local lore
Area's passed-down tales
Local lore is the body of stories, beliefs, and traditions particular to a specific place—the tales residents share about their town's history, notable characters, or unexplained happenings.
It encompasses everything from ghost stories about the old mill to accounts of why a street has its name: According to local lore, the founder buried gold somewhere on the property.
Unlike formal history, local lore travels by word of mouth and may blend fact with legend.
- folk talesTraditional stories of communities
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- old wives' talesTraditional unfounded beliefs
- tall talesFantastical exaggerated stories
tradition · ghost stories · gossip · townspeople · small town · whispers · elders · storytelling · haunted · haunted house · hearsay · village · history · tales · rumors · heritage · superstition · old-timers
- cultural heritagetraditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections, museums
- folk talesfable, fairy tale, folktale, folk tale, folktales
- folk historyoral history, legends, myths, tall tales, family stories
- local resourcescity guides, town records, city archives
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- socializationsocialization, social learning, enculturation, norms, values
local loreworld history
Record of all peoples
universal knowledge · international affairs · universal truths · national history · common knowledge
local loreofficial history
Government-endorsed version of events
academic history · historical record · archival records · primary sources · encyclopedic knowledge
local lorewritten records
Documented accounts preserved textually
primary sources · scientific literature · hard evidence · empirical data
local, lore, locale, locality, locally, localize, localization, localized, localizing