Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • The Grassy Knoll

    This small hillside marks perhaps the most controversial landscaping feature in modern United States history. It has been linked inextricably with shadowy figures and sinister secrets. It is the infamous Grassy Knoll. President John F. Kennedy rode directly past this spot when gunfire ended his life on November 23, 1963. Depending on the evidence one…

  • Antietam Topography

    I crossed the Potomac River on my way back from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and drove into Sharpsburg, Maryland a few miles later, the site of the Battle of Antietam. I didn’t have a great deal of time for my visit but I was still able to stop at a few favorite spots within this well-known…

  • The First Steamboat?

    Robert Fulton invented the steamboat in 1807. The Clermont right? That’s what they taught us in school anyway. Actually, he built the first successful steamboat used commercially. However, he did not introduce first steamboat. If you listen to the folks in West Virginia, that honor should more properly go to James Rumsey. Shepherdstown Twelve Mile…

  • Smallest Internationally-Divided Landmass

    According to the CIA World Fact Book, the island of Saint Martin is the world’s smallest landmass shared by two independent states. A 15 kilometer border separates France’s Saint Martin from the Netherlands’ Sint Maarten, an autonomous area of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The entire landmass covers only 87 square kilometers, or about half…

  • Slug Lines

    Geography can influence social behavior and that’s the case with slug lines. This article has nothing to do with gastropods. Rather it’s a commuting method originating organically without any type of government involvement or sanction in the Washington, DC area. Since then it has also spread to other cities. It’s an efficient arrangement that matches…

  • The Degree Confluence Project

    I’d like to share a favorite website today. It’s one of the most interesting Internet-based geography challenges ever undertaken, the Degree Confluence Project. Its mission statement provides the most succinct description: “The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures…

  • A Two Year Long Geo-Trivia Discussion

    I check my web logs frequently. I do this for several reasons but mainly to let me know which topics interest the audience. Then I use it to research and design more pages that people will actually want to read. Let’s Be Passive-Aggressive It also lets me stay a step ahead of the spammers, scammers…

  • The Hottest I’ve Ever Been in my Life

    Good lord, it’s hot in Phoenix, Arizona today. I set a personal temperature record: 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius). I could sense heat radiating off my shirt against my skin whenever I walked into the shade. My eyeballs turned to charcoal glowing in a grill, as Mother Nature blasted a blowdryer in my face,…

  • Arizona Monsoon

    I arrived in Arizona just fine on the flight made possible by John McCain so I’m posting from Phoenix today. Arizona continues to surprise me. It’s summertime so we’re in that half of the year when the clocks align with the Pacific states. Arizona does not recognize Daylight Saving Time, as I’ve explained in a…

  • The John McCain Flight

    DISCLAIMER: This is a geography and travel blog, not a political blog. No endorsement or disparagement is intended. Later today I get to take the John McCain flight. No, I don’t get to fly with John McCain. I’m talking about the regularly-scheduled flight that is a small part of his political legacy. An Airport on…

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…