GREENWOOD — It’s only a road name, but a 76-year-old Maine man says “Alcohol Mary Road” is offensive and defames his family name.

Historians say the short, hidden-away road in the small town of Greenwood was named for a Prohibition bootlegger. They say the name’s no big deal, that lots of people made booze back then.

But Arthur Hertell, who lives in nearby Bethel, says his family used to live on the road and had a grandmother named Mary – although she’s not the road’s namesake.

Upset that some people think “Alcohol Mary” was his grandmother, Hertell appealed to Greenwood selectmen to change the road name.

They turned him down last month, but Hertell tells the Sun Journal that he’ll continue his crusade until the road name is changed.

 


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