I took a quick look at each state in Hammond's Ambassador World Atlas
(1954), and immediately noticed the following border irregularities that
defy common sense (I should say *my* common sense; other people's may vary)
-- which feels that a small peninsula cut off by a straight border should
belong to to the neighboring state. There are too many anomalies caused by
river-flow or coastline changes, boundary disputes, and surveying errors to
mention, so I'll ignore them.

     Alabama: The southwestern corner, on South Rigolets Island east of
Pascagoula, Miss., should be in Mississippi.
     Most of the western and eastern borders are somewhat north-south but
obviously slanted, looking too intentional to be surveying errors. I'll
mention similar occurrences in other states, which are frequent.

     Arkansas: The western border veers noticeably northwest at Fort Smith.
     Several peninsulas and oxbows along Bull Shoals Lake on the Missouri
border (and also where the White River crosses the state line near Eureka
Springs) are accessible by road only through the other state. My guess is
that they were created by the completion of Bull Shoals Dam in 1951.

     California: The southern border is almost east-west, but noticeably
slanted.
     Connecticut: The western border north of Ridgefield is almost
north-south, but noticeably slanted.  It also should continue head-on into
that of Massachusetts about a half mile west.

     Delaware: The western border is almost north-south, but noticeably
slanted. And you'd expect it to meet Pennsylvania a mile east where the
circular border meets the horizontal one.
      There are two small peninsulas in Delaware on the east bank of the
Delaware River that should be in New Jersey.  One is Finns Point, next to
the westernmost point in N.J.  The other is about 7 miles south, opposite
Port Penn, Delaware. They could possibly be from shoreline changes.

     Georgia: The straight southern border is almost east-west, but
noticeably slanted.
     Maine: The western border is almost north-south, but noticeably
slanted. Just like Connecticut and Delaware!
     The Isles of Shoals, in both Maine and New Hampshire about 7 miles off
the coast, are clearly closer to N.H. and should all be in that state.

     Maryland: The southern border of the Eastern Shore is almost
east-west, but noticeably slanted.
     Strictly IMHO, I'd feel better if the western part of the state west
of the narrow neck at Conococheague Creek (near Hagerstown), along with
Frederick County and Clarke County in Virginia, were part of West Virginia.

     Massachusetts: The straight northern border is almost east-west, but
noticeably slanted.
                                The western border is somewhat north-south
but obviously slanted.
     New Hampshire: There's a small peninsula at the southern end of the
straight part of the Maine border that juts west into Great East Lake in
Wakefield, NH. The peninsula should be part of Maine; it's full of
lakefront homes that are accessible by road only from that state.

     New York: Most ot the northern border along the 45th Parallel is
almost east-west, but slightly slanted.
     Geographically, Staten Island looks like it should be part of New
Jersey. What about culturally?--I've never been there, and I'm hoping that
somebody can chime in about this.
     Also geographically, Fishers Island (northeast of Long Island) should
be part of Connecticut.

     Rhode Island: The northern border is almost east-west, but noticeably
slanted. Same thing with the short northern borders of Pawtucket and
Tiverton, R.I.
     Most of the southeastern border between Tiverton and the ocean is
almost north-south, but slightly slanted.
     The entire western shores of South Watuppa Pond and Sawdy Pond, along
with the brook between them, is currently in Massachusetts south of Fall
River.  They are cut off from the rest of the state and should be in Rhode
Island. This isn't obvious on the map, but I know about it from living
nearby.

     Vermont: The northeastern tip east of Halls Stream juts about two
miles into New Hampshire and should be part of that state.
     Virginia: At the southeastern corner, the northern part of Knotts
Island should be in North Carolina.
     At the southwestern tip, the southern border should continue head-on
into the southern border of Kentucky about 2 miles south.

     Washington, D.C.  A small peninsula across the river from Alexandria,
Va. and under I-295 should be in Virginia.
     West Virginia: IMHO, I'd feel better if the Northern Panhandle were in
Pennsylvania.

Howard Stone
Map Cataloger, Brown University Library, Providence, R.I.

On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 4:11 PM, Kathy Stroud <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> While not an orphan, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House
> <http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haskell-free-library-and-opera-house>
> is an interesting border case.
>
>
>
> http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-us-canada-border-
> runs-through-this-tiny-library
>
>
>
> *From:* Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On
> Behalf Of *Zellmer, Linda
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 01, 2017 12:10 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Orphans of the Atlas
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Illinois also has one, and it turns out that it was Illinois' first state
> capital -- Kaskaskia, Illinois.It can only be reached by driving into
> Missouri. The channel of the Mississippi River changed after floods in the
> 1880s, and the town ended up stranded west of the river.
>
> Linda Zellmer
>
> --
>
> Linda Zellmer
> Government Information & Data Services Librarian
> Liaison to Natural Sciences & Agriculture
> 415 Malpass Library
> Macomb, IL 61455
> [log in to unmask]
> Phone: 309-298-2723 <callto:309-298-2723>
> Fax: 309-298-2791 <callto:309-298-2791>
>