Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Highest and Lowest, Oh So Close

    California contains both the highest and lowest elevations of the continental United States. Well, the “Lower 48” more precisely. Astoundingly, they are less than 88 miles (142 kilometers) apart with an elevation change approaching 15,000 feet. Mount Whitney is the California Highpoint at 14,494 feet (4,418 meters) above sea level. It crowns the mighty Sierra…

  • The Forgotten River Capital

    Mortals try to control nature and generally fail. I love it when people select rivers for boundaries. Invariable rivers flood, carve new channels, and people pretend it never happened. The old boundary remains in place with a chunk of territory now sitting on the “wrong” side of the river, fully separated from its homeland. I…

  • Ferries of Australia

    If I’m featuring another set of ferries then it must mean I’ve completed another national ferry page. Yes, indeed that’s the case. Today I introduce my new Ferries of Australia map (and detailed maps for Sydney and Brisbane). With that, I’ll highlight some of the more interesting routes I’ve uncovered. I hope you have an…

  • The Grassy Knoll

    This small hillside marks perhaps the most controversial landscaping feature in modern United States history. It has been linked inextricably with shadowy figures and sinister secrets. It is the infamous Grassy Knoll. President John F. Kennedy rode directly past this spot when gunfire ended his life on November 23, 1963. Depending on the evidence one…

  • Antietam Topography

    I crossed the Potomac River on my way back from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and drove into Sharpsburg, Maryland a few miles later, the site of the Battle of Antietam. I didn’t have a great deal of time for my visit but I was still able to stop at a few favorite spots within this well-known…

  • The First Steamboat?

    Robert Fulton invented the steamboat in 1807. The Clermont right? That’s what they taught us in school anyway. Actually, he built the first successful steamboat used commercially. However, he did not introduce first steamboat. If you listen to the folks in West Virginia, that honor should more properly go to James Rumsey. Shepherdstown Twelve Mile…

  • Smallest Internationally-Divided Landmass

    According to the CIA World Fact Book, the island of Saint Martin is the world’s smallest landmass shared by two independent states. A 15 kilometer border separates France’s Saint Martin from the Netherlands’ Sint Maarten, an autonomous area of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The entire landmass covers only 87 square kilometers, or about half…

  • Slug Lines

    Geography can influence social behavior and that’s the case with slug lines. This article has nothing to do with gastropods. Rather it’s a commuting method originating organically without any type of government involvement or sanction in the Washington, DC area. Since then it has also spread to other cities. It’s an efficient arrangement that matches…

  • The Degree Confluence Project

    I’d like to share a favorite website today. It’s one of the most interesting Internet-based geography challenges ever undertaken, the Degree Confluence Project. Its mission statement provides the most succinct description: “The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures…

  • A Two Year Long Geo-Trivia Discussion

    I check my web logs frequently. I do this for several reasons but mainly to let me know which topics interest the audience. Then I use it to research and design more pages that people will actually want to read. Let’s Be Passive-Aggressive It also lets me stay a step ahead of the spammers, scammers…

Latest Comments

  1. I’ve enjoyed your Hawaii reports. I’ve visited 4 times, between 1976 and 2007, but no plans to return. In 1976…

  2. The British flag continues to fly at Roche Harbor, a couple miles north of English Camp.

  4. Been there Once for a few years. In 76 &77. Ran cooperative store. Even though it was very isolated It…

  5. As an Alaskan I always wondered why Interstates were a big deal. From my point of view a road went…