Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • History, Geography and Fitness

    Who could ever grow tired of this view? I haven’t although I do like a little scenic variation now-and-then. I have a pleasant 20-mile bicycle route I like to take that hugs the Potomac riverside, including this segment I described previously in Monumental Ride. From there I curve onto the former Washington & Old Dominion…

  • Captains Less Prestigious

    I had no trouble finding populated places named for Captain James Cook, the legendary 18th Century explorer and navigator, along the edges of the waters he sailed. However, plenty of other captains sailed the oceans during that same period. Naturally I wondered if the maps memorialized others similarly. Could I find other places named “Captain…

  • How Invasive

    I had a conversation recently with my friend the birder. He pointed out various bird species that happened to fly within line-of-site of our gathering, while noting which ones were native species and which ones were transplants. That led to discussions of various invasive animals introduced into North America either by accident or by design,…

  • Zig Zag

    What was that 1980’s song, “One Thing Leads to Another?” Right. You know the one. Put that on in the background and use that as our Twelve Mile Circle theme song for the day. I mentioned my frantic search to resolve a Move the Road dilemma that the loyal 12MC audience resolved soon thereafter. I…

  • Strange Bedfellows

    This isn’t a guessing game specifically. However, I’ll start out that way to get some competitive juices flowing through the Twelve Mile Circle audience. I know everyone likes it when I post trivia questions. What do the following nations have in common?: Afghanistan; Botswana; Burma; France; Somalia and Ukraine. Think about that for a moment.…

  • Super City

    Metropolis. The city where Superman hangs his cape. It’s a huge place on the order of New York or Chicago or somewhere of that magnitude. This is the image that comes to mind whenever I hear about Metropolis. Sure it’s also a renowned German movie from the silent film era. However, the Twelve Mile Circle…

  • Ancient Trust

    I seem to have a little bit of a river island fixation going on recently. I started with Green River Island and now I’m featuring Burlington Island (map). Even so, I think it’s probably just these two articles, a coincidence actually. Burlington doesn’t have quite the pedigree of a Supreme Court decision like Green River…

  • Meet Me at the Corner of David and Goliath

    I’ve had the unusual experience of starting an article in one direction and watching it detour along a different path as I typed. That has happened a handful of times before on Twelve Mile Circle. However it’s rather infrequent. Here is the map that started my journey. Goliath Road in North Massapequa, New York stretches…

  • Move the Road

    I’m not sure why it came to mind. I somehow remembered an odd series of jogs in a road I haven’t driven on in several years. Here is an example: Each summer I drove along Occohannock Neck Road on Virginia’s portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. A friend’s family owned a summer cottage at Silver Beach…

  • Green River Island

    Green River Island is one of those places that seems to belong to the wrong state. In this instance it feels like it should be part of Indiana but it’s actually part of Kentucky. It hardly seems like an island either although vestiges of its old topography continue to remain visible. Rather, the “island” has…

Latest Comments

  2. Hi Mr. Howder — Just going from memory, I recall that your “rule” for counting a nation/state/county is “if I’m…

  5. Does anyone have actual music to the song – Tanaha ,Timpson. Bobo and Blair ?? It was recorded by Tex…