How many U.S. states are in two pieces?

[tim314]

What I'm really asking is this:

How many U.S. states are separated into two disconnected pieces by land that isn't part of the state and/or a body of water other than a river. And let's say islands don't count as pieces.

Until today, I would have said the only two were my current home of Michigan and my home state of Virginia. But I just learned that Minnesota also qualifies (note the northernmost tip). Are there any others?

[fuzzypickles]

There's a piece of Kentucky which isn't attached to the main state.

[Ponderoid]

Point Roberts, Washington and Alburgh, Vermont.

[Terminus Est]

The term you're looking for is exclave - an area belonging to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous. Wikipedia has a big list of them.

[Kevbo]

I know you said islands don't count, but Hawaii is all islands.

[Mike.V]

Although accessible by bridges, a chunk of southeastern Rhode Island is physically connected only to Massachusetts.

[Polycarp]

In addition to the eponymous island, on which Newport is located, Rhode Island has two mainland portions, separated by Mount Hope Bay and parts of Massachusetts. (The small eastern portion includes Tiverton and Little Compton, where some of my ancestors are from.)

[RealityChuck]

Kaskaskia in Illinois.

[Ponch8]

Originally Posted by tim314

How many U.S. states are separated into two disconnected pieces by land that isn't part of the state and/or a body of water other than a river.

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Kaskaskia in Illinois.

(Bolding mine)

This rule would disqualify Kaskaskia.

[tim314]

Wow . . . Minnesota, Kentucky, Washington, Vermont, Rhode Island . . . I'm surprised at how common this is.

[fandango]

Little Compton sounds so cute.

...also, isn't part of Virginia on the other side of Chesapeake Bay?

[fandango]

Oh, and Deleware has a tiny piece somewhere else too.

[Polycarp]

Tim mentioned Virginia in his OP.

You are correct about Delaware -- there is a very small section of land across what's either Delaware Bay or the Delaware River (and where you draw the line between them is pretty much arbitrary) from the main part of the state, basically a bump on the west shore of New Jersey, which is within the legal limits of Delaware.

Noting one further past example. prior to the admission of Maine as a separate state, Massachusetts comprised the present state plus Maine, divided by New Hampshire into two non-contiguous parts.

[dtilque]

There's actually two sections of Delaware on the east side of the Delaware estuary. One is relatively large and is near the Supawna Meadows NWR. The other is the very tip of a peninsula somewhat further south. I think both of these were formed by landfills. The Twelve-Mile Circle that defines Delaware's northern boundary extends to the original eastern shore of the Delaware River. Any extensions of NJ land into that section of the river belong to Delaware.

And yes, it's questionable if this area is a river or a bay. Based on the map, it looks more like a river to me.

As far as Kaskaskia, there are lots of river-based exclaves caused mainly by rivers changing their stream after the boundaries are set. Most are along the Mississippi, but there are some along the Ohio, Missouri, and Wabash Rivers and possibly elsewhere.

[JWT Kottekoe]

Northern Michigan.

[Polycarp]

Litle bit of a hijack, but somewhat related:

Which states have counties located entirely on islands, and what counties are they?

My list, which is admittedly incomplete:

Massachusetts: Nantucket and Dukes

New York: Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk

Hawaii: Hawaii, Honolulu, Kalawao, Kauai, Maui (am I missing any?)

Washington: Island, San Juan

I'm sure some Alaska boroughs qualify, but don't know the political geography there well enough.

[zenith]

Carter Lake, Iowa is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River.

[Philster]

I would say Delaware qualifies. You can't get to the other piece of Delaware (in NJ) without being in New Jersey.

[BiblioCat]

I'd think Maryland would qualify. The entire eastern half is separated by the Chesapeake Bay. In the northern part, it's the Susquehanna River, though, so that may disqualify it by the OP's rules.
However, Ocean City, Maryland is separated from the 'mainland' by the Assawoman Bay.

[bonitahi]

"Maryland is separated from the 'mainland' by the Assawoman Bay."

Assawoman Bay used to be called Assawoman Sound.

Wonder what that would have sounded like, and felt like during one of their beautiful sunsets...

Which provokes, is there a Assaman Sound?

[bonitahi]

Wasn't Pocahontas involved in the etymology of naming Assawoman Sound?

(Pokerinthis, Pocahontis: whatever)

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by JWT Kottekoe

Northern Michigan.

Yeah, I'm surprised the original poster didn't list the most obvious one himself.

[yabob]

BTW, note that what the OP is looking for may not be exclaves, depending on your definition. Some definitions simply say "not physically contiguous", as in the Wiki article, while some say "not connected by land". Things like Point Roberts and the NW Angle are not exclaves by the first definition, as the political boundaries of WA and MN are drawn over the water so as to include them as contiguous parts of the state. Note that the Wiki article calls such things "practical exclaves" or "pene exclaves", and separates them that way in their list, which includes Point Roberts and the NW Angle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._pene-exclaves

Conversely, some of these things involving separation by rivers are actually exclaves, given that the border is in the middle of the river, as is usually (though not always) the practice. The OP specifically ruled those out, though.

[Cat Jones]

For those interested in why these exclaves exist in the first place I can recommend "How the States got their Shapes"

[Askance]

Originally Posted by tim314

How many U.S. states are separated into two disconnected pieces by ... a body of water other than a river.

Originally Posted by zenith

Carter Lake, Iowa is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River.

Bolding mine.

[dtilque]

Originally Posted by Polycarp

Which states have counties located entirely on islands, and what counties are they?

My list, which is admittedly incomplete:

Massachusetts: Nantucket and Dukes

New York: Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk

Hawaii: Hawaii, Honolulu, Kalawao, Kauai, Maui (am I missing any?)

Washington: Island, San Juan

I'm sure some Alaska boroughs qualify, but don't know the political geography there well enough.

As far as I can tell, your list is complete except for Sitka and Wrangell Alaska, which are both combined city and borough municipalities.

[Ann Hedonia]

Originally Posted by Polycarp

Litle bit of a hijack, but somewhat related:

Which states have counties located entirely on islands, and what counties are they?

My list, which is admittedly incomplete:

Massachusetts: Nantucket and Dukes

New York: Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk

Trivia classic
There is a small section of New York County that is located on the "mainland" in the Bronx, therefore New York County is not located entirely on an island.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Hill,_Manhattan

[rayman5321]

Originally Posted by JWT Kottekoe

Northern Michigan.

What do you mean by Northern Michigan?

[garygnu]

Originally Posted by Polycarp

...
Which states have counties located entirely on islands, and what counties are they?
...
Hawaii: Hawaii, Honolulu, Kalawao, Kauai, Maui (am I missing any?)
...

To be more complete, Maui County consists of four different large islands (not including the part of Molokai that comprises Kalawao County), and Ni'ihau is part of Kauai County, but is a separate island.

[Askance]

Originally Posted by rayman5321

What do you mean by Northern Michigan?

I would imagine the Upper Peninsula, as mentioned in the OP.

[rayman5321]

Originally Posted by Askance

I would imagine the Upper Peninsula, as mentioned in the OP.

YES, you are correct. However, if you were from Michigan you would know that the people in the northern part of lower Michigan consider that they live in "northern Michigan". This is a sore spot with Michiganians.

Also, Michigan is divided into three parts. Check out a map and zoom into the Houghton-Hancock area. You'll see that the Keweenaw Peninsula is divided into two by the Portage Shipping Canal.

Native Yooper and Keweenaw Peninsulite.

[whitetho]

Not sure if this fits in, but while the core of Elllis Island is in the state of New York, that core section is entirely surrounded by New Jersey land: GIS and Coastal Boundary Disputes: Where is Ellis Island?

[Polycarp]

Originally Posted by garygnu

To be more complete, Maui County consists of four different large islands (not including the part of Molokai that comprises Kalawao County), and Ni'ihau is part of Kauai County, but is a separate island.

Yep. Eight large islands, five counties:

Hawaii County: Hawaii (the Big) Island

Honolulu County: Oahu island, and the islets northeast of Niihau extending out towards Midway

Kalawao County: a small peninsula on Molokai, site of the leper settlements. Legally a distinct county, but administered by Maui County.

Kauai County: Kauai and Niihau islands

Maui County: Maui, Molokai (except that peninsula), Lanai, and Kahoolawe islands

[Ignatz]

Originally Posted by bonitahi

"Maryland is separated from the 'mainland' by the Assawoman Bay."

Assawoman Bay used to be called Assawoman Sound.

Wonder what that would have sounded like, and felt like during one of their beautiful sunsets...

Which provokes, is there a Assaman Sound?

Yes, whenever he farts. (Sorry 'bout that)

[LSLGuy]

Originally Posted by rayman5321

... This is a sore spot with Michiganians. ... Native Yooper and Keweenaw Peninsulite.

I thought Michigan residents were properly called Michiganders. Or is this one of those things where popular usage has left the dictionaries behind?