Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Month: December 2008

  • Os Confederados

    Immigration fueled the growth of the United States. It long served as an attractive destination for those seeking refuge or opportunity. Within that rich historical context it’s difficult to conceive of emigration, of people desiring to leave or even desperate to do so. However, that’s exactly what happened with the Confederados. A Society Turned Upside…

  • The Most Remote Town in Mainland Britain

    If you’re like me, maybe you’ve had a little too much of the Holidays, a little too much quality time with the in-laws. Perhaps now you’re ready for some solitude. It would need to be a quiet, out of the way place where nobody would think to look, but not so remote as to be…

  • The Coldest I’ve Ever Been in my Life

    This has been an amazing weather year for me. I’ve survived blistering heat in the Arizona desert, disastrous floods in the Upper Midwest, and now bone chilling cold. I could never have imagined 2008 would bring both the highest and lowest temperature extremes in my life thus far: 111°f/44°c last summer and -10°f/-23°c this winter.…

  • Vanishing South Georgia

    Recently I found myself pondering maps of the Savannah River south of Augusta. I wandered virtually among the oxbow lakes perched amid the Georgia – South Carolina border. Don’t bother asking why. By now you surely know that’s this is what passes for “fun” here on Twelve Mile Circle. Then a strange object arose as…

  • Wyndham Winter Warmer

    It’s been chilly lately at Twelve Mile Circle as winter approaches. Perhaps some warm thoughts will help me get through these cold evenings. I need to take my mind to the hottest spot on the planet. I might consider the place with the highest absolute recorded temperature. That would be Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya on September…

  • Lucky 7 & the Ghost Kid

    It all started with an innocent set of queries captured by my web stats. They seemed to follow a common theme somewhat like “strange boundary five points ma. conn.”[1] The only border anomaly between Massachusetts and Connecticut that I knew anything about was the Southwick Jog, which I featured back in October. Seven is More…

  • Smallest Largest Provincial Island in Canada

    You read that right. Perhaps I can rephrase it better: Each Canadian Province or Territory has a largest island. When considering that list, which one is the smallest? Today’s totally trivial topic comes courtesy of the confluence of many competing thoughts that pinged around my mind lately: I’m “-est” fixated (you know, things ending in…

  • Sandoval Exclave

    A small wedge of Sandoval County, New Mexico hovers off its eastern edge. It is a fully disembodied and totally separated from the remainder of the county. Thus, it’s a great example of an orphaned exclave. Google Earth captures this exclave rather nicely. Roughly it’s triangular, with a right angle on the northeast corner. Santa…

  • 75 Years of Drinking

    Today is the 75th Anniversary(1) of the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. In addition to my odd fascination with weird geography, I’m a horrible beer snob(2) and sometimes I even find ways to tie my fascination with beer and geography together. So I think of this as a big day for Twelve Mile…

  • Naval Ensigns of U.S. States

    Many of the colonies that became the original 13 United States had their own navies during the Revolutionary War. Indeed, only New Jersey and Delaware did not. Individual colonies hastily cobbled together fleets as the conflict unfolded. With these, they hoped to defend American shores from a superior British fleet. States formally commissioner some of…