Watch your p’s on Jasp(p)a Road: No answers in the mystery of the name

It’s right there in black and white: On Wednesday, July 12, 1950, the Town of Shelter Island accepted a right of way conveyed to the town by Nathan R. Dickerson, “which will be known as Jasppa Road,” — note the double “p” — according to a newspaper account at the time.

“The new highway branches off the state road opposite McDermott’s garage and connects with Midway Road,” the County Review in Riverhead said on July 20.

Lots on the road had been trading since at least 1940, when “The Long Island Traveler-Matttituck Watchman” reported a deed transaction between Mr. Dickerson and G. H. Waldman for a parcel on the north side of Jasppa for $500.

In the Shelter Island Town Code, and on maps relied used by the Police Department, the road has since been known as Jasppa with two ‘p’s. All in order, right?

Well, no. Every Islander knows that everywhere else, including road signs and Internet map services, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, the street is called Jaspa. So where’d the other ‘p’ go?

“I have no idea,” Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar told the Reporter. “I have been battling this for years.”

The Town developed a workaround in the form of a new local law that states “the Town Code shall be amended to change the spelling of Jasppa Road to Jaspa Road,” to provide uniformity.

Why was the road called Jasppa in the first place? Ms. Ogar thinks it was in honor of the contractor who laid out the road, a man whose first name was Jasper.

Which only deepened the mystery: Where’d the ‘e’ and ‘r’ go?