Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Canada

  • Canada-USA Border Segment Extremes

    Many superlatives describe the border between Canada and the United States. It’s the longest non-militarized border on the planet. It touches three different Oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic) plus the Great Lakes. It extends 8,891 kilometres (5,525 miles). While impressive, this isn’t about any of that. No, I’m more interested in the extremes in the opposite…

  • Cross-Province Municipalities

    Usually towns that rest upon a border are distinct entities. They may have the appearance of a single contiguous municipality but often that’s deceiving. Two separate local governments actually administer the two separate portions. Kansas City along the Missouri/Kansas border comes to mind: one metropolitan area; same name; different municipal governments. However there are two…

  • 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…

  • Wall Found at Canada’s Oldest English Settlement

    The National Post reported recently on a “Wall unearthed from Canada’s oldest British settlement.” This was the Cupids Colony in Newfoundland, settled on the Avalon Peninsula along the shores of Conception Bay (map). Thirty nine settlers landed here in 1610 under the direction of John Guy, a Bristol merchant. An overview of the colony appears…

  • 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…

  • Black Loyalists

    I came across an article recently with the curious title, 10 Things About Canada I Didn’t Know, and indeed I learned ten new things too. I found the third fact on the list the most interesting. It claimed: “Shelburne, Nova Scotia is said to have been the fourth-largest town in North America at one point…

  • Sometimes North is South

    Canada occupies such an amazingly large swath of upper North American that, understandably, one can overlook exactly how far south the country actually extends. The Province of Ontario contains its most southerly extremes: on the mainland at Point Pelee; on solid land at the edge of Middle Island; and on open water at an international…

  • Fictional Geo-Marathons

    I know someone who wants to run a race in each of the fifty United States. This is a notable goal both for its endurance and its geographic sweep. I thought perhaps I could help out by putting my unusual geo-perspective to good use . Maybe I could design race courses that clip multiple states.…

  • Gate Splits Border Community

    This is just a quick post for the morning. I wanted to alert the audience to a news article in case you haven’t seen it yet. It said: Gate splits border community, unites it in disdain. This relates to the historically unimpeded border between Derby Line, Vermont, USA and Stanstead, Québec, Canada. Split Apart The…

  • Odd Reality

    My web access logs started sizzling with viewers on my Point Roberts – Stranded by an International Border page. People seem to love this entry so it doesn’t surprise me to register at least a few hits each day. However it mushroomed to Crazy Level recently, and all with unique IP addresses. I can’t find…