The second installment of the Interesting Islands series. Here I look at 13 islands in the US that have unique geography and features that make them notable.
Part 1 of Interesting Islands:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ZjM5x-Pow
If you would like to support the channel, please visit my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/geographyking
Album displayed:
Pixies – “Dogerrel” (2022)
0:00 Intro
0:26 Rhode Island
1:42 Belle Isle, MI
2:30 Vashon Island, WA
3:40 City Island, Harrisburg, PA
4:41 French Island, WI
5:46 South Bass Island, OH
7:05 Kodiak Island, AK
8:27 Fishers Island, NY
9:45 Chouteau Island, IL
10:45 Pea Patch Island, DE
11:54 Assateague Island, MD/VA
13:21 Treasure/Yerba Buena Island, CA
14:43 Mackinac Island, MI
source
I grew up on Vashon and use to commute on that bus. You could get on the bus and commute to downtown Seattle. You could also take the Water taxi but sometime killer whales would get in the way and you have to wait for them to pass. Vashon has become a wealthy commuter community with a lot of wealthy people buying second homes on the island. Vashon is the most liberal community in the country.
almost no one has serious consequences from measles, btw
I'm surprised caseoh didn't make the list
So in the Pudget Sound I would have found "The Triangle" near Bangor more interesting than a suburban island of Seattle – I would also find a review of Runit, on the Marhall Islands, which de facto also belong to the USA, very interesting
Belle Isle is one my favorite IndyCar tracks. I wish NASCAR would race there, as well. It's a ready made track and would bring a lot of income to the city without interrupting city life and traffic.
Great video, you can do some islands up here in Canada and milk a video or two (and i know there are more islands in the US still for sure)
As always, you do great work
Mackinac Fudge Packers Union.
Great video, look forward to the next one. Best wishes from Scotland 🏴🇺🇲
Spent a lot of time camping at assateague, it’s a wonderful place
My favorite Kodiak Island fact: In 2012, rapper Pitbull made a Facebook post about how the Walmart with the most votes wins a performance of Pitbull. People made a movement to vote on the most isolated Walmart: The one in Kodiak, Alaska. The movement was successful, and Pitbull actually did go to Kodiak, AK to perform at their Walmart.
Vashon Island is also attached to Murray Island by a tiny isthmus. They used to be two separate islands, I think I've heard they were sometimes connected at very low tides but I've never actually confirmed that to be true or not. The isthmus connecting the two islands today is man made and is not much bigger than the road that runs over it. I have driven that road before.
Vashon Island is also the home of the Vashon Island Bike Tree. It's worth googling an image of if you've never seen it before. It is also in a kid's book (that I have never read but probably should just for the shout out to this local legend) called "Red Ranger Came Calling."
“Anti vax”? I didn’t think you would be one to spread hate, but I was wrong. Huge thumbs down and un-subscribe.
Proposed to my wife in 1986 on the beach at Assateague Island right by the fence that is the border between Md and Va. Reasoning was that we could see the exact spot on a map.
I love these. Islands are such a fun topic. I believe Whidbey Island deserves a spot on one of these. So do many of the San Juan Islands, but especially Orcas Island for geography and Waldron Island for lifestyle.
Vashon has the same problem that most Puget Sound islands have. The people that live there go on and on about how great it is. The people that don't live there either don't care about it all or, like me, are unimpressed. The nature and 'culture' are not much different (if at all) from that found in many other places around the sound, however, with a much more righteous attitude, whether hippie-types, yuppies, or old Vashon families. Love it or hate–it's still boring and inconvenient. On a positive note, it has Quartermaster Harbor that is very well protected from the open sea and warms up enough to actually swim in comfortably in summer. That's not common around the Sound.
Regrettably the Indycar Detroit GP is no longer on Belle Isle. As of 2023 it has moved back downtown to the streets of Detroit. Great video, King!
Aquidneck Island looks beautiful. I love the cobblestone streets!
I half expected Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake to come up in this video, even though it hasn't been a proper island for many years due to drought. It's said that the oldest rock formations in North America—older than the bottom of the Grand Canyon—are out on Antelope Island, assuming I'm remembering my 8th grade Utah Science class correctly.
I’d like to see a video on the most erotic beaches in the U.S. if it’s in your wheelhouse.
Sports Stadium Island is the most interesting island yet.
In the Niagara River is Navy Island. The only island in the river that is Canadian land.
Which was the location of the short lived, Republic of Canada!
Oh great!!
Some of these places I'll never see, so it's great to have you detail them for us!
All of Seattle is liberal NIMBYs which is why it’s so expensive and miserable to live there.
My buddy is up at Put-In-Bay right now for St Patrick's Day weekend. I love it up there.
Love this video! 🗺️
Another great video. Notes about development of Treasure Island: The ramps from Treasure/Yerba Buena Island to the Bay Bridge/I80 have historically been small and short. Slowing from freeway speeds was scary, as was waiting for a gap in cars large enough to speed onto the bridge. When they constructed the new bridge after the Loma Prieta earthquake, major improvements were made to the ramps on the East side; there's much more stopping/accelerating distance, and the Westbound on ramp now has a much better view of approaching traffic.
But the roads leading to these ramps are still single lane, so any development on the island will need to keep this in mind. Some proposals include extreme limits on the number of parking spaces for new residential construction to encourage people without cars and/or single car families and discourage folks who want to own lots of cars. If they build it out with traditional residences/parking spaces, traffic will be a nightmare, and it a few years they'll be calling for a new bridge 😢
How about a video covering just the most interesting man-made islands in the USA? There are some truly deep rabbit holes in this topical zone, such as Moses' joining Randalls and Wards Islands to complete the Triborough Bridge. The artificial islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel have a few odd amenities. Goose Island in Chicago seems to boast a storied past. Miami seems to be festooned with them.