Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: U.S. States

  • Multichillicothe

    Chillicothe served as the initial capital of the State of Ohio, a fact Twelve Mile Circle noted recently. The name didn’t sound as if it derived from a European language. Indeed, it came from the language of the Shawnee, an Algonquian-speaking people. Chillicothe, the former Ohio capital, may have been the first town of that…

  • Ohio Capitals

    I enjoyed researching the migrating state capitals of Alabama and Georgia. So why not try another state? Yes, I think I will focus on Ohio. I discovered an interesting website in the process too, Ohio History Central “researched and written by staff at the Ohio Historical Society” It seemed to be a well-written site in…

  • Riverboat Adventure, Part 3 (Borders)

    Europeans began to subdivide the Lower Mississippi watershed into various colonial claims, and the nascent United States carved it further into states, counties and even smaller units. They used the rivers as boundaries in some instances, and straight lines laid arbitrarily in others. Both interacted to form an awesome string of geo-oddities throughout the region.…

  • Riverboat Adventure, Part 1 (The River)

    12MC is back! Thank you for bearing with me while I took a brief respite from posting new articles. There were logistical reasons. Each race in the five state series took much of the morning, then we’d have to drive to the next location (stopping at geo-oddity sites along the way), arrive late each afternoon,…

  • Named for Schoolcraft

    I’ve been following Every County lately while the author winds his way virtually through, well, every county. He was at the northern end of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula at the time of publication. Slowly he’s blogging his was down from the Straits of Mackinac. The name Schoolcraft(¹) kept recurring as I read through new installments, a…

  • Interstate Highway Time Zone Crossings

    I’ve noticed a lot of search engine queries lately seeking additional information about points along US Interstate Highways where travelers cross from one time zone into another. I’m going to do that myself soon on my upcoming trip and I couldn’t find a comprehensive resource either. Maybe there’s one out there hidden away in a…

  • Counterintuitive Saints

    I stumbled upon the history of St. George, the city in Utah. I was surprised to learn that its name had nothing to do with the Saint George I assumed it referenced. By using the title “counterintuitive saints” I meant counterintuitive to me of course. I realize some of these examples might sound completely natural…

  • What State U

    I mentioned the University of Idaho in a tangential comment on Résumé Bait and Switch. I focused on its location in Moscow, the city in Idaho not the one in Russia. However, I noticed an additional feature I didn’t discuss at the time. The western edge of the university ran amazingly close to the state…

  • Menacing Island

    I spied an island full of deviants. What else could explain a cluster of geographic features with names such as Freak, Lunatic, Menace, Germ, Moron, Filthy and Maniac? I plotted my discoveries along with several other bizarre placenames I’d encountered within a single map. This included the only spot in the United States named, and…

  • Georgia Capitals

    I have a soft spot for promising places now obscured. They might have been famous if history had unfolded just a little bit differently. Maybe not everyone thinks that way. Hopefully the topic appeals to a few of you anyway because that’s what this article offers. I think it was about a year ago that…