![DEBATE! What Do Mainers Call The Patch of Grass Between the Sidewalk and the Road?](https://townsquare.media/site/697/files/2021/11/attachment-treebelt.jpg?w=980&q=75)
DEBATE! What Do Mainers Call The Patch of Grass Between the Sidewalk and the Road?
Can we not agree on anything as a society? Does EVERYTHING have to be a polarizing subject? It seems so, right down to the silly patch of grass that lies between a sidewalk and a street. I have never given this any thought, but it seems many people have, and there is a great debate on what to call this grassy section.
From this Reddit thread it seems that this grassy section is called an.....drum roll, please...
ESPLANADE.
How wicked fancy is it to know you have your very own esplanade on your property?
Another popular response on the Reddit thread was really cool...
THE HELLSTRIP!
And also we saw a fair amount of
TREE BELT
We did see other answers. Some people called them Nature Strips or Planting Strips. I quite like those. Many on Reddit just called it the "snowbank." You know, it's the place in the spring where the snow and the salt and the dirt and the gunk all hang out together until it all finally melts in late June.
How about "vegetative buffer"? Median was also an answer given but that's something in the middle of the road. Would "shoulder" make sense?
"Eyebrows of Lawncare" as they are easily overlooked.
Some of the responses to this online debate sounded more like rock band names. We saw Grass Verge and The Swale. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage...The Swale!"
Legally, you don't own the swale, tree belt, esplanade, or whatever the heck you want to call it. You only own up to the sidewalk. The city of town owns the fabulous grassy strip. But....you are expected to maintain that area in front of your home. Super.
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