Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Oxbows in Africa

    I’m sensitive to the frequency of 12MC article pushpins that increase exponentially as one gets closer to my approximate home. I write about what I know best, and geographic distance permeates that equation. That leaves many areas of the earth underserved and creates a vicious circle. Residents of those places don’t hit the Twelve Mile…

  • No Way! Way!

    I noticed high-quality reader input on the recent He Went Thata Way article. I never imagined that there were so many creative Ways to approach the situation and it proved to me that I might be able to mine additional road name gold. I’d have said “No Way” while the 12MC audience responded “Way” and…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 6 (And the Rest)

    All good things come to an end and before long our Kentucky adventure approached its natural conclusion. It was time to return home. I still had some parting opportunities as I left the state and then again as we steered through West Virginia towards the Mid Atlantic. East Wasn’t East Long ago in the early…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 5 (In the Middle)

    We cut north into Kentucky’s central interior, into the outer rings of the Bluegrass Region. Or into the Knobs Region. Or perhaps into some other distinct geographic designation. The territory fell across several distinct regions or maybe no region at all. Here we sat at a crossroad amongst regions or perhaps into our own Kentucky…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 4 (Power of Water)

    I noticed a common theme intertwined with water as we explored the southern tier of Kentucky, from Lake Cumberland to Mammoth Cave: water as an historical and modern source of power; water as a recreational activity; water as an obstacle and water as a force of nature. The Cumberland River and the Green River, both…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 3 (Appalachian Heritage)

    Geography and history dominate southeastern Kentucky. Those were primary reasons for my selection of this corner of Kentucky when I decided to feature it as my U.S. State of Focus(¹) during the Summer of 2013. Twelve Mile Circle concentrates foremost on geography. However, one never avoids history here completely either. The two went hand-in-hand during…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 2 (Blazing a Trail)

    Every schoolchild in the United States learned about the Cumberland Gap during history class. The Appalachian Mountains formed a natural barrier to western expansion during the colonial era. Even so, the lower section contained a convenient gap. Native Americans knew about it for centuries before Europeans ever arrived. Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and…

  • Kentucky Adventure, Part 1 (Getting There)

    Every great adventure had to start with a first step. I planned to explore southeastern Kentucky and now I had to get there. Part of the appeal, frankly, was not having to deal with an airline or an airport. I could drive to Kentucky. Theoretically. And so the long drive began I’d always understood intellectually…

  • Zea Mays Everta

    I guess as the current heat wave bakes me, it forces me think about how nice it would be to sit inside an ice-cold movie theater at the moment. Right now I can’t do that. Still it would be splendid. Also, by association, when I think of a theater I think of popcorn. Aren’t vicarious…

  • Largest Artificial Lakes

    I had some fun with artificially created geographic features lately. First I featured the largest artificial islands and then islands joined artificially to the mainland. Now, I thought, I’d flip the concept to the opposite extreme. Instead of land on water, how about water on land? What might be the largest area of terrain intentionally…

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