Category: Borders
-
Jasper and Newton
I got an inquiry from reader “Aaron O.” recently and it immediately interested me. That’s because he sparked my Wolf Island visit during the Riverboat Adventure the last time we corresponded. He was a county counter like many of us on 12MC including myself, and he’d encountered a curious coincidence during his collections. An Odd…
-
A Prisoner to Geo-Oddities
I noticed a reference to a prison in Alaska that turned out to be located not too distant from where I roamed around the Kenai Peninsula during my journeys a few summers ago. It was a prison with a view, in fact it was located somewhere (map) in the background of this photo I took…
-
Kotsiubynske
I’ve been examining maps of Ukraine closely over the last several months as I’m sure many in the 12MC audience have been doing likewise. In the course of that effort I noticed a little anomaly far removed from the action and completely unrelated to the conflict. It pertained to the Kyiv (Kiev) Oblast surrounding the…
-
Most Frequent U.S. Communities
The Geographic Names Information System had a little “frequently asked questions” page I somehow overlooked until a couple of days ago. Most of the FAQ dealt with mundane issues although a few gems hid within its midst. For example, “The most frequently occurring community name continues to vary. In the past year, it was Midway…
-
My Smallest Park
Twelve Mile Circle published a very rare guest post in March 2011 discussing Geo-Oddities of Portland, Oregon. It featured several unusual items including the famous Mill Ends Park (map). The Notion Readers might be familiar with the spot. It’s garnered a lot of attention from mainstream sources over the years because of its diminutive size.…
-
Overheard in Mexico
A Wikipedia page caught my attention lately, an article on the Languages of Mexico. Spanish naturally came to mind and the vast majority of its 120 million citizens do speak that. I figured there were probably a number of indigenous languages as well and that was likewise true. For example at least a million people…
-
Ireland, Part 6 (Obscure Geography)
Don’t worry, this will be the final installment of the Ireland odyssey. I appreciated everyone wading through my personal indulgences so I saved the best for last, the Irish adventures that came closest to standard 12MC content. A couple of them are genuine geo-oddities. Inch Beach I mentioned Inch Beach (map) a few weeks ago…
-
Delphia
The start for this research came from a recent tragic incident, a drowning at Triadelphia Reservoir in Maryland. My sympathies extend to the young victim’s family and friends of course. Afterwards I began to wonder how the reservoir got its unusual name. How did a triad (a group of three) apply to “Delphia.” The most…
-
4 Nations, 2 Tripoints, 1 Lake
I thought I’d written an article about Africa’s Lake Chad a long time ago. Naturally I was surprised to see it still listed on my potential topics spreadsheet when I culled it recently. A quick search of the 12MC WordPress database found minor references to Lake Chad and little else. So I guess I should…
-
Not the Usual State Capital Trivia
It was time to clear my list of unwritten articles again. While doing that I noticed several of them involved state capitals, or their capitol buildings. Well, I’m not sure what the “usual” State Capital trivia might be much less the unusual. Nonetheless, let’s consider this an article on topics that the average layperson may…