Border weirdness

I was on a work call recently with a gentleman from Minnesota. Somehow the conversation turned to topography (duh ... don't all of your conversations turn to this topic?) and he mentioned the Northwest Angle in Minnesota .. which is kinda-not-really even IN Minnesota.

To wit:

Except for minor surveying errors, it is the only place in the contiguous United States north of the 49th parallel ... The land area of the Angle is separated from the rest of Minnesota by Lake of the Woods, but shares a land border with Canada.

In other words, if you want to get to the "Angle" from Minnesota, you can either drive through Canada or cross the Lake of the Woods ... when it's not iced over.

This got me thinking about other border abnormalities that exist (or could) ... and there are PLENTY of them. A decade ago, my wife and I were driving along the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia. We crossed into Bosnia for several miles before entering ... Croatia again. 

North Carolina even has its fair share of odd border things. On Ocracoke Island, for instance, there is a spit of land that is technically British. And Our State magazine researched the "bump" along the N.C.-Virginia border.

Even on a large foldout map, the sharp change in the boundary line doesn’t even make a centimeter’s difference. We’re talking about less than a mile here.

(Long story short: it's complicated.)

I have heard that several islands along the Outer Banks are shared with either Virginia or South Carolina. And I'm still waiting for us to officially annex Bermuda, but that's for another time. 

There HAS to be other border abnormalities that impact or impacted the Old North State. Are you aware of any?

Yeah, N.C. beaches!

North Carolina's beaches can boast clean beach waters, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The states' beaches with the cleanest beach-water samples were Delaware, New Hampshire and Virginia, with N.C. and Georgia tying for fourth. South Carolina's came in 19th among the 30 states reviewed. Louisiana came in last.

North Carolina (and Georgia) can boast just 2 percent of her beach-water samples "failing to pass muster," according to McClatchy Newspapers.

Nationwide, the total number of beach-closing days due to water pollution topped 20,000 in 2008 for the fourth straight year.

"Pollution from dirty storm-water runoff and sewage overflows continues to make its way to our beaches," said Nancy Stoner, a water analyst with the environmental group. "From contracting the flu or pink eye to jeopardizing millions of jobs and billions of dollars that rely on clean coasts, there are serious costs to inaction." ...

A third list in the report uses a five-star rating system to assess 200 popular beaches across the country. ...

In North Carolina ... seven of 10 rated beaches get four stars, and none receive fewer than two. ...

This 'Vale of Humility'

With all due respect to our neighbors to the north and south of us, one of my favorite quotes about North Carolina is this one, that our fair state is "A vale of humility between two mountains of conceit."

This quote has been attributed to Civil War-era Gov. Zebulon Vance as well as Alexander Hamilton and John Andrew Rice; however, sources also think it goes back further. (It's also the name of a literary compilation that explores the "lives of plain folk in contemporary North Carolina fiction.")

The meaning of the quote, in this instance, at least, is that -- particularly "back in the day" -- poor old North Carolina was sandwiched between the plantation aristocracy of South Carolina to the south and the "Birthplace of Presidents" (and the most powerful of the young states) Virginia to the north -- the two "mountains of conceit," so to speak.

But in 21st Century North Carolina, does this quote still have meaning?

Charlotte Observer political expert Jack Betts pondered this last year. Wrote Betts:

It's worth remembering that North Carolina until fairly recently was regarded as a poor state, especially in comparison to wealthier plantation-culture states to our north and south. North Carolina was in such a somnolent state at one point that it was derided as "The Rip Van Winkle State" before it began making serious improvements that would boost its fortunes. The prosperity that came in the latter half of the 20th century came as a result of significant investments in higher education, the Research Triangle and a great many other areas.

As to whether the state is still a vale of humility, I dunno. We were often said to be mighty proud of not being proud, but in the modern era I think humility has taken a back seat.

I expect if Winston Churchill were around, he might say, as he did in another context, that North Carolina has much to be humble about.

So what do you think? Does modern North Carolina enjoy or even suffer from any since of humility? Have we, as a state, read our own press clippings and drank the proverbial Kool-Aid about how great we are? Or should we just enjoy this time in the spotlight -- because you don't know how fleeting it can be.

(Monticello image from howstuffworks.com; Charleston image from Dannonline.com; Rip Van Winkle from Elfwood.com)

A not-too-distant trip: Monticello

We are in the days of $4-per-gallon gasoline and in the thick of summertime travel, so here is a recommendation of a not-too-far away vacation spot for most North Carolinians: Charlottesville.

It is here where if one wants "to understand who Thomas Jefferson" was, all he or she should do is visit Monticello, "his majestic mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia," writes CNN.com.

... In the entrance hall at Monticello you can see one of his inventions: the Great Clock, with large iron weights that look like cannon balls. In the sitting room, another Jefferson invention: a dumbwaiter built into the side of the fireplace which lifts bottles of wine from his basement.

"He was a remarkably intellectually curious man," said David L. Holmes, professor of religious studies at the College of William and Mary and author of 'The Faiths of the Founding Fathers.' "He was the Renaissance man, the Enlightenment man in the colonies; there were others behind him in the group but he was the one."

Jefferson read widely and was interested in the beliefs and ideas of others. Among his extensive book collection was a copy of the Quran. ...

For more on Charlottesville, visit here.