Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Bodie Island Light Station

    Cape Hatteras National SeashoreNags Head, North Carolina (March 2012) Bodie Island Light Station The lighthouse on Bodie Island (pronounced “Body” after an early family of the same name) doesn’t have quite the same level of fame or recognition as its cousin on Cape Hatteras but it’s certainly no less important. All of the lights along…

  • Biloxi Lighthouse

    Biloxi, Mississippi (April 2010) The Biloxi Lighthouse (map) is a symbol of the city, of hope and resilience in the wake of major hurricanes that have scoured the Gulf Coast for centuries. This is perhaps the most easily approachable lighthouse of any I’ve visited. Anyone can take Interstate 110 directly to the heart of Bilox…

  • Beaver Island Lighthouses

    Beaver Island, Michigan, USA (September 2000) There are a multitude of lighthouses in Lake Michigan within vicinity of Beaver Island.  Two of them can be visited on the island itself. Beaver Island Harbor (St. James) Lighthouse A lighthouse came into view as the ferry approached Beaver Island. The ferry pointed straight towards St. James, the…

  • Marigot Lighthouse

    Marigot, Saint-Martin (March 2011) I like visiting lighthouses and try to seek them out whenever I travel. The island of St. Martin seemed like a likely place for a lighthouse, particularly at the harbor for the capital city and major town on the French side, Marigot. Sure enough, some quick searching on the Internet identified…

  • Assateague Island Lighthouse

    Chincoteague National Wildlife Reserve; Assateague Island, Virginia (October 2012) The Assateague Lighthouse (map) is easily accessible and open to the public. A simple trip to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the northern end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore is all that’s required. Drive through the quaint fishing village of Chincoteague and across the causeway onto…

  • Fort Zachary Taylor

    Key West, Florida (April 2009) Fort Zachary Taylor (map) began its service to the country as one of the Third System coastal fortifications constructed in the wake of the War of 1812. The United States determined that it would be prudent and worthwhile to make their port cities less vulnerable to enemy invasion. This lesson…

  • Fort Jefferson

    Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida (April 2009) Identifying the Need A massive masonry fortress rose on Garden Key, one of the Dry Tortugas, seventy miles away from Key West in the Gulf of Mexico (map). It served as a link in the chain of coastal fortification built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers…

  • Fort Sumter

    Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (September 2008) The Civil War started at Fort Sumter (map) and its hallowed grounds take on mythic proportions in our collective memory. Perhaps most striking to us, therefore, was its size. It’s tiny. And the island it sits atop is barely larger. I had envisioned something much bolder, something perhaps matching…

  • Fort Moultrie

    Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina (September 2008) Sullivan’s Island brackets the northern entrance to Charleston Harbor. It seemed natural that a defensive fort should rise along the southwestern flank of the island to protect a vital port city further upstream. From this strategic spot, any ship entering the main shipping channel would pass less than a…

  • Fort St. Antoine

    South of Stockholm, Wisconsin (June 2009) We noticed an unusual roadside historical marker (map) on our journey down Wisconsin’s portion of the Great River Road just south of the small town of Stockholm. We pulled over to check it out. It read: Wisconsin Official Marker. Site of Fort St. Antoine 1686. Nicholas Perrot was a…

Latest Comments

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

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

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