The link road, situated between Lake Cathie/Bonny Hills and the Pacific Highway, has had many nicknames prior to it officially being named Houston Mitchell Drive.

It's been unofficially known as Wauchope/Bonny Hills Road, Link Road and the Ghost Road.

There are many theories as to how the road got the local moniker Ghost Road.

Phillip Bowman from the Camden Haven Historical Society said prior to the road being constructed in 1955 the proposal went to a Port Macquarie Municipal Council meeting.

At the meeting a councillor said the road would never be used by the community and therefore it would be a 'ghost road'.

A 2010 newsletter issued by the Lake Cathie Progress Association said the locals named it Ghost Road because of the many ghost gums along the road edges, before it was tarred in 1964.

According to the Back to Bonny Hills Facebook group, some residents believe the nickname might be a nod to the paranormal theories or ghost sightings on the stretch of road.

Shirlee Marchment (nee Dobson) was born in 1962 and her family was one of the few who lived in the area permanently.

Mrs Marchment's maternal grandfather (Fardy) was Eugene James Newton and he purchased 180 acres of land running down to Vinegar Creek in 1927.

Mr Newton built the family home and they resided there until Mrs Marchment's paternal grandparents - Eddie and Isabel Dobson bought the land and property in the 1950s.

Mrs Marchment remembers travelling to Wauchope school on Sonter's green buses.

"We went through the Ghost Road twice a day and it was always a great relief to turn onto it during the summer afternoons," she said.

"The dappled sunlight gave us relief from the heat, as there was no air-con back then.

"There were very few cars but when one did come along, the bus driver would pull to the side of the road and allow the car to pass."

The road was known as Wauchope Road when Mrs Marchment was a child.

"The earliest I recall people calling it the Ghost Road was in the early 1970s," she said,

"I suspect it was because it was quite dark due to the tall trees that surround it.

"There is a lot of folklore about the name but it is not a historic local name.

"Rather, I think someone from Wauchope called it that and it just spread."

It was named by council as Houston Mitchell Drive during the 1980s.

Mrs Marchment said her family don't know why it was named Houston Mitchell Drive and are not aware of any local connection to the name.

A 2010 newsletter issued by the Lake Cathie Progress Association said council named the road Houston Mitchell Drive after a man, who was the original grantee of a large parcel of land in its vicinity.

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