Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Remote Southwestern Virginia

    Recently I posted an entry about a section of Virginia that is further west than any point in West Virginia. It’s an odd fact made quite interesting primarily because the founders of a state carved from an older one consciously chose to highlight the word “west” in describing their creation. At the same time it…

  • United States Ferries

    Twelve Mile Circle admits an unusual fascination with ferries. Perhaps it comes from crossing a body of water at a personal level. Maybe it comes from taking the slow route and enjoying the ride as much as the destination. Regardless, few things please me as much as standing on the deck of a ferryboat as…

  • Washington DC Area’s Last Phone Booth

    NOTE: Twelve Mile Circle originally posted this article in November 2007. Verizon has since removed this phone booth. Sometimes changing technology can impact the landscape around it. Twelve Mile Circle notes the looming passage of an era: The Washington Post reported today on the Washington DC area’s last public phone booth. Apparently none of us…

  • Thanksgiving Towns

    Those of you in the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving on November 22nd, so in recognition of that happy occasion, Twelve Mile Circle offers you a guide for your holiday feast. No Thanksgiving is complete without Turkey, so we offer several choices on the menu: Turkey in Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas and West Virginia;…

  • Google Maps – “My Maps” Capability

    I’ve embedded a number of Google Maps on pages throughout my website using the API for a variety of different personal interests, including my Brewery Visit map and my Family Descendants in Dodge & Jefferson Counties map. They weren’t particularly difficult to put together. However, they did require at least a rudimentary understanding of HTML, XML…

  • Virginia, West of West Virginia

    West Virginia split from Virginia in 1863 during the height of the Civil War. It elected to remain with the Union while the rest of the Commonwealth remained firmly entrenched within the Confederacy. Tensions based on divergent economies, cultures and geography simmered between the western and eastern portions of Virginia for decades leading up to…

  • Fewest County Borders – Part III: Red Lake Co., MN

    We’ve established that a county in the United States can have zero borders if it is an island and one border if it is a peninsula. However, there are no fully landlocked counties with just a single border. But what about landlocked counties that have two borders? Surprisingly there seems to be only one lone…

  • Fewest County Borders – Part II: Peninsulas (Door Co., WI)

    Only islands have the potential for zero county borders. However, what if we extend the search from zero borders to one border? The United States contains no fully-landlocked counties with a single border. Independent Cities Don’t Count Several independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia do meet this definition though. Examples include Fairfax City surrounded…

  • 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…

  • Howder Street, Hillsdale, Michigan

    This website is howderfamily.com. Therefore, anything related to the Howder family is fair game. So I’m going to take an opportunity to feature something that crosses a couple of my interests, geography and genealogy. In Hillsdale Michigan I found a three-block road named Howder Street. Those of you with common surnames are probably saying “so…

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…