I just ran across this while reading your back pages on the Neatorama site. As it happens, my family owns a farm on Booger Hill Road, outside of Danielsville, GA. I recognise the stretch of road in the photograph - Not too hard a task, since I have been using that road for nearly 38 years now.
The odd thing about the name is that it really isn't a reference to something that one would find in a used kleenex, but to a ghost. "Booger" in this case is a cognate of "Boogie Man", with a bit of regional dialect thrown in to shift the word's ending and drop the "Man". So "Booger" in the place name indicated that the hill was supposed to be haunted. Either by the ghosts of slaves, unfortunate lovers torn apart by feuding families, or civil war soldiers. I've heard all three stories from elderly neighbors, over the years.
As an aside, Booger Hill is said to be the "highest exposed point of land" in Madison county. As I child I often wondered about that word "exposed" that was always included in the quote. Did that imply that the second-highest point of land in the county was under water?
And yes, to forestall any budding humorists, Madison county does have several bridges. It is famous for one covered bridge in a local state park; Watson's Mill. The park is just a few miles past an estate owned by singer Kenny Rogers, outside the town of Colbert.
The odd thing about the name is that it really isn't a reference to something that one would find in a used kleenex, but to a ghost. "Booger" in this case is a cognate of "Boogie Man", with a bit of regional dialect thrown in to shift the word's ending and drop the "Man". So "Booger" in the place name indicated that the hill was supposed to be haunted. Either by the ghosts of slaves, unfortunate lovers torn apart by feuding families, or civil war soldiers. I've heard all three stories from elderly neighbors, over the years.
As an aside, Booger Hill is said to be the "highest exposed point of land" in Madison county. As I child I often wondered about that word "exposed" that was always included in the quote. Did that imply that the second-highest point of land in the county was under water?
And yes, to forestall any budding humorists, Madison county does have several bridges. It is famous for one covered bridge in a local state park; Watson's Mill. The park is just a few miles past an estate owned by singer Kenny Rogers, outside the town of Colbert.
Thought you'd like to know,
Vila