Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Fewest County Borders – Part I: Hawaii County, HI

Technically the fewest number of county borders is zero, a situation that occurs frequently on islands. As an example, county borders do not split individual Hawaiian islands except for Molokai. Most of it sits within Maui County. Even so, it also cradles minuscule Kalowao County – the smallest county in the United States – on its northern shore. Hawaii seems to be a good place to start exploring this situation further.

By definition Islands are non-contiguous unless someone decides to draw an artificial line across it like on Molokai. Otherwise it remains self-contained without any borders.

So let’s take a closer look at these islands. Let’s decide which one of the remaining three counties might be the best candidate for “fewest” borders.

The Big Island

Big Island, Hawaii. Photo by Craig James; (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Hawaii’s “Big Island”

Most of Honolulu County involves the island of Oahu. However it also administers a string of minor islands, shoals and reefs stretching hundreds of miles northwest to Kure. Kauai County comes closer with just the island of Kauai and its nearby neighbor, Nihau. That leaves Hawaii County, composed solely of the “Big Island” of the same name, as a possible candidate. It is a county, it is self contained, and it involves a single chunk of earth surrounded by water.

Other Possibilities

We should also consider candidates within the continental United States. The Massachusetts counties of Dukes (Martha’s Vineyard) and Nantucket spread over open water. Nonetheless, both contain minor islands along with their more famous brethren. Island County, Washington also comes close with two islands: Whidbey and Camano. Likewise Alaska’s Kodiak and Aleutian counties along with those that line the Inside Passage spread across open water but all contain numerous islands.

If we must split hairs and say which county in the United States has the fewest borders, Hawaii County would be as good a candidate as any. However this is really just a trivia question, and a pretty lame one at that. Too many geography quizzes depend upon Hawaii as a stumper. Things get more interesting on the mainland.

Articles in the Fewest County Borders Series

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4 responses to “Fewest County Borders – Part I: Hawaii County, HI”

  1. vadim74

    […] hammered out a great article on Hawaii[…]

    Reply
  2. Fritz Keppler Avatar
    Fritz Keppler

    I agree with you that Hawai’i County has the fewest number of lines as a county. Water lines count in my book! Interestingly, Honolulu County actually borders on three entities, namely Maui and Kaua’i Counties, and Midway Island, which of course is an unincorporated territory, not foreign yet not entirely domestic either. (This is due to the fact, as you have noted, that the islands west of Kaua’i are under the administration of Hawai’i County)

    Reply
  3. Jeff Rundell Avatar
    Jeff Rundell

    I have recently come across your wonderful site. I started reading your most recent posts, but then decided to back to the beginning.

    Island County is border free but Camano is very close to the mainland in the NE, as in “you can throw a baseball across” close! San Juan County, with many more islands than Island, also has more water around it.

    Kodiak Island Borough does not qualify because it includes a strip on coastline (on the Alaska Peninsula), as do Ketchikan, Wrangell & Petersburg in the SE. Sitka has no mainland but consists of all of Baranof Island but only half of Chichagof, so there is a border there.

    New York & Richmond Counties in NYC each have a very short land boundary, so the only zero boundary counties are Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai, San Juan, Island, Dukes & Nantucket.

    Other Hawaii County claims to fame: The southern most US county, & the county that has the largest % of its state’s area – 62.7%.

    Reply
    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar
      Twelve Mile Circle

      Wow, you really did go back to the beginning! When I go back and look at some of those earliest 12MC articles from 2007 I begin to notice how much the site has evolved over the years. Sometimes I wish I could do a “do over” on some of them.

      Reply

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