What's in a name? | Virginia Beach's Goodspeed Road

Ask any Virginia third-grader to name the three ships that brought the colonists to Jamestown in 1607 and they'll tell you: the Discovery, Susan Constant and Godspeed. Or was it the Goodspeed?

When Chuck Hudson and his family moved to a house on Goodspeed Road in Virginia Beach's Princess Anne Hills neighborhood 20 years ago, they didn't know any better - they were from California. But after a few years of living in a neighborhood where all the streets have Jamestown connections, they realized there was a problem.

Time passed. That extra "o" began to grate on Hudson. Even out-of-towners recognized the error, he said.

Two years ago, he and a couple of friends launched a petition drive to change the street's name, hoping to get it done in time for Jamestown's 400th anniversary in 2007.

They needed the approval of every resident, but they came up a few short.

"There were people who said, 'Well, I just like the name Goodspeed,' " he said.

Others worried that changing the name could create hassles with their mail or bank accounts.

Hudson would like to try again - and he thinks it would help to know the reason behind the name.

Princess Anne Hills was built in the early 1950s and most of the original investors have passed away, Bettie Goodman said. She's the widow of Richard Goodman, one of the founders, and used to live on Goodspeed Road.

She said that one of the developers got the spelling "Goodspeed" from a professor he knew at the College of William and Mary.

So, could Goodspeed be a variant spelling of Godspeed?

"No. Somebody goofed up," said Edward Wright Haile, author of "Jamestown Narratives" and "John Smith and the Chesapeake." Mike Litterst, a spokesman for Colonial National Historical Park, said he also has never seen such a reference to the ship.

Goodman acknowledged that the spelling is probably a mistake. It never bothered her and her husband, she said, but when the petition drive began, they didn't object.

For now, Goodspeed will remain. But Hudson is considering his options - including one involving a can of green paint and a brush.

Meredith Kruse, (757) 446-2164, meredith.kruse@pilotonline.com