# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/61 "2007-06-18T16:56:25Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] 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. [/QUOTE] Speaking of Africa, I was a little surprised to find that if you wanted to fly from Los Angeles to sub-Saharan Africa, you would take off pointing slightly north of due east. I don’t remember where exactly in Africa I had the other end of the string when I was trying this; it might even have been the RSA. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/62 "2007-06-18T17:01:33Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Speaking of Africa, I was a little surprised to find that if you wanted to fly from Los Angeles to sub-Saharan Africa, you would take off pointing slightly north of due east. I don’t remember where exactly in Africa I had the other end of the string when I was trying this; it might even have been the RSA. [/QUOTE] Well, quite a chunk of Africa is actually north of LA. The northern tip of Tunisia is on the same latitude as Virginia and Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/63 "2007-06-18T17:05:03Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Since when is this thread about “refuting” anything? ( :rolleyes: ) [/QUOTE] That is exactly DS’s point. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/64 "2007-06-18T17:33:05Z")
[QUOTE=tbdi] Why is this odd? [/QUOTE] Mostly because most people who live outside of Illinois usually think of Chicago whenever they think of that state, and Chicago seems a mllion miles away from the idea that people have of the South (again, I’m sure this is mainly true people who do not live there). So it’s surprising to realize that the other end of Illinois is practically in the South, and borders Kentucky. In fact, when Abraham Lincoln was growing up his family moved from western Kentucky, to Ohio, and finally to Illinois, and the total distance moved was relatively minor. Regarding property that sits on a state border, how does this happen? Could it still happen today, or are private houses with this peculiarity old houses that were built before the borders were established? I have heard of a casino/restaurant somewhere on the CA/NV border; of course gambling is only allowed on the NV side. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/65 "2007-06-18T17:40:38Z")
Re my remarks on Illinois, I was similary surprised, when reading _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, to realize that fugitve slaves in Kentucky needed only to make it north through Ohio to be able to catch a boat to Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/66 "2007-06-18T17:46:38Z")
**Lazlo:** > [@](#): > > Two weeks from everywhere! Nice. 😃 It didn’t look like a one-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly. ---
**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 18, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/67 "2007-06-18T18:17:34Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] But the topo map also shows the boundary cutting off the very edge of the land. You’d think they’d move the state line into the middle of the lake, rather than having a few yards of shoreline being part of a different state. Whether or not Google is strictly accurate having the line running right through the houses, it’s indisputable that the bottom end of the gardens, on the lakefront, are in Nebraska while the road is in Iowa. [/QUOTE] I suspect that the boundary was in the river when the cutoff first took place and the bayou that resulted has silted or been filled in since then. You are probably right about the accuracy of Google. **Maus Magill’s** post has a different explanation of what happens. I guess that straightening out such screwups are what courts and lawyers are for. And, come to think of it, that Kentucky nipple is doubless an artifact of that 1811 earthquake near New Madrid, MO that reportedly rang church bells in Boston. I know that it changed the course of the Mississippi and that’s probably what cut off that little piece of Kentucy. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/68 "2007-06-18T18:22:24Z")
There is an exclave of the City of Aurora, Colorado, that is completely surrounded by the City of Denver and Greenwood Village. The Izu and Ogasawara Islands, 1,850 kilometers from the Japanese mainland at their most distant, are part of Tokyo Prefecture. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/69 "2007-06-18T18:26:12Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] What do ANY of the “factoids” here “refute”? They simply are examples of geographical truths that, if you asked most people they would not know to be true. For example, Reno is west of LA in longitude. Who ever said it wasn’t? [/QUOTE] Maybe “refute” wasn’t the correct word, but when you call a geographic factoid “odd,” you’re implying that it contravenes something – something like a widely held belief that forms the basis of some kind of common assumption or a seeming violation of common sense or something. How is it in any sense of the word “odd” that the distance between Chicago and Cairo is greater than the distance between Cairo and Memphis, any more than Kansas City, Mo., is closer to Kansas City, Kan., than it is to St. Louis, Mo.? Millions of people live near the borders of states. Surely, most or all of them are aware of such simple spatial realities in their own daily lives. Why would they find it “odd” in the case of Chicago? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/70 "2007-06-18T18:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] There’s a rock formation on Maui that’s billed as being shaped like JFK, but I honestly could not see the resemblance myself. [/QUOTE] Would it help if there was a hooker draped over it? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/71 "2007-06-18T18:53:34Z")
Pretty much the entire continent of South America lies east of Jacksonville, FLorida. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania also lies east of Jacksonville, Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/72 "2007-06-18T19:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] There’s a rock formation on Maui that’s billed as being shaped like JFK, but I honestly could not see the resemblance myself. [/QUOTE] It only looks that way from the grassy knoll. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/73 "2007-06-18T19:35:50Z")
Parts of mainland Scotland are further south than parts of mainland Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/74 "2007-06-18T19:39:27Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Regarding property that sits on a state border, how does this happen? Could it still happen today, or are private houses with this peculiarity old houses that were built before the borders were established? [/QUOTE] I’m not sure about other areas, but where I live, it’s mostly farms that straddle the NC/SC line. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/75 "2007-06-18T19:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=G. Odoreida] Parts of mainland Scotland are further south than parts of mainland Germany. [/QUOTE] And the most northerly point in Scotland is further north than the southernmost point of Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/76 "2007-06-18T20:06:11Z")
This may not be a geopgraphical oddity as much as a definitional one, but the **City of London in England** is only one square mile. The furthest point from the center of the earth is not Mt. Everest. It is **Mount Chimaborazo** in Ecuador. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/77 "2007-06-18T20:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Regarding property that sits on a state border, how does this happen? Could it still happen today, or are private houses with this peculiarity old houses that were built before the borders were established? I have heard of a casino/restaurant somewhere on the CA/NV border; of course gambling is only allowed on the NV side. [/QUOTE] On a slightly smaller scale, my local branch of Homebase (a big DIY store) is actually bisected by the county boundary between Surrey and Berkshire. The boundary follows the course of a stream, which is now culverted under the car park. Large-scale maps show that the boundary still follows the former course of the stream. (Somewhere between Garden Furniture and Power Tools 😛 ) I wonder which council they pay rates etc to… ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/78 "2007-06-18T20:33:04Z")
I was surprised when I learned that the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is East of the Caribbean entrance. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/79 "2007-06-18T20:38:40Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] It’s farther from one end of Tennessee to the other than it is from Tenessee to Canada. [/QUOTE] I’m not doubting you, but could you clarify a bit? Memphis (SW corner) and Tri-cities TN, (NE corner) is a bit over 500 miles. Memphis (bottom part of TN) is over 500 miles from Chicago, over 700 miles from Cleveland (just for reference), which you would have to pass to get to Canada, with many more miles to go. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391/80 "2007-06-18T20:55:21Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I’m not doubting you, but could you clarify a bit? Memphis (SW corner) and Tri-cities TN, (NE corner) is a bit over 500 miles. Memphis (bottom part of TN) is over 500 miles from Chicago, over 700 miles from Cleveland (just for reference), which you would have to pass to get to Canada, with many more miles to go. [/QUOTE] In terms of driving distances, Google Maps gives Jellico TN to Windsor ON as 459 miles, and gives Memphis TN to Laurel Bloomery TN as 536 miles. So the shortest drive from Tennessee to Canada is shorter than the longest drive from one end of Tennessee to the other. I think that’s what **Xema** meant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-oddities/408391.md?page=5)