# Geographical Oddities **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391 "2007-06-17T22:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/1 "2007-06-17T22:22:40Z")
Cairo, Illinois is closer to Memphis, Tennessee than to Chicago, Illinois. Some of western Virginia is west of Detroit, Michigan. What other interesting geography facts or oddities are there? It doesn’t have to the American. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/2 "2007-06-17T22:30:38Z")
British one: Edinburgh is west of Liverpool. (I had to look at a map to believe it.) I’ve heard that the American state closest to Africa is Maine, which I don’t have an easy way of checking - anyone got a globe?! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/3 "2007-06-17T22:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I’ve heard that the American state closest to Africa is Maine, which I don’t have an easy way of checking - anyone got a globe?! [/QUOTE] Could you possibly mean Europe? Maine being the closest to africa is a bit hard to believe. Also, Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/4 "2007-06-17T22:37:47Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] Could you possibly mean Europe? Maine being the closest to africa is a bit hard to believe. [/QUOTE] Like I say, I’m not sure either of what I heard, or of what the truth is - looking at Google Maps, Cape Cod is in with a shout. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/5 "2007-06-17T22:39:20Z")
A circular arc boundary, that’ what! So why was this done? Was it a done as a result of a bar bet between two dipsomaniac surveyors? Or DE demanding a curvilinear boundary with PA before signing off on the US Constitution? What point of DE serves as the center of arc’s radius? Is it demarcated as a historic marker, or does some old man come out with a shotgun and tell you, “Git off my property!”? I know I’ll never have a good night’s sleep unless someone solves the mystery of this (invoke a deep, resonant voice with fading echo) GEOGRAPHICAL ODDITY[SIZE=5]Y[SIZE=3]Y[SIZE=2]Y[SIZE=1]Y[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/6 "2007-06-17T22:43:25Z")
[QUOTE=user\_hostile] I know I’ll never have a good night’s sleep unless someone solves the mystery of this (invoke a deep, resonant voice with fading echo) GEOGRAPHICAL ODDITY[SIZE=5]Y[SIZE=3]Y[SIZE=2]Y[SIZE=1]Y[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]… [/QUOTE] [Goodnight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/7 "2007-06-17T22:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > What point of DE serves as the center of arc’s radius? It’s a courthouse somewhere, if I recall correctly. [Ah, yes, I do recall correctly](http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/67-where-delaware-met-pennsylvania-1-the-twelve-mile-circle/). ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/8 "2007-06-17T22:44:27Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Like I say, I’m not sure either of what I heard, or of what the truth is - looking at Google Maps, Cape Cod is in with a shout. [/QUOTE] I used the measuring tool in Google Earth (quick and dirty) but Cape Cod isn’t even close. Maine is the closest US state to Africa. I never realized that before. ---
**Author:** ![jlrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@jlrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlrepka)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/9 "2007-06-17T22:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I’ve heard that the American state closest to Africa is Maine, which I don’t have an easy way of checking - anyone got a globe?! [/QUOTE] Using the measuring tool on Google Earth, it looks like the shortest distance between any point on the east coast of the US and any point in Africa is just under 3200 miles between northern new england (Maine is certainly reasonable) and southern Morocco. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/10 "2007-06-17T22:48:04Z")
Across from New Madrid, MS lies a piece of Kentucky that totally surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee (and the Mississippi River). You’ll have to drive through TN before you can step foot on it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/11 "2007-06-17T22:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=Boscibo] I used the measuring tool in Google Earth (quick and dirty) but Cape Cod isn’t even close. Maine is the closest US state to Africa. I never realized that before. [/QUOTE] Wow - I posted it with doubt, was challenged, doubted further, and I’m right! I love this place. I’m stupid beyond belief, though, by asking if anyone had a globe. Stupid Google Earh. Sitting there waiting to be used. All I had to do was rotate the default globe to the Atlantic, and it’s an _‘oh, but it’s all distorted’_ situation. It’s a big lesson in not always trusting familiar world maps. They can mislead. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/12 "2007-06-17T22:50:05Z")
[QUOTE=user\_hostile] A circular arc boundary, that’ what! So why was this done? Was it a done as a result of a bar bet between two dipsomaniac surveyors? Or DE demanding a curvilinear boundary with PA before signing off on the US Constitution? What point of DE serves as the center of arc’s radius? Is it demarcated as a historic marker, or does some old man come out with a shotgun and tell you, “Git off my property!”? I know I’ll never have a good night’s sleep unless someone solves the mystery of this (invoke a deep, resonant voice with fading echo) GEOGRAPHICAL ODDITY[SIZE=5]Y[SIZE=3]Y[SIZE=2]Y[SIZE=1]Y[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]… [/QUOTE] It was the Grand Old Duke of York who defined the [Twelve-Mile Circle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle) (twelve miles from old New Castle Courthouse, whose cupola is the center point). Note that this also establishes the land boundary between Delaware and New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/13 "2007-06-17T22:54:57Z")
I like it that the capital of France is further north than that of Newfoundland. However, I suppose I’m flagging up oddities in the perception of geography, rather than geography itself. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/14 "2007-06-17T23:02:32Z")
The Panama Canal lies just east of Miami FL. When you use it to sail from the Atlantic side to the Pacific, you travel west to east. It’s farther from one end of Tennessee to the other than it is from Tenessee to Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/15 "2007-06-17T23:08:06Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Like I say, I’m not sure either of what I heard, or of what the truth is - looking at Google Maps, Cape Cod is in with a shout. [/QUOTE] As near as I can tell using the Great Circle mapper, Maine is closer to Africa than even Nantucket Island. Some of my own: St. John’s, Newfoundland is further south than Seattle. Some locations that are closer to St. John’s than Vancouver, BC: Warsaw, Poland Panama City, Panama The entire country of Suriname Dakar, Senegal Point Pelee, Ontario is further south than the northern border of California. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/16 "2007-06-17T23:18:20Z")
The French Riviera is north of Boston! Charleston, SC, is west of Quito, Ecuador! ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/17 "2007-06-17T23:30:22Z")
Here’s one that I just discovered a couple of minutes ago: New Plymouth, on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, is quite a distance to the east of the east-coast city of Christchurch. The ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island) actually travels north for much of the journey. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/18 "2007-06-17T23:36:06Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] It’s farther from one end of Tennessee to the other than it is from Tenessee to Canada. [/QUOTE] As anyone who’s ever driven from South Fulton, Tenn. to Bristol, Tenn. can surely attest to. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/19 "2007-06-17T23:41:40Z")
If we’re bringing up European latitudes, Cork, at the southern end of Ireland, is only 10 minutes of arc further south than Saskatoon, Sasketchewan. And there are palm trees all over the place in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/20 "2007-06-17T23:47:15Z")
[QUOTE=user\_hostile] Across from New Madrid, MS lies a piece of Kentucky that totally surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee (and the Mississippi River). You’ll have to drive through TN before you can step foot on it. [/QUOTE] This happens along rivers that meander. Carter Lake, IA is entirely surrounded by Omaha, NE and is on the opposite side of the Missouri River from the rest of Iowa. Reno, NV is west of Los Angeles, CA. Quite a way west in fact being about north of Goleta, CA which is 85 west of LA. If you go straight south from Detroit, MI you wind up in the Pacific Ocean. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391.md?page=2)