Punxsutawney

Small town in Pennsylvania about 80 miles Northeast of Pittsburgh. Home of Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog (woodchuck). Every Feb. 2 (Candlemas), there is a huge gathering at Gobbler's Knob to see if Phil will see his shadow. This predicts whether there will be 6 more weeks of Winter or and early Spring. The nickname for the town is "Punxsy". "The Ramblers", a singing group in the 1950s, had a pop song called "Punxsutawney Rose". The word Punxsutawney is originally a Native American word. Punxsutawney was first settled by the Delaware Indians in 1723 and its name comes from the Indian name for the location "ponksad-uteney" which means the "town of the sandflies." The name woodchuck also has Indian origins, coming from the legend of "Wojak, the groundhog." The groundhog's full name is actually "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary." It was so proclaimed by the "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" in 1887, the same year they declared Punxsutawney to be the weather capital of the world. The 1993 film "Groundhogs Day" starring Bill Murray was based on life in Punxsutawney.