Sun, 04:23: So I was watching the film THE TRIP TO GREECE on Hulu, and at one point one of them says, "Should we go to Olympia?" and I did a slight double-take, as I was born in Olympia, WA; lived there to the age of nine; and still have family there. I did not realize the "Olympia" of Greece still existed, and indeed it does: not just ancient ruins of the location of the first Olympic games, every four years from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., but also a town of about 13,000 people.
Was Olympia, WA named after Olympia, Greece, then? Nope! Turns out it was named by local resident Isaac N. Ebey in 1850, after ... the Olympic Mountains! Apparently in recognition of the "majestic" view of them to the north on a clear day.
So that begs the question ... if the Olympic Mountains were named fist, then who named *them*? That would be British mariner John Meares, who saw them in 1788 and named the highest peak Mount Olympus because he thought them fit for the gods. Mount Olympus in Greece, incidentally, actually isn't all that close to Olympia, Greece—it's around 300 miles away.
The mountain range had variations of names until 1864 when the Seattle Weekly Gazette persuaded the government to make "The Olympic Mountains" official.
All that just to get to how Olympia, WA got its name! And oh by the way, these histories date back all of 233 years; prior to that native peoples occupied what is now Olympia for centuries and just prior to the arrival of white settlers the Nisqually called it "Cheetwoot," apparently translated as "Bear", and the local native people called Mount Olympus "Sunh-a-do." I'd love to know what that translates to but I can't seem to find any source for that.
[I took this photo of the Olympic Mountains from downtown Olympia on February 5, 2012.]
