Why do counties and cities still named after Britiah nobility?

Dan Vesco | Haymarket, Virginia

T'S HARD TO SAY for sure why specific places weren't renamed, but overall,the American Revolution b limited change. From the outset, many colonists opposed it or were in-different. After the war, the U.S. began rebuilding economic and diplomatic ties with Britain. In contrast,

French revolutionaries a few years later beheaded the king, queen and thousands more, and abolished the feudal system. They adopted reforms for education, weights and measures, with new names for everything.

Some reforms, like new weeks and months ultimately failed, because people couldn't get used to such radical transformations. Still, for people living in the 13 colonies-free or enslaved-the American Revolution changed life much less fundamentally.

David K. Allison, curator emeritus,