Category: Cities/Towns
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My Ridiculous Historic Parallel
My interest in history is probably as great as my interest in geography. So naturally that’s a theme I’ve woven into Twelve Mile Circle quite regularly. Keeping that in mind, I’ve grown ever-excited as events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Civil War approach. Activities will escalate rapidly on April 12, 2011 with the…
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Population: 1
I’ve long been interest in small towns facing unique circumstances in isolation. I wondered what might be the smallest town, not just some guy living in a shack by himself but an actual recognized, incorporated town. From there I found an old post from the misc.transport.road newsgroup (remember Usenet?). It explained that the question isn’t…
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Geography Collapsed
I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana this week. Unfortunately I’m not here for a family visit this time, but purely for business. That means I haven’t had much of an opportunity to get out into the city. I’m spending long hours in a hotel meeting room during the day. Then in the evening I have to…
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A Helpless Bystander
Snow hit the Washington, DC metropolitan area yesterday evening (January 26, 2011). It wasn’t a bad snow, certainly nothing compared to last year’s “Snowmageddon.” However, the timing was awful. It hit right at the height of rush hour in an area with the worst traffic congestion in the United States even on a perfect day.…
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Leap Year Capital of the World
Every town craves a little positive attention, maybe create a little local pride, distinguish itself from its neighbors and bring in a few tourist dollars if it’s particularly lucky. However, the universe of remarkable characteristics that puts a place on the map remains pretty limited. What can a small town do when nobody of international…
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Octagons
I’ve been going through old digital photographs, labeling and geotagging them so they’ll be easier to find in my collection. I have an appreciation for unique architecture in addition to my fascination with odd geography. Thus, I’ve noticed several photos that feature structures of unusual shape and design The octagon ranks high amongst them. Apparently…
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Almost Halfway
Regular readers know that I find frequent inspiration from one-time visitors who drop onto the site by random search engine queries. Presumably they find what they need and then they move along. Earlier this week the query captured in my website traffic log said, “45th parallel near haines oregon along highway 30.” I’m a big…
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Amerika
Readers posted a number excellent comments in response to the recent Right Place — Wrong Side of the Atlantic article. It’s not just England where place names migrated counter-intuitively against the tide away from the Americas, but to other parts of Europe as well. I noticed patterns as I savored the comments including the repetition…
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Right Place – Wrong Side of the Atlantic
I recently read the the Basement Geographer’s True Name Map of the West Kootenay/Boundary. That, in turn, derived from an earlier project from Kalimedia. I wondered how a detailed True Name map would look for my little corner of the world as I considered the project. For now it remains on that large pile of…
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Not Fusion, CONfusion
I remember reading through my mother’s old High School yearbook years ago when I was a child. I recall only one detail that has stuck with me ever since. The yearbook had a disproportionate number of advertisements sponsored by furniture stores that doubled as funeral parlors. I didn’t pay attention to the well-wishes of her…