How a street name is helping me be grateful
I was driving into town this week and for some reason the street name on a road sign stood out.
CONSTRUCTION
ON BAYERS RD.
EXPECT DELAYS
I’ve walked, run, driven, and cycled on Bayers Rd. thousands of times and I even worked at Bayers Road Shopping centre too put myself through school. I had no clue as to the origins of the name and never once had given a second thought as to who is behind the name Bayers. The name is not part of any city history that I’m aware of and it’s not a common name in town today (you’ll find a dozen or so in the “phone book”).
Further raising the prominence of the Bayers name is that the city’s big box store centre is located in what is called Bayers Lake Park.
I’m no historian but did a bit of research and uncovered a few details. While I’m not completely certain, it appears that in the mid 1700’s the road was built to more conveniently connect the German settlement known as Dutch Village (another road in town that I had no knowledge of its heritage) to the core of Halifax. The road was built alongside a large farm, that of George Bayer (a successful baker from Frankfurt). In addition, the German settlers at the time were granted large tracks of land to the west of the city which is probably how Bayers Lake got its name.
And the connection to gratitude ?
When was the last time you took someone for granted—especially at work ? It could be a loyal employee, a long standing customer, an amazing supervisor, or a colleague who always has your back ? People who are familiar and things that are familiar are easy to take for granted and not think twice about (like Bayers Road), and the lesson is that it’s critical to be intentional in our gratitude with the people around us every day.
What next for you ?
You don’t need someone like me telling you how to express your gratitude to someone you’ve taken for granted. But you can use the fact that you’ve read this far as a reminder to do something. You can do whatever you want but yesterday that road sign prompted me to randomly reach out to a few clients—past and current, simply to say hi and ask how things are going.
And the unexpected bonus from this mundane little “noticing” is from here on out, whenever I see or hear mention of Bayers Road, it’ll trigger me to think of someone I may be taking for granted. And that’s a good thing because I need reminders like that in my life.
I hope you’re curious about the origins of a street name in your town that could be a trigger for you.
PS: If you have anything more to add about the Bayer family in Halifax (or the story behind the street name in your town), please share it in the comments.
