I’ve collected another raft of small discoveries not nearly meaty enough to stretch into an entire article on their own. 12MC readers have also been kind enough to make me aware of some unusual situations. That must mean it’s time once again for an installment of Odds and Ends, our ongoing collection of bite-sized morsels.
An Interesting Juxtaposition
Certain things are inexplicable and should simply stand on their own without further elaboration. I’m just going to state for the record that Hooker Avenue and Pleasure Drive intersect in Madison, Wisconsin. There, I said it.
I lied. I’ll go ahead and elaborate.
One neighborhood developed with street names based upon military figures from the U.S. Civil War, one of whom was Major General Joseph Hooker. Another neighborhood included rather generic names, one of which happened to be Pleasure Drive.
Hooker and Pleasure came together. Apparently I wasn’t the first to discover this odd concurrence. Historic Madison noted that “the street signs at Hooker and Pleasure Drive are reportedly the most often stolen of any in Madison.” Imagine that.
There’s also an Old Hooker Road in Georgia. TMI?
Was It the Plan?
I received a nice gift on Tuesday, a first-time virtual visitor from an exceedingly obscure land.
I begged rather shamelessly in my Plan for Rare Visitors and hoped it might work. Now, more than a year later, someone hit the site from Norfolk Island (map). Literally(¹), I’ve recorded hundreds of thousands of visitors on Twelve Mile Circle since I first started tracking them nearly six years ago. This was the first and only Norfolk Island visitor ever.
Norfolk Island, a largely self-governing territory of Australia, has fewer than 2,500 residents. Yet, it also has its own top-level Internet domain (.nf). That makes it a particularly difficult capture for those of us who like to count such things and want to attract at least one reader from every top-level domain around the world.
That’s why I included Norfolk Island on my earlier wish list when I said, “Australian readers. Maybe one of you plans to go on holiday to the Shire of Christmas Island or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands? Norfolk Island, anyone? Send me a hit if you’re there and happen to think about it.”
If one of you did that for me, thank you, I definitely noticed and appreciated it. If it was a coincidence, well, thank you anyway unknown Intertubes voyager.
Liability
“Joe” made me aware of a situation he’s been following outside of St. Louis, Missouri. I’ll share the article link he referenced from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “County switch floated in Augusta Bottom Road dispute.” That article includes all the information one would ever need about the topic although I’ll try to briefly explain and summarize it without mangling it too much.
Warren County didn’t want anything to do with Augusta Bottom Road after it got flooded-out. The road was a shortcut for people in Franklin County and St. Charles County. It did nothing for people in Warren. Who could blame them for not wanting to pay for its replacement? So they didn’t. Surrounding jurisdictions picked up the tab for Warren’s segment of Augusta Bottom Road.
That worked fine until a teenage driver died in an accident on the Warren segment, and her family sued for damages. Now nobody is allowed to use the road; insurance companies won’t provide coverage because they’ll only do it if the policyholder is the landholder. One of the options on the table would involve transferring a bit of land from Warren County to St. Charles so that St. Charles’ insurance would apply and the road could re-open.
It would need to be approved by the Missouri Legislature. It’s complicated.
Joe has been following this story like I’ve been following the Bibb-Monroe Boundary Dispute. These local dramas are endlessly fascinating and addictive. I recommend everyone select one and make it a hobby. You will not be disappointed.
Crime in Isolation
“Rob” mentioned a recent crime involving the theft of farm equipment. The crime wasn’t particularly memorable although it happened at an interesting spot, a Potomac River island on the border between Maryland and Virginia. As 12MC has mentioned before, the boundary between Maryland and Virginia follows the low-water mark on the river’s Virginia shore as ratified by the 1874 Black-Jenkins Award (and recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as recently as 2003). Simplistically, Maryland owns the river and the islands set upon it.
Take a closer look at Selden Island. It’s a lot closer to Virginia than it is to the rest of Maryland, and in fact the only way to get to the island overland is by using a small bridge on the Virginia side. The officer on duty had to cross from Maryland on White’s Ferry (my visit), drive down through several miles of Virginia, and then cross back into Maryland to take the report.
Well, I thought it was pretty cool.
Thanks Joe, thanks Rob, and I hope everyone keep sending geo-oddities to 12MC!
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