Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: War of 1812

  • Mackinac’s Orbit, Part 9 (Lake Shore Road)

    Bicycles are the most popular form of transportation on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, other than foot. They’re perfect for an area of less than four square miles where motorized vehicles are essentially prohibited. There are plenty of places to rent bicycles within an easy walk of the ferry docks. However, I had an inside track. My…

  • Mackinac’s Orbit, Part 8 (In Town)

    I’ll just come out and say it, Mackinac Island is an odd place (map). Lots of people love this scenic spot on Lake Huron for that specific reason, and I admit I enjoyed my brief time there too. But it was disorienting and bewildering to this first time visitor. It felt like a topsy-turvy version…

  • Fort Knox State Historic Site

    Prospect, Maine (August 2009) Before I describe Fort Knox, perhaps I should clear-up something. This place shouldn’t be confused with the “famous” Fort Knox you’ve probably heard of before. You won’t find any gold here although it shares a name with the fort in Kentucky that houses the United States Bullion Depository. No, this Fort…

  • Fort Delaware

    Pea Patch Island, New Castle Co., Delaware (July 2000) The newly-minted United States government identified the need for a fort along the Delaware River. This would help protect the approaches to major port cities such as Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The military eyed Pea Patch Island, a swampy swath of river deposit that barely…

  • More Presidential County Sorting

    I found one surprising benefit to the tedious research that went into the recent Last Presidential Counties article. Now I could sort through the data differently and come up with several unexpected yet equally fascinating facts. It produced enough material for a second article. But don’t think of these as leftovers! They stand on their…

  • Historic Fort Lincoln

    Most of you will probably want to skip down a bit and start reading at the map. Longtime readers may remember when I went down to Texas for my grandmother’s 100th birthday party. Well, sorrowfully Bernice Sylvester McGaughy passed away a few days ago. She was 102 years old and in good health both physically…

  • Vulnerable to Invasion

    All our talk of invasions, mostly imagined, got me thinking. What about the actual invasions of the United States? Oceans on either side certainly limited the possibilities and reduced the number of occurrences to a mere handful. So how many times have invaders assaulted the United States? As with much we discuss on the Twelve…

  • Visualizing Early Washington

    A great article appeared in the Washington Post Magazine over the weekend. For now it remains available on-line on their website. “The Beginning of the Road – High-tech computer wizardry and good old-fashioned historical sleuthing are re-creating the lost world of Washington’s origins.” The Vision The underlying effort examined historical maps, drawings and narratives. It…