a sign for the Swansea Business District. Surely, I thought, someone in the business district will know about the business of Possum College Road.

It was lunchtime so I stopped in at the Swansea Coffee Shop (“Sandwiches – Meals”). I introduced myself to the lady who ran the cash register and told her what I had come for – an explanation of Possum College Road.

She introduced herself back: “They call me Honey Hush,” she laughed.

Honey Hush asked everybody in the restaurant if she could have their attention.

Things got quiet real fast and folks looked up from their plates. “This lady is from the paper and she wants to know how Possum College Road got its name,” Honey Hush announced.

“That’s where the possums went to school,” someone answered.

“Lord yes,” someone else offered, “possums are everywhere. Look like a rat when they’re stripped.”

“Why would they be stripped?” I ventured.

“Some people eat ’em,” another fella said. “They’re pretty good if you cook ’em right. Don’t eat a skunk, though.”

No, wouldn’t think it.

“Ask the mayor,” Honey Hush said as I was leaving the coffee shop. “He’ll tell you.”

10-4. (I had already talked to the mayor on the telephone, but maybe up close and personal would do the trick.)

A Christmas tree stood in one corner of the town hall. A man behind the glass with the little hole that you talk through said the tree was kept up all year long and was decorated with different things depending upon the season. Like shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day during March. Made sense to me.

I asked the man who he was.

“Ray Spires. We talked yesterday.”

Yep, we sure did. So, we talked some more.

I asked him about Possum College Road again.

“I believe there used to be a small college down there. I even heard one time it must have been for women.”

But not for possums?

The origin of the road name was clearly playing a little possum on me so I decided to just drive out there. The road wasn’t a particularly long one and I didn’t see a single person, possum or anything that remotely looked like a college.

Down half a tank of gas and feeling a little like I wasn’t getting paid enough to do stuff like this, I headed on home.

It was there, back on my computer, with the TV tuned into “Judge Judy” jumping on two people squabbling over something stupid, I discovered a lovely email from Fennell (“Like the herb…”).

“We didn’t have anything in our files about the origin of the name of that road so I contacted a friend of mine … He didn’t know the answer himself so he contacted a friend who is a longtime resident of the Swansea area, Mr. Joe Phillips. Mr. Phillips reported that the name goes back to the old country school that was on that road, named Dixie School, which was nicknamed locally ‘Possum College’. So I guess the road was named after a nickname of the Dixie School … I’ve attached a photo of the Dixie School from ca. 1940. I hope this helps…”

Helps? Praise the Lord and pink-eyed possums!

Fennell put me in touch with Phillips who said Dixie School was maybe 30 feet wide and 60 feet long. It was closed in 1949 and later burned down. (Sigh.)

Phillips said the green and white Possum College Road signs have been stolen “a couple of times. But we get ’em to just fix us some more … Possum College Road is about six-tenths of a mile. Back before my time – I’m 72 – they had a little country school out here. The school’s name was Dixie School. Possum College was a nickname that was put on it. When they came out with the 911 numbers sometime in the 1980s, I went around to folks who live out here and said let’s name the road Possum College Road. I had t-shirts and caps made up with Possum College on ’em.”

Phillips said one time he “went up to Pennsylvania to a clinic up there” and he had on his Possum College t-shirt and “the nurses just went to laughing and laughing. We’ve had some good fun with it.”

Come to think of it, me too.

And many thanks to all the fine folks who helped me figure out how Possum College Road got its name.