Yes, I know that joke. I know them all. Athol makes people giggle like schoolchildren who think they’ve heard a naughty word. After Belchertown, Athol probably ranks as one of Massachusetts’s most unpleasantly named towns. If you’re still not hearing it, touch your tongue to the palate of your mouth and say, “Athol.”

I knew my hometown was named after a village in Scotland called Blair Atholl (two lls is Scottish Atholl, and one l is the Massachusetts Athol). But until this year, I had no idea how beautiful Blair Atholl is or that it has a 700-year-old castle. There is even a Duke of Atholl who commands Europe’s only officially sanctioned private army. Who’s laughing now, Wellesley? Anything to say for yourself, Dover, or Newton? Sure, Athol may be one of the poorest towns in Massachusetts, and our high school ranks 239th out of the state’s 351 public high schools (I am a somewhat proud and semi-literate graduate of Athol Regional High School). But we’re named after a village with Britain’s second tallest tree. So take that, Brookline!

My visit to Blair Atholl was a happy accident. I was on vacation in April, beginning with a few days in Glasgow. I drove north to Inverness to explore the Highlands and then southwest to Edinburgh. Halfway between Inverness and Edinburgh, I spotted a sign for Atholl on the highway. My husband, Alex, turned to me and said, “We’re stopping, right?” It was a rhetorical question.

Cut to 30 minutes later, and we’re pulling into the parking area of Blair Castle & Estates. We were surrounded by sheep-dotted hills and acres of manicured gardens. I was beginning to think that this Atholl contained an extra “l” to denote that it’s lovelier than Athol, Mass. Because it was April, every inch of grass was over-saturated Technicolor green, and the sheep seemed extra plump. The setting was heavenly.

Before exploring the castle, I headed to the Hercules Garden, which dates back to the 18th century and was carefully restored in the 1980s. Even though few flowers were blooming, and the fruit trees were just beginning to bud, the gardens, sculptures, and duck-filled ponds were charming. In an alternate universe, this is the Atholl where I would have grown up, not the Athol with a lake my sister and I lovingly referred to as Dead Man’s Pond.

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After an hour, the stop in Blair Atholl became much more than a novelty. It was a place I would enjoy visiting no matter what the village was called. Had I not grown up in Athol, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have stopped here and experienced Blair Castle.

I later discovered that the 9-acre Hercules Garden that I was smitten with was being laid out at the same time that Athol, Mass., was being named. Before British settlers arrived in North America, the Nipmuc Nation Tribe already had a name for the region: Pequoiag. However, when the town was incorporated in 1762, John Murray, a politician and native of Blair Atholl, chose the name Athol because the rolling hills reminded him of his Scottish hometown. Murray was reported to be a distant cousin of the Duke of Atholl. So, a cousin of royalty bestowed Athol with its name. Very classy.

Or so I thought.

As it turns out, Murray was neither noble nor royal. He was given the paperwork to register the town’s name as Paxton, not Athol. He took it upon himself to change it. Why? Because he was a slippery, duplicitous miscreant. Another town in Worcester County got the name Paxton. We got stuck with Athol.

“He was a scoundrel,” said state Representative Susannah Whipps, an independent from Athol whose family has lived in the town for seven generations. “John Murray was a loyalist, and he got chased out of Massachusetts because he sided with the British during the Revolutionary War.”

When news of Murray’s disloyalty to the Colonies and continued love of the Crown became known, a mob of hundreds gathered at his home. According to records in the Loyalist Collection at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, he fled to Boston. All of his property was seized, and he was banished to Canada. In 1780, the Massachusetts General Assembly denounced him as a traitor.

“He was a shyster, a real shady character. So this might change your entire story,” Whipps said, sensing my disappointment at the news. “I would hate for you to write about Athol with this great sense of nobility. Maybe we’re still paying John Murray’s debt of dishonesty with the name. Also, I don’t want you to give us a better reputation than we actually deserve. I kind of like the scandal of it.”

Murray’s face appears on Athol’s official town seal. A traitor who could be best described as “odious” is Athol’s founding father. That’s one way to look at it.

But I prefer to think of Athol and its direct connection to the beauty of Scotland. In 1703, Queen Anne created the title Duke of Atholl, and in 1844, Queen Victoria granted the duke permission to raise Europe’s only legal private army (the unit had previously disbanded). The army, called the Atholl Highlanders, is still active today, although it’s purely ceremonial and is best known for its bagpipers. The Highlanders have marched in Athol twice and are coming back in April 2025 to celebrate Athol’s famed River Rat parade, along with traveling to perform in New York City and Washington, D.C.

The current Duke of Atholl doesn’t reside in Blair Castle; he lives in South Africa, but the 30-room castle is open for viewing. You can tour the ornate structure (tickets to tour the castle and gardens are $22) or take a whiskey tour to learn about Blair Castle’s illicit distilling past and sample some hooch (tickets are $75). If you fall in love with the castle and surrounding area the way I did, you can even stay at the Atholl Estates. There are lodges, cabins, and huts available. You can also camp there.

The walls of the 755-year-old castle are filled with portraits of past dukes, earls, viscounts, lords, ladies, and marquesses. An audio tour, which you can download before visiting, explains hundreds of years of history and rooms of well-curated artifacts. I’m not a descendant of the Duke of Atholl, but I felt a kinship walking through the castle.

This is where it all began for humble Athol. All giggling aside, if my hometown was going to be named after a location on Earth, I’m glad it was this beautiful place.

Christopher Muther can be reached at christopher.muther@globe.com. Follow him @Chris_Muther and Instagram @chris_muther.

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON : The Massachusetts top court on Thursday cleared the way for voters in the state to decide whether drivers for app-based companies like Uber Technologies and Lyft should be classified as independent contractors who would be entitled to some new benefits but would not be legally employees.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected a labor-supported challenge to an industry-backed coalition’s proposal to cement the drivers as contractors. But it also said it would allow a dueling ballot measure that would allow the drivers to unionize to move forward.

The decision came ahead of closing arguments set for Friday in a trial in a lawsuit pursued by the state’s Democratic attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell, accusing Uber and Lyft of misclassifying their drivers as contractors, not employees.

Should the industry fail in court and at the ballot box, Uber and Lyft could face a sweeping overhaul of their business models, one that lawyers for the companies have said could force them to cut or end service in Massachusetts.

Using contractors can cost companies as much as 30% less than hiring employees, various studies showed.

Uber and Lyft, along with app-based delivery services Instacart and DoorDash, have spent millions of dollars to support the ballot proposal that would cement the status of their drivers as contractors under state law.

Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers, a ballot measure committee whose contributors include the four ride-share companies, is also proposing setting an earnings floor for app-based drivers and providing them healthcare stipends, occupational accident insurance and paid sick time.

They’re pushing it after the industry through a $200 million campaign in 2020 convinced California voters to pass a measure similar to the one backed by the companies in Massachusetts, solidifying drivers as independent contractors with some benefits. Litigation challenging that measure is ongoing.

The Massachusetts court in 2022 blocked a similar industry-backed ballot measure. To hedge its bets this time, supporters gathered signatures for five versions of their ballot question, only one of which they will put before voters on Nov. 5. Final signatures for the ballot measure will be turned in July 2.

A separate proposed ballot measure supported by the Service Employees International Union’s Local 32BJ seeks to ask voters to allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize.

Conor Yunits, the industry-backed campaign’s spokesperson, called Thursday’s ruling “a huge win and a great day for rideshare and delivery drivers.”

The court rejected a challenge by a labor-affiliated coalition called Massachusetts Is Not For Sale to Campbell’s certification of the industry’s question for potential inclusion on the ballot. The group said the proposal wrongly addressed not one policy question but several bundled together.

But Justice Gabrielle Wolohojian, writing for a 6-0 court, said the provisions in even the broadest of the five proposals “share a single common purpose: establishing and defining the relationship between the drivers and the companies.”

Chrissy Lynch, the president of the Massachusetts chapter of the union AFL-CIO and chair of Massachusetts Is Not For Sale, called the ruling “an unprecedented step back for the voters, workers, consumers, taxpayers and law-abiding businesses of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which should not be for sale.” (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Franklin Paul and Nick Zieminski)

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BOSTON — Drivers for Uber and Lyft will earn a minimum pay standard of $32.50 per hour under a settlement announced Thursday by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, in a deal that also includes a suite of benefits and protections.

The two companies will also be required to pay a combined $175 million to the state to resolve allegations that the companies violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, a substantial majority of which will be distributed to current and former drivers.

Campbell said the settlement resolves her office’s yearslong litigation against the two companies and stops the threat of their attempt to rewrite state employment law by a proposed 2024 ballot initiative.

That question would have resulted in drivers receiving inadequate protections and an earnings standard that would not guarantee minimum wage, she said.

“For years, these companies have underpaid their drivers and denied them basic benefits,” Campbell said in a written statement. “Today’s agreement holds Uber and Lyft accountable, and provides their drivers, for the very first time in Massachusetts, guaranteed minimum pay, paid sick leave, occupational accident insurance, and health care stipends.”

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said the settlement delivers “historic wages and benefits to right the wrongs of the past and ensure drivers are paid fairly going forward.”

In a statement Lyft said the agreement resolves a lawsuit that recently went to trial, and avoids the need for the ballot initiative campaign this November.

“More importantly, it is a major victory in a multiyear campaign by Bay State drivers to secure their right to remain independent, while gaining access to new benefits,” the company said.

Uber also released a statement calling the agreement “an example of what independent, flexible work with dignity should look like in the 21st century.”

“In taking this opportunity, we’ve resolved historical liabilities by constructing a new operating model that balances both flexibility and benefits,” the company said. “This allows both Uber and Massachusetts to move forward in a way that reflects what drivers want and demonstrates to other states what’s possible to achieve.”

The companies were pushing a ballot question that would classify drivers as independent contractors eligible for some benefits, but Campbell said the settlement stops the threat of the ballot question. A competing ballot question seeks to give drivers the right to unionize in Massachusetts.

Drivers will now earn one hour of sick day pay for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year. As part of the agreement, Uber and Lyft must update their driver applications so drivers are able to view and claim their sick leave directly in the app. Drivers will also receive a stipend to buy into the state’s paid family and medical leave program.

Under the deal, Uber and Lyft will also allow drivers to pool together their hours driving for the two companies to obtain access to a health insurance stipend. Anyone who drives for more than 15 hours per week — for either or both companies — will be able to earn a health insurance stipend to pay for a plan on the Massachusetts Health Connector.

Drivers will be eligible for occupational accident insurance paid by the companies for up to $1 million in coverage for work-related injuries.

The agreement also requires the companies to provide drivers with key information — about the length of a trip, the destination and expected earnings — before they are expected to accept a ride.

The companies are barred from discriminating against drivers based on race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or other protected identities — and can’t retaliate against drivers who have filed a complaint about the companies with the Attorney General’s Office.

The deal also requires the companies to provide drivers in-app chat support with a live person in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French and must provide drivers with information about why they have been deactivated and create an appeals process.