# Where am I?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [February 19, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547 "2009-02-19T14:03:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/1 "2009-02-19T14:03:38Z")
It’s been quite a while since I rummaged through a _Reader’s Digest_ so I don’t know if they still run a feature where there were thumbnails of maybe a dozen maps from around the USA with enough detail that if you had ever been in that state you ought to be able to pick out which one it was.
This is a variation on that theme and goes like this:
Using a well-known road atlas, and picking a page at random, I’m going to list ten place names from within a 3-inch circle (approximately). You have to figure out which state I picked. Then you post ten of your own from another page.
Try to avoid obvious places that everybody ought to know. Try to pick the 3-inch circle from a section of the map that has names that might be peculiar to the state or region.
Here’s #1:
-Badin
-Misenheimer
-Uwharie
-Richfield
-Liberty
-Granite Quarry
-Faith
-Healing Springs
-High Rock
-New London
---
### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/2 "2009-02-19T14:09:32Z")
You’re in North Carolina.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/3 "2009-02-19T14:12:47Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> You’re in North Carolina.
Well done. Care to do something similar from another state?
I see no real reason other countries ought to be excluded, if anybody wants to play that way.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/4 "2009-02-19T14:22:37Z")
Right – I might go to another country:
Aldborough
Bedlam
Bishop Thornton
Blubberhouses
Hampsthwaite
Kettlesing Bottom
Kirby Overblow
Scriven
Spofforth
Thornthwaite
(The country is probably too easy here – try giving me the name of the political subdivision below the country, i.e., province, state, etc.)
---
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/5 "2009-02-19T14:33:44Z")
Hmmm. I see that I’ve just provided the spur for some Wikipedia plowing.
> **[Blubberhouses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blubberhouses)**
>
> Blubberhouses is a small village and civil parish in the Washburn Valley in North Yorkshire, England. The population as at the 2011 Census was less than 100, so details were included in the civil parish of Fewston. In 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated the population of the village and parish to be 40. Blubberhouses is situated to the south of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and to the north of a Roman road and Fewston Reservoir on the A59 road linking Harrogate to Skipton.
> The...
Can somebody discover 10 place names on a map within a 3-inch circle that would escape Google, Yahoo! or Wikipedia’s gaze?
No wonder Reader’s Digest must have dumped this little pastime.
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/6 "2009-02-19T18:35:52Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> Right – I might go to another country:
>
> Aldborough
> Bedlam
> Bishop Thornton
> Blubberhouses
> Hampsthwaite
> Kettlesing Bottom
> Kirby Overblow
> Scriven
> Spofforth
> Thornthwaite
>
> (The country is probably too easy here – try giving me the name of the political subdivision below the country, i.e., province, state, etc.)
Aye, lad. Thou be in North Yorkshire, not too far from t’ Moors National Park.
Happen I’ve got to be elsewhere fernow, but I’ll post summat new later.
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/7 "2009-02-19T18:49:15Z")
Oh, I’m back unexpectedly!
Blatherwyke
Burley-on-the-Hill
Castle Bytham
Cold Overton
Edith Weston
Great Casterton
Horninghold
Kings Cliffe
Little Casterton
Wing
---
### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/8 "2009-02-19T18:57:45Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> No wonder Reader’s Digest must have dumped this little pastime.
Actually, the “Where Do You Think You Are?” quiz was a feature of [_The Saturday Evening Post_](http://www.kitschy-kitschy-coo.com/2008/07/its-april-30-1960-do-you-know-where-you.html) – and may still be, although the magazine is now a monthly instead of a weekly. I’ll have to check the local county library’s current copy next time I pay a visit.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/9 "2009-02-19T19:00:17Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#):
>
> Actually, the “Where Do You Think You Are?” quiz was a feature of [_The Saturday Evening Post_](http://www.kitschy-kitschy-coo.com/2008/07/its-april-30-1960-do-you-know-where-you.html) – and may still be, although the magazine is now a monthly instead of a weekly. I’ll have to check the local county library’s current copy next time I pay a visit.
Thanks for that correction. Didn’t Reader’s Digest have something along those lines, though?
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### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/10 "2009-02-19T19:23:38Z")
I’ll do parks in a certain area:
King Park
Tilly Park
Kissena Park
Liberty Park
Cunningham Park
Douglaston Park
Belmont Park
St. Albans Park
Alley Pond Park
Baisley Pond Park
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### Author:  [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/11 "2009-02-20T19:31:16Z")
> [@jali](#):
>
> I’ll do parks in a certain area:
>
> King Park
> Tilly Park
> Kissena Park
> Liberty Park
> Cunningham Park
> Douglaston Park
> Belmont Park
> St. Albans Park
> Alley Pond Park
> Baisley Pond Park
New York City - Queens
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### Author:  [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/12 "2009-02-20T19:40:16Z")
New Helena
Merna
Broken Bow
Berwyn
Oconto
Callaway
Anselmo
Litchfield
Weissert
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### Author:  [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/13 "2009-02-21T03:34:15Z")
> [@labtrash](#):
>
> New Helena
> Merna
> Broken Bow
> Berwyn
> Oconto
> Callaway
> Anselmo
> Litchfield
> Weissert
Nebraska. “Broken Bow” tipped me off–I remember that name from my telephone operatin’ days.
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### Author:  [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/14 "2009-02-22T12:46:14Z")
> [@Tamex](#):
>
> Nebraska. “Broken Bow” tipped me off–I remember that name from my telephone operatin’ days.
Yup - and I didn’t want to include it, either. These were smack dab in the center of NE.
Too bad the thread died so quickly!
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### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/15 "2009-02-24T18:37:20Z")
> [@labtrash](#):
>
> New York City - Queens
8 friggin’ minutes! Wow!
---
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/16 "2009-02-24T19:06:01Z")
> [@labtrash](#):
>
> Too bad the thread died so quickly!
Yes, it is too bad. Unfortunately, when I was posting the OP I didn’t consider how easy it would be to Google or Yahoo! search on the list and get a hit with no effort at all. The game/puzzle was great back in the pre-web days when you could get free maps at every major filling station and have dozens of them lying around for every state you travelled in. Not to mention atlases.
The biggest giveaways on those maps in the puzzle/game, as often as not, were main roads (many of them pre-interstate!), lakes, rivers, national parks, and all sorts of features where just listing their names would make their state too obvious.
Maybe somebody can think of a variant way to do something similar that would avoid the temptation to cheat with web searches.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/17 "2009-02-24T21:06:25Z")
Brattleboro
Calais
St. Johnsbury
White River Junction
Barre
Newport
Vergennes
Milton
Windsor
Springfield 😉
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### Author:  [@Seeker\_of\_Truth\_and\_Beauty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seeker_of_Truth_and_Beauty)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/18 "2009-02-24T21:41:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Brattleboro
> Calais
> St. Johnsbury
> White River Junction
> Barre
> Newport
> Vergennes
> Milton
> Windsor
> Springfield 😉
Vermont? I didn’t google. White River Junction clued me in (if in fact I am right).
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### Author:  [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/19 "2009-02-25T16:42:54Z")
Try this one:
Burney
Johnson Park
Hillcrest
Montgomery Creek
Cassel
Cayton
Glenburn
Fall River Mills
Dana
Hat Creek
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-am-i/486547/20 "2009-02-25T17:17:35Z")
> [@Seeker of Truth & Beauty](#):
>
> Vermont? I didn’t google. White River Junction clued me in (if in fact I am right).
You are indeed. Try these (still no Googling):
East Palestine
Calcutta
Lisbon
Fairlawn
Washington Courthouse
Beloit
Worthington
Leetonia
Orange
Wellsville
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