Avoca still carries the memory of Eight Mile Tree

Avoca has one of those names that makes more sense when you hear the older names too. The village history says Avoca was first settled around 1794, incorporated as a village in 1883, and was once known as Eight Mile Tree and Buchanan. The Pomeroy marker gives the Eight Mile Tree name a wonderfully practical beginning: in 1794, a tree was marked near here to measure the distance from Bath to Avoca while Phelps and Gorham land was being surveyed and divided.

That little chain of names gives the place a warmer shape. Eight Mile Tree sounds like a travel marker, the kind of name people use when roads are rough and directions need landmarks. Buchanan sounds like a family and settlement layer. Avoca sounds like the village identity that grew after the early clearing and road years.

For someone looking at the town from Route 415, the Cohocton River valley, the village streets, or the hills around it, the name story helps. Avoca is not just a dot between Bath and Cohocton. It is a place where an old landmark name, an early settler name, and a village name all sit under the same roof.