# Obscure geographic regional names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008 "2016-07-27T05:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/21 "2016-07-28T04:43:46Z")
The 21,000 acre Cleveland Metroparks system is called The Emerald Necklace. > **[UrbanOhio.com](https://forum.urbanohio.com/index.php?topic=7068.0)** ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/22 "2016-07-28T05:27:22Z")
The southern Utah area around St. George is known as “Dixie” as it is warmer than the more northern parts of the state and cotton was grown there for a while. There is even a Dixie State University in St. George. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/23 "2016-07-28T06:11:21Z")
The Back of Beyond? An area between Birdsville and the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/24 "2016-07-28T06:51:26Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Welcome to the [US state of Jefferson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_(proposed_Pacific_state)). > > Some weird US borders with specific names: > [There is a part of Kentucky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Bend) which doesn’t touch the west of the state. > Delaware has [a circular border](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle). I don’t mean to junior mod, but we’ve done the “strange border situations” before in numerous other threads. I hope this thread doesn’t get derailed by that. Let’s put it this way, I’m interested in regions that do not correspond to any political borders. Many of them cross such borders. Re Inland Empire: There’s one of those in the Northwest too. I meant to mention the Channeled Scablands in my last post. The wiki page for the Driftless Area reminded me of it. It happens to be right next to the Palouse, which I mentioned in the OP. It’s actually more famous, but that’s because a humongous flood gets more press than boring old farmland. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/25 "2016-07-28T06:53:54Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Thanks for the replies. > > The Mississippi Delta would be the kind of thing I’m looking for, except it’s too well known (even if people have the wrong idea where it is). Let’s say there’ve been too many blues songs written about it. To you… I had no idea. Do areas which correspond to old administrative boundaries count? Navarrese still insist on talking about our merindades (the name for our old electoral and administrative districts), which do not appear on any current map as they do not officially exist any more; the current distritos judiciales (which have no electoral meaning) happen to follow the old merindades’ boundaries. There are regions where comarcas are an actual administrative unit and well defined (for example Catalonia), but those of other regions are fuzzier and if you find maps of them the borders will wobble somewhat (Navarra, Aragón, Castilla-León…). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/26 "2016-07-28T07:54:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > To you… I had no idea. Delta blues even has its own [wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_blues) > [@](#): > > Do areas which correspond to old administrative boundaries count? No, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/27 "2016-07-28T08:54:59Z")
In Montana, there’s the Hi-Line, which is apparently always spelled that way. It’s defined by the line of towns along the northernmost east-west railroad (once the Great Northern Railway, now one part of BNSF Railway) in the contiguous United States, which now has the northernmost east-west US Route (US Route 2) running alongside it. The Hi-Line is usually defined as exclusively the part which runs through eastern Montana, but it occasionally includes the whole schlemiel, from Seattle to Minneapolis. It’s certainly mostly important in eastern Montana, where it’s one of the major highways through a desolate and empty country; there are a lot of tiny little towns appendant to it, mostly south of it. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/28 "2016-07-28T14:01:15Z")
Beringia is a region composed of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia, Alaska, and the Bering Sea. Back during the ice ages this was a land bridge between Asia and North America and the route of human migration into the Americas. > **[Beringia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia)** > > Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It includes the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas in Russia as well as Alaska in the United States and the Yukon in Canada. > The area includes land lying on the North American Plate... ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/29 "2016-07-28T14:06:32Z")
And of course there are all sorts of names for formerly existing continents…Laurasia, Gondwanaland, Pangaea, the Tethys Ocean, and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/30 "2016-07-28T14:28:15Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > The Back of Beyond? > > An area between Birdsville and the middle of nowhere. You mean [Beyond the Black Stump.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stump) Also known as the Boondocks. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/31 "2016-07-28T14:57:34Z")
> [@jsquire](#): > > Name of a place: the **[Lost Peninsula](http://michiganradio.org/post/story-michigans-lost-peninsula#stream/0)**. It’s the tip of a peninsula made by a small river emptying into Lake Erie. The tip is in Michigan, but is inaccessible by land without traveling into Ohio. About 20 or 25 years ago its possession was to be determined by the result of the Ohio State-Michigan game; Michigan won and retained possession. How about a part of a state that can only be reach by traveling through a foreign country unless one uses a boat. [Point Roberts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington)is part of Washington but can only be reached by land by traveling through British Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/32 "2016-07-28T15:28:34Z")
Connecticut has “the Quiet Corner” - the upper northeast corner, all very small towns and forest, and yep, it’s real quiet - and the Granby Notch, the weird little bite on its northern border. It also has the weird bend and peg in the southwest, sometimes called the Rye Notch, as a result of colonial-era bitching about what state Rye wanted to be in. (New York, and good riddance.) And, not a name thing, but when NY and NJ were done fighting over Ellis Island, NY retained ownership of the original, fairly small island and NJ got the larger, surrounding, fill-in part. So in theory you have to cross through Joisey to get to that small bit of New Yawk. (Actually, I think the ferry docks are on the New York part, but the causeway definitely crosses through NJ’s part as well as coming from NJ.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/33 "2016-07-28T15:31:54Z")
Many people have heard of Sun Valley, Idaho. But have you heard of the nearby areas around the Snake River Valley called [Treasure Valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Valley) and [Magic Valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Valley)? Local boosterism at work. There is also the region of Easter Oregon called the [Oregon Outback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Outback). Famous for its jackaroos. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/34 "2016-07-28T15:34:40Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > There is also the region of Easter Oregon called the [Oregon Outback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Outback). Famous for its jackaroos. Huh. My [Jacaru](http://www.jacaru.com/shop/9/3038/drivers-cap) is from downunda. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/35 "2016-07-29T16:24:15Z")
The [Coteau des Prairies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coteau_des_Prairies) of NE South Dakota, SE Minnesota and into NE Iowa is a 200 by 100 mile plateau leftover from the glacier ages. I could see it from the farm I grew on, 40 miles away, where it rises 800 feet in a few short miles. That’s really unusual for the flat prairie area. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/36 "2016-07-29T16:33:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > How about the [Channeled Scablands](http://www.sevenwondersofwashingtonstate.com/the-channeled-scablands.html) in Washington State? > > The [Staked Plain/Llano Estacado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llano_Estacado) of Texas and New Mexico appears on maps but I think is little known outside the area. The Scablands are pretty cool, as is [Dry Falls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_Falls), another remnant and reminder of the power of glacial Lake Missoula. I would offer [The Sudd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudd), a vast swamp on the Nile River in the Sudan area. The vegetation chokes a 500 square kilometer area, is one of the world’s largest wetlands, and resists all efforts to negotiate it. Nile explorations in the 1800s were usually forced to portage around it through the desert, as open channels are scarce. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/37 "2016-07-29T16:55:36Z")
The Niagara Escarpment is a 1000 mile long rock ridge that runs along the southern edge of Lake Ontario in New York State, cuts through the middle of the province of Ontario, separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay via Bruce Point and Manitoulin Island, then heads down the western side of Lake Michigan through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Growing up in New York I knew it formed Niagara Falls, but had no idea just how far west it ran and how important it was to the geography of the Great Lakes. Distinctive name, differs from political entities, and doesn’t appear on many maps. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/38 "2016-07-29T17:14:30Z")
There’s lots of good regions above, but they’re mostly in the US with a few in SE Asia. How about the rest of the world? Surely there are some elsewhere. Possibly some of the [tepui](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepui) of South America would qualify. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/39 "2016-07-29T18:42:57Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > The Niagara Escarpment is a 1000 mile long rock ridge that runs along the southern edge of Lake Ontario in New York State, cuts through the middle of the province of Ontario, separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay via Bruce Point and Manitoulin Island, then heads down the western side of Lake Michigan through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. And it’s known as “The Ledge” in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties, WI. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008/40 "2016-07-29T18:47:23Z")
“Downeast” in Maine and “Michiana” for the Northeast corner of Indiana/Southwest corner of Michigan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-geographic-regional-names/761008.md?page=3)