What’s in a name? Avalon, a place to heal

AVALON ― Many Southern California boaters venture over to Catalina Island to escape from the hustle and bustle of the mainland. Just to be out cruising or sailing in the open water is relaxing enough, especially on a beautiful sunny day typical for Southern California, but to be able to moor a vessel in Avalon and visit a quaint island is just what some people need to unwind. In fact, the name “Avalon” comes from a poem describing a place for healing. George Shatto, who acquired Catalina Island in 1887, struggled to come up with a name for the island’s only town. Shatto apparently decided against naming the town after himself, according to a Santa Catalina Island Co. blog. Avalon was ultimately given her name by Etta Whitney, Shatto’s sister-in-law. At the time, she was reading “Idylls of a King” by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. One of the verses tells the tale of King Arthur being wounded after a battle and going to the “island-valley of Avilion,” a “deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns…crowned with summer sea” to heal from his wounds. “To the island-valley of Avilion; Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, nor ever wind blows loudly;...