Tag: Civil War
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Fort C.F. Smith
Defenses of Washington – in Arlington Co., VA (July 2009) Arlington County is fortunate to own the historic remnants of a small Civil War fort as part of a 19-acre acquisition from a private landowner in 1994. In addition to the historic fortification the park includes the restored Hendry House that is available for weddings…
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Finishing West Virginia, Day 1
We finally began our trip to West Virginia after a two week delay. It made all of the difference. Springtime arrived and the weather approached perfection. My older son — the bird watcher, map aficionado, self-taught student of the Norwegian language — joined me on my inexplicable county counting odyssey. I did capture the remaining…
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Rolla
Editor’s Note… Well folks, after 1,373 articles, it finally happened. I repeated a topic. I’d forgotten that I posted a similar article back in 2014. This should make for an interesting compare and contrast, though. I did include a couple of extra Rolla locations this time. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, actually. Once again…
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More Oddities from Independent Cities, Part 2
Virginia’s independent cities continued to offer their peculiar geographic secrets. The earlier part of this series explored tendrils and quadripoints. However, other strange features hid within their twisted layouts. I turned my attention to enclaves and pinches next. Those unusual features probably came from heated negotiations between cities and counties during drawn-out annexation hearings. In…
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Great Scott
It occurred to me that a great general like Winfield Scott probably influenced place names beyond the recently-featured Scott’s Addition in Richmond, Virginia. Citizens considered him a national hero during his lifetime even if we don’t hear much about him today. This period also coincided with a rapid expansion of population and migration. They needed…
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Northern Panhandle of West Virginia
Anyone looking at a West Virginia map would immediately notice its northern panhandle. It rose high above the rest of the state like a flagpole. This narrow splinter ran 64 miles (103 kilometres) due north, wedged tightly between Ohio and Pennsylvania. Its width also narrowed sometimes to only 4 miles (6 km). Four counties occupied…
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Michigan, Part 5 (Do Overs)
A Simple Observation I checked the Twelve Mile Circle dashboard this morning. The 1,276th article posted on Wednesday. I still cannot believe I came up with so many different topics. However, I do know that my writing evolved since that initial post on November 6, 2007. Early articles certainly contained few words. Now I delve…
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Another Last Stand
John Wilkes Booth‘s last stand was by no means the only infamous last stand. It got me thinking about a wide range of other events from the last couple of hundred years that might fall within the same general guidelines. Last stands happened in many places in many times. I selected a few from the…
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Last Stand
While I researched By George, I came across the escape route used by John Wilkes Booth in the immediate aftermath of the Abraham Lincoln assassination. Every student in the United States likely learned all about the assassination multiple times starting from elementary school and every year thereafter. Fewer probably knew much about the attempted escape.…
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Appalachian Loop, Part 3 (Cultural Threads)
Appalachia described more than a physical geography. It described a proudly self-reliant people who’d lived within these hills and hollows on their own wits for more than two centuries. I mentioned some of my perceptions after I visited Kentucky in 2013. It would be all to easy to reduce Appalachia to unfair hillbilly stereotypes. Naturally…