Oddities of geography (city hall, amusement park, live)

[Gnutella]

What are some geographic facts that you find odd, unexpected, or just plain interesting? Here are some of mine:

1. Cairo, IL is closer to Birmingham, AL than it is to Chicago, and equidistant from Little Rock, AR as it is from Indianapolis.

2. Amarillo, TX is closer to Denver than it is to Austin, and closer to Cheyenne, WY than it is to Houston.

3. El Paso, TX is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston.

4. Across the southern United States, everything from Pecos, TX to Dothan, AL is located in the Central Time Zone.

5. Though South Carolina barely has any mountains, its highest point is higher than the highest point in Pennsylvania.

6. From its westernmost point to its easternmost point, North Carolina is over 500 miles long.

7. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is only served by one Interstate, not counting local spur routes. The Austin metropolitan area is only served by one Interstate, period.

8. New York and Philadelphia have no direct Interstate connection (yet).

9. The distance between the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States, and Badwater Basin in Death Valley, the lowest point in North America, is only 86 miles.

10. The northern border of Missouri is located at roughly the same latitude as Pittsburgh, while the southern border of the Missouri bootheel is located at roughly the same latitude as Raleigh, NC.


What are some geographic oddities that you can think of? List them here.

[escilade18]

Here are some that stick out to me.
1) Both Rome Italy and Istanbul Turkey sit due north of Pittsburgh
2) London England and Calgary Canada are at similar latitudes.
3) There is a part of Kentucky that can not be reached by land except from another state (caused to ground sinking during a major earthquake.)

[Gnutella]

Originally Posted by escilade18

Here are some that stick out to me.
1) Both Rome Italy and Istanbul Turkey sit due north of Pittsburgh

You mean latitudinally north, right? Due north of Pittsburgh is Butler.

Originally Posted by escilade18

3) There is a part of Kentucky that can not be reached by land except from another state (caused to ground sinking during a major earthquake.)

I believe you're referring to the Kentucky Bend. Apparently, 17 people live on that piece of land, and their mailing address is Tiptonville, TN. Here's a picture of the road that serves the Kentucky Bend at the Tennessee state line:

[CowanStern]

Cimmaron County, Oklahoma, borders on counties in five states.

Besides Hawaii, there are three counties that lie entirely on offshore islands requiring a ferry to reach them: Dukes and Nantucket (MA) and San Juan (WA).

St. Martin Parish (LA) has an exclave, which can only be reached by going through another county. Fulton County (KY) has one that can only be reached by going through another state. (See above)

Red Lake County (MN) is compltely surrounded by land borders, which touch only two other counties.

The only "five point" in the USA, where you can be in five counties at the same time, is in the middle of Lake Okeechobee (FL) and you'd have to be in a boat.

The most irregularly-shaped county is Blaine County, Idaho.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ighted.svg.png

The Statue of Liberty is in New Jersey, and the Pentagon is in Virginia.

[btownboss4]

From City hall, Stamford ct due north, due south, due east, and due west all lead to New York state

[abr7rmj]

The western tip of Virginia is west of Detroit.

Reno, Nev., is further west than Los Angeles.

It's further from one end of Tennessee to the other than it is from Tennessee to Canada.

The Panama Canal is east of Miami.

If you go straight south from Buffalo, you'll eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean.

The southernmost tip of Canada lies south of a part of Ohio - and 25 other states.

[1greatcity]

There is a portion of Washington state that no one can drive to except by leaving the US, entering Canada, and re-entering the US.

Kalawao County, Hawaii, population 90, admits no new residents, and a special permit is required to visit. It is the second-least populous of any county in the US. (the least populous being Loving County, TX,) and was once used as a quarantine for people with Leprosy.

Reno, Nevada is situated west of Los Angeles.

[Gnutella]

I can't believe I forgot this one: the 80th meridian west -- 80°00'00"W -- passes straight through the middle of downtown Pittsburgh. (Note the longitudinal coordinate in the URL after you click on the link.) In fact, here's a list of specific places that the 80th meridian west passes through in the Pittsburgh MSA.

[steel03]

Originally Posted by escilade18

3) There is a part of Kentucky that can not be reached by land except from another state (caused to ground sinking during a major earthquake.)

I know there are a couple places in the US that can only be reached from Canada, like the Northwest Angle in Minnesota and Point Roberts in Washington.

Liechtenstein is only accessible from Switzerland, even though its border with Austria is much larger (because of impassible mountains).

If you take a map of the US and flip it upside-down, it's amazing how far east Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana look, and it becomes so obvious that the geographic center of the country is much further west (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs12/i/20...by_socom58.jpg).

And just for fun, Carowinds, the major amusement park that serves Charlotte, NC, lies on the NC-SC border, and there are several rides that go back and forth (http://0.tqn.com/d/themeparks/1/0/Q/...h-Carolina.jpg)

[censusdata]

The northernmost town in Kentucky (Covington) is closer to SE Ontario, Flint Michigan, or Erie PA than it is to the westernmost place in Kentucky (the aforementioned Kentucky Bend area)