Category: U.S. States
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Reelfoot Lake
There is only one large natural lake in Tennessee. It straddles the Lake Co. / Obion Co. border just a few miles from the Mississippi River. Some scientists speculate that Reelfoot Lake formed as a result of the massive New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 – 1812. Their theory does fall within the realm of possibility.…
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Google Maps Terrain Button
I noticed that within the last few days, Google Maps added a “Terrain” button that shows general elevations by using different shades and shadows. Obviously it has its greatest impact where there are rapids changes in elevation such as mountain or canyons. I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with the feature as in…
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Thoughts on Los Angeles and Reno
In an earlier post, 12MC noted that we can sometime confuse east and west in our geographic perceptions. A similar condition exists with Los Angeles, California and Reno, Nevada. Los Angeles conjures up certain images. Think of beaches, surfing and movie stars living on hillsides with expansive views of the Pacific Ocean. Most of us…
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Remote Southwestern Virginia
Recently I posted an entry about a section of Virginia that is further west than any point in West Virginia. It’s an odd fact made quite interesting primarily because the founders of a state carved from an older one consciously chose to highlight the word “west” in describing their creation. At the same time it…
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Virginia, West of West Virginia
West Virginia split from Virginia in 1863 during the height of the Civil War. It elected to remain with the Union while the rest of the Commonwealth remained firmly entrenched within the Confederacy. Tensions based on divergent economies, cultures and geography simmered between the western and eastern portions of Virginia for decades leading up to…
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Michigan’s Lost Peninsula
One of the oddities that interests me is when a territory is broken into two or more non-contiguous pieces. Some become rather famous, like the small chunk of the United States in northern Minnesota that can only be reached via Canada at Lake of the Woods. A similar condition exists between and within certain states…