# Geographic Anomaly: Bit of Kentucky, other places **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817 "2000-12-22T04:23:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/1 "2000-12-22T04:23:34Z")
Anybody ever visit that little nub of kentucky that is separated from the rest of the state by the Mississippi, and can be reached only thru Tennessee? Anyone know how it came about, or if it has anything worth visiting. I just love man-made geographic anomalies like this, and Point Roberts, Washington, and Angle Inlet, Minnesota, but I’ve never managed to visit them so far. Anyone have any favorites? I should be doing something constructive, Qadgop ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/2 "2000-12-22T04:47:24Z")
It was caused by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 that seriously diverted the course of the Mississippi. There was recently a thread on weird state boundaries in which it figured prominently. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40009](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40009) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/3 "2000-12-22T06:43:31Z")
There’s a peninsula in Vermont which is attached to Quebec on the land side and surrounded by Lake Champlain on the others. But it can be reached via bridges from either the rest of Vermont or NY. (Anyone know the name of this peninsula?) There’s a couple places on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River that are part of Delaware. I understand these were both formed by land reclamation. Ellis Island is split between NY and NJ, I understand. I couldn’t find a map showing which state owned which. I think NY just owns the main building and NJ owns the rest of the island and surrounding waters, or something like that. Internationallly, there’s a number of such enclaves around the world, although most seem to be in Europe or Asia. Unless you’re really interested, I won’t take to time to list them all. But by far the strangest and most complicated is [Baarle Nassau/Hertog, Neth/Belgium](http://wings.buffalo.edu/philosophy/faculty/smith/baarle.htm). I’ve been considering proposing that site as a Weird Earl. ---
**Author:** ![Fanny\_May](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/4 "2000-12-22T07:55:34Z")
The top part of Minnesota is only reachable from Canada, or going over the Lake of the North. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/5 "2000-12-22T09:08:25Z")
El Rio Grande has changed course in a few places and some of them are still in dispute between the Republics of Texas and Mexico ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/6 "2000-12-22T14:24:05Z")
Point Roberts in Washington State. You have to go thru Canada to get there by land. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/7 "2000-12-22T14:27:57Z")
Oops. You already mentioned that. But how about this: Nagorno-Karabakh in the republic of Azerbaijan. It is an enclave of Armenians separated from Armenia. Similarly, Azerbaijan has an enclave wedged between Armenia and Iran. I think they could swap, and make a neater boundary. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/8 "2000-12-22T14:49:59Z")
On the national level: There is a little piece of Angola called Cabinda that is separated from the rest of the country by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), giving the DRC an outlet to the ocean. And there is a big piece of the United States that is separated from the rest of the country by the Canadian province of British Columbia. (54’40" or fight??) On the state level: No one has mentioned Michigan, where the Upper Peninsula is separated from the rest of the state. (Ignoring for a moment the existence of the Mackinac Straits Bridge.) Cession of the UP to Michigan, IIRC, had something to do with giving up claims to Toledo, Ohio. On the County level: the parish of St. Martin in Louisiana is in two pieces, with Iberia Parish jutting between them. I have no idea why this happened. I’m sure many cities have exclaves as well. This isn’t quite the same thing as the OP, but because the lower portion of the Mississippi River changes course over the years, there are many places where state boundaries were defined by the river and then the river’s location moved, leaving part of one state on the “wrong” side of the river. Look carefully at a map of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Tennessee to see this phenomenon. This also occurs on the Missouri River, where there is a little chunk of Council Bluffs, Iowa (or Carter Lake?) that is on the Omaha, Nebraska side of the river. From the map it looks as if a bend in the river formed an oxbow lake and the river cut off a meander. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/9 "2000-12-22T15:14:55Z")
There is a substantial town in Illinois (Kalkaskia?) with a township worth of surrounding countryside on the west side of the Mississippi. It is Carter Lake, IA, with a tiny border on the Missouri, which separates it from the rest of the state, and otherwise surrounded by Omaha NE. Not precisely an exclave, but kind of interesting in its own right, is Staten Island, NY, a part of New York City separated by relatively narrow channels from mainland New Jersey and by the width of New York Bay from the rest of NYC, of which it is a part. Up until a few years ago, you could win bets by alleging that there were farms in New York City – people, thinking of Manhattan (the borough not the moderator) and Brooklyn, would take your bet, and you would point out the active farms of Staten Island. I gather they’re all closed down now, although Cthulhu only knows what’s growing in Fresh Kills. A small-scale map of the Holy Roman Empire before Napoleon is also interesting. Several dozen “independent” duchies, principalities, electorates, and such speckled the countryside like international law had come down with the measles. There were even cases of enclaves inside enclaves, where Prussia might hold a town within a county that belonged to Saxony which lay within a piece of Saxe-Coburg-Weneedtocomeupwithanewnameforthispiece. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/10 "2000-12-22T15:43:51Z")
The Spanish town of Llivia is completely surrounded by France. Russia has the Kalingrad oblast’ which was, between the Wars, part of the German exclave[sup]\*[/sup] of East Prussia. Spain has two towns on the Moroccan coast: Ceuta and Melilla. East Timor has an exclave called Ocussi, but there is some question whether Ocussi will be allowed to be part of an independent East Timorese nation. It may become part of West Timor in Indonesia. There’s also a bit of Switzerland in Germany IIRC, but I’m too lazy to look it up. [sup]\*[/sup] **Polycarp** , I’m glad to see the under-used _exclave_. Most people are familiar only with the word _enclave_. They’re the same thing, but _exclave_ is used when referring to the possessor country (i.e., “Llivia is an exclave of Spain.”) _Enclave_ should be used when referring to the land being in relation to the surrounding country (i.e., “Llivia is a Spanish enclave in France.”) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/11 "2000-12-22T16:07:00Z")
O’Hare Airport is within the city limits of Chicago. This makes it look kind of funny when the outline of the city of Chicago is shown on a map and it also puts part of Chicago in DuPage County. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/12 "2000-12-22T16:09:57Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Scratch1300_ > **Polycarp** , I’m glad to see the under-used _exclave_. _Ahem._😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gone\_The\_Sun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Gone\_The\_Sun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gone_The_Sun)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/13 "2000-12-22T16:11:15Z")
The Penisula in Lake Champlain Vermont is Alburg. It is pretty easily accessible, either from the Lake Champlain Islands, Route 78 from Highgate, Vermont, or from Rouse’s Point, NY … none of which requires going through Canada. Of more interest is would be the Village of Derby Line Vermont, which has at least one building on the US/Canada border. Supposedly, this was to be the place of a Beatles reunion back when one or the other of the Beatles couldn’t come into the US, etc. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/14 "2000-12-22T16:25:48Z")
Ulp! Sorry **malden** , I guess my eyes just coasted by that use of “exclave”. Also, I wonder whether Rio Muni would qualify? It’s geographically the greater part of Equatorial Guinea, wedged between Cameroon and Gabon, but E.G.'s capital is on the island of Bioko. So is Rio Muni an exclave or the mainland of Equatorial Guinea? ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/15 "2000-12-22T16:26:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*There is a substantial town in Illinois (Kalkaskia?) with a township worth of surrounding countryside on the west side of the Mississippi. > \*\* This is Kaskaskia, Illinois. It was the first capital of Illinois (for a very short time, a couple of years, I think). 19th century flooding and changes in the course of the Mississippi River caused much of the original town location to end up as an island in the middle of the river. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/16 "2000-12-22T16:33:17Z")
FYI **Polycarp** – I know this is off topic but it’s an excuse to dust off my old CD-ROMs. According to the 1997 USDA Census of Agriculture, which enumerates data by county, four of the five boroughs have farms (or something that meets the USDA’s definition thereof.) The exception is Bronx County. I suspect that many of these are vegetable gardens. I have also heard that there are people in Brooklyn who keep bees and harvest and market the honey, but I don’t know if they made it into this census. **Kings County** (Brooklyn): 8 farms, total area 8 acres. 5 are irrigated. average market value of production $46719 per farm (3 farms \<$2500, one $25K-50K, 3 $50-100K, 1 $100K+.) There are two persons whose primary occupation is farming. **New York County** (Manhattan): 2 farms, total area 2 acres. 2 are irrigated. No other data available because the USDA withholds data when the number of farms is so small to prevent farm-specific data from being divulged. **Queens County** (Queens): 2 farms, total area 2 acres. 2 are irrigated. market value of production: 1 \<$2500, 1 $25K-$50K. **Richmond County** (Staten Island): NYC’s Farm Belt. 7 farms, total of 29 acres. All 7 are irrigated. Avg value of production $67486 per farm (2 \<$2500, 1 $25K-50K, 2 $50-100K, 2 $100K+). 3 persons whose primary occupation is farming. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/17 "2000-12-22T16:41:54Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Scratch1300_ > Ulp! Sorry malden, I guess my eyes just coasted by that use of “exclave”. > > Also, I wonder whether Rio Muni would qualify? It’s geographically the greater part of Equatorial Guinea, wedged between Cameroon and Gabon, but E.G.'s capital is on the island of Bioko. So is Rio Muni an exclave or the mainland of Equatorial Guinea? 1. No problem. 'Twas just me scrounging for whatever recognition I can get!! 2. I would say Rio Muni is not an exclave because it’s the ocean, not someone else’s territory, that is in the way. But that’s an interesting bit of geographical trivia by its own right! There are other places like that (where the capital is on an island off the coast.) Two that come to mind are British Columbia (Victoria is on Vancouver Island, a big island off the SW coast) and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whose capital is on the island of Newfoundland. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/18 "2000-12-22T16:45:11Z")
Copenhagen, Denmark is on an island too. I had to consult a map for that one. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/19 "2000-12-22T16:53:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by malden \* > \*\*I would say Rio Muni is not an exclave because it’s the ocean, not someone else’s territory, that is in the way. > \*\* Would you say, then, that Ceuta and Melilla are _not_ Spanish exclaves because it’s the Mediterranean that’s in the way? Or do they remain exclaves because, theoretically, Spain _could_ counquer and annex France, Italy, Slovenia, etc., all the way through Algeria; and _then_ Morocco would indeed be “in the way”? In other words, because a land connection is possible, however remotely? ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817/20 "2000-12-22T17:33:12Z")
I was thinking more along the lines that coastal islands aren’t exclaves, and I didn’t say that very clearly. However, I haven’t checked a dictionary. So Hawaii isn’t an exclave of the USA, nor is Long Island. The Spanish territory you mentioned sounds a little like the small peninsula in the State of Washington that was mentioned earlier in the thread-- the most direct route is over water. So I suppose those would be exclaves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographic-anomaly-bit-of-kentucky-other-places/46817.md?page=2)