Category: Borders
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Enclaves within Dhekelia
Cyprus. One island split so many different ways. There’s the de facto partitioning between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. And there’s the United Nations buffer zone created along the ceasefire line. Finally, there’s the British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. This isn’t about any of those divisions. Rather the three, well actually four, tiny…
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I Jumped the Border
I crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico, bypassing all official border stations and every immigration or customs officer, and returned the same way. I suppose this was technically illegal although it was allowed with a wink and a nod on both sides of the boundary. After all, the nearest official crossing was more than a…
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Lost Again
My initial article on Michigan’s Lost Peninsula was pretty lame. However, it was only the second time I’d ever posted on Twelve Mile Circle in its earliest days. Of course, anyone following this site for awhile knows it’s evolved greatly over time. Do-Over Now, thanks to loyal reader Jim C., I get a rare opportunity…
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Fort Blunder
Mistakes happen. Generally though, a nation doesn’t accidentally build a fort on the wrong side of an international border. A neighboring country, even if friendly, might not appreciate that. Throw in a history of mutual mistrust and territorial incursions and things could get much worse. The United States made just such an incursion onto British…
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Now Malawi
I’ve had a good month attracting new visitors from Africa. I’d pretty much stagnated with that audience lately so that’s a noteworthy accomplishment. I’ve tracked statistics for nearly two years and kept a close watch. Unfortunately I haven’t had as much success as I’ve wanted. I even lamented my poor record with African visitors in…
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Counting Border Crossings
I’m a relentless counter. I count lighthouse, ferries, waterfalls, breweries and even nineteenth century coastal fortifications during my travels. I used to count states but it became pointless when I reached all fifty so I switched to counties. Last summer I hit my 1,000th county and I’ve continued onward from there. If it’s possible to…
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Wandering through Real Estate
[EDITOR’S NOTE: 12MC ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE IN 2009. THIS FEATURE NO LONGER EXISTS IN GOOGLE MAPS] There’s been a capability in Google Maps that allows users to check real estate prices for quite awhile now. However a couple of weeks ago they added this feature to the “more” button on the top right of…
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Almost Neighbors
All the recent talk on Twelve Mile Circle about roads clipping little corners of territories got me thinking. What about the near misses? Those are the places where someone can NOT just barely add a new territory to the list simply by lucky happenstance. Imagine instances — and I’m focusing on U.S. states here —…
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Restaurant Split by 3 Counties
NOTE: IN 2015 I VISITED FAMOUS LOUISE’S IN PERSON! A restaurant sitting atop the intersection of three different counties? If I were ever to ever become a restaurateur, that would be the place that I’d have to own. Loyal reader Glenn from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina(1), has been following the Twelve Mile Circle for…
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Bridge in a Haystack
Random search engine queries caught in my user access logs often inspire articles on the Twelve Mile Circle. I found one earlier this week that went something like this: “only ky bridge that leaves one state, crosses a river, comes back into the same state.” That sounded like it could be an interesting adventure so…