Subject: plains georgia circle boundary & others
Date: Mar 06, 2001 @ 02:09
Author: michael donner (michael donner <m@...>)
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having slept thurs nite in a peanut field just east of plains
we reached the boundary of this possibly most famous little circular city
a veritable jimmy carter franchise of brigadoon
with no map of it in hand or memory & no plan

we found all the major road entrances marked with the usual city limit
signs that appear at the edges of all georgia cities
but there doesnt seem to be any other demarcation anywhere on the periphery
except possibly an occasional rusty pipe or weathered stake
for there was no telling about these

next after circumnavigating
but being still nearly ignorant of the local geography
we were able to enjoy trying to figure out where the center of the circle lay
a truly fascinating & slightly dizzying entertainment & possibly the best
use for such circles

i guessed the circle center had to be the centerline intersection of the
main crossroads
but found when i peeked at topozone later that this seemingly obvious
answer was actually 1 long diagonal block off the mark
for the original center was evidently at the intersection of the 2 adjacent
crossing streets
both presumably having been more major at the time of incorporation in 1885


i think the discovery of this date probably places the circular city
statutes & the ensuing heyday of the phenomenon squarely within the 1880s
give &or take a few decades perhaps


it is a wonder that the circles didnt collide very noticeably with the
rectilinear public land survey grid
such as exemplified in the schley taylor clave
as round pegs & square holes might collide
but the 2 systems seem to have coexisted or segued into one another well enough


there were hundreds of these circles originally
usually of half mile radius like plains or full mile radius
but i doubt after some tiger surfing that very many remain pristinely
circular today like plains
dozens or scores perhaps but not hundreds any longer
for the great majority have been disfigured by subsequent corporate changes

it might be fun to collect the survivors & compare their depleted ranks
with the original distribution as shown by the georgia atlas linked up
earlier by david

btw
other newfound additions to the inventory are the several sun city arizona
concentric circles

but i still have not learned of a bigger example than the 2 mile radius
cole city circle
ironically a city that never amounted to much
which i found hidden & forgotten very near the algatn tristate point
& reported in the original great roundup of what was then still only half a
dozen cases

m