Colora: The breezy ridge of Cecil County

(Cecil Whig) Vast and many have been the unique pronunciations of Colora but few are they who can, with any certain knowledge, define how the bucolic rolling village attained the romantic moniker. The name derives from the Latin words "culmen aura," meaning "breezy ridge." According to Louis C. Whiteley in a 1986 issue of The Highline on the Pennsylvania Railroad, titled "Octoraro Odyssey," the village was renamed in 1869, having previously born the name West Nottingham and "took its name from the farm of Lloyd Balderston nearby," Whiteley explains. "A student of Latin, Mr. Balderston selected the words culmen aura, then shortened it to Culaura and, taking some liberty with the vowels, settled on Colora as more pleasing to the eye." Continued

Photos: Colora railroad station, school (Falmanac).