Hype for the Future 79H: City of New Salem, North Dakota

Introduction

The City of New Salem is located within the central portion of Morton County, North Dakota, serving as the home of the Morton County Fairgrounds. Though the City of Mandan, opposite the City of Bismarck and Burleigh County, is a larger city in terms of population as well as the county seat, the smaller community of New Salem also provides special and unique circumstances relevant to the state.

Fairgrounds

The Morton County Fairgrounds are located in the northwestern portion of the City of New Salem, with Salem Sue, a Holtstein cow, serving as a symbol for the community west of the Missouri River. The Custer Trail Museum is located on site, and in addition to the Morton County Fair, the North Dakota Country Fest is also located on site. Each year, the North Dakota Country Fest is typically pegged to the middle of the month of June, while the Morton County Fair is typically late July and early August.

Hype for the Future 79G: The Counties of North Dakota

Introduction

Within the State of North Dakota, there are a total of fifty-three (53) counties. Each county provides a clearly distinct story on the cultural background of the State of North Dakota, whether attached to the larger communities or the significantly vaster rural territories associated with the State. Today, the most important of these counties are Burleigh, Ward, Cass, and Grand Forks Counties, home to the Cities of Bismarck, Minot, Fargo, and Grand Forks, respectively.

Counties and County Seats

The counties and county seats will be organized from east to west along the Canadian border, followed by additional tiers of counties further south within the State, as follows:

• Pembina County: Cavalier
• Cavalier County: Langdon
• Towner County: Cando
• Rolette County: Rolla
• Bottineau County: Bottineau
• Renville County: Mohall
• Burke County: Bowbells
• Divide County: Crosby
• Walsh County: Grafton
• Grand Forks County: Grand Forks
• Nelson County: Lakota
• Ramsey County: Devils Lake
• Benson County: Minnewaukan
• Pierce County: Rugby
• McHenry County: Towner
• Ward County: Minot
• Mountrail County: Stanley
• Williams County: Williston
• Traill County: Hillsboro
• Steele County: Finley
• Griggs County: Cooperstown
• Eddy County: New Rockford
• Foster County: Carrington
• Wells County: Fessenden
• Sheridan County: McClusky
• McLean County: Washburn
• Oliver County: Center
• Mercer County: Stanton
• Dunn County: Manning
• McKenzie County: Watford City
• Cass County: Fargo
• Barnes County: Valley City
• Stutsman County: Jamestown
• Kidder County: Steele
• Burleigh County: Bismarck
• Morton County: Mandan
• Stark County: Dickinson
• Billings County: Medora
• Golden Valley County: Beach
• Richland County: Wahpeton
• Ransom County: Lisbon
• Sargent County: Forman
• LaMoure County: Lamoure
• Dickey County: Ellendale
• McIntosh County: Ashley
• Logan County: Napoleon
• Emmons County: Linton
• Sioux County: Fort Yates
• Grant County: Carson
• Hettinger County: Mott
• Adams County: Hettinger
• Slope County: Amidon
• Bowman County: Bowman

Hype for the Future 70E: Essex County, Vermont

Introduction

Essex County, often recorded as home to fewer than six thousand permanent residents, often serves the role of the smallest county by population in not just the State of Vermont, but the entirety of the region commonly known as New England. Outside the contexts of Vermont and the larger scope of New England, the county is also home to numerous attractions related to the tourist draw to the county and particularly toward the Burke Mountain ski area. While the northern portion of Essex County often represents the vast majority of the attractions in this particular slice of the Northeast Kingdom (NEK), the southern part of the county is often more rural—and significantly so. Logging and timber companies have a presence in portions of the area, though not nearly to the extent seen in western Aroostook County, Maine, where the populations are significantly sparser and more concentrated toward the regions further north and east.

Attractions

While many of the eastern attractions associated with the county are actually in neighboring Coös County, New Hampshire, the vast majority of the Essex County attractions are specifically located within the northern half of the county, including, but not limited to, Osborne Family Maple in Ferdinand, the Island Pond Covered Footbridge in Brighton, the Mount Monadnock Firetower in Lemington, and the South of the Border Motel in Canaan. Within the area of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge are the Black Branch Boardwalk, the Mollie Beattie Bog Boardwalk, the Lewis Pond Boardwalk, and the Lewis Pond Overlook.

Hype for the Future 70B: Orange County, Vermont

Introduction

Orange County, representative of the east-central portion of the State of Vermont, is located to the east of Montpelier and along the Connecticut River, largely opposite Grafton County, New Hampshire. While Orange County does not contain much in terms of population, with the shire town (county seat) located in the lowly community of Chelsea, the county and surrounding area alike are each home to numerous smaller rural facilities, attractions, lowly tourist destinations, and peaceful natural scenes alike.

Attractions

The vast majority of the attractions and points of interest within Orange County, Vermont, are toward the southern end of the county, in the numerous towns and associated communities nearing the line with Windsor County immediately to the south. While Orange County contains the Pub in the Williamstown area, the more central Towns of Chelsea and Vershire are home to the Hubble Shire Farm and the Stagecoach Stop Hostel “VerShare,” respectively. Now toward the easterly edge of the county, the Bradford area is home to Chip’s Sculpture Garden, located nearly directly off Interstate 91 and Route 5.

From west to east along the southern edge of Orange County, Vermont, are such communities as Braintree, Randolph, Tunbridge, Strafford, and Thetford, home to the vast majority of the special and unique attractions of the county and surrounding area within the State. Interstate 89 passes through the western end of the county, while Interstate 91 passes along the Connecticut River at the eastern edge. Interstate 89 provides access to the City of Montpelier to the north and the City of Lebanon, New Hampshire, to the south, while Interstate 91 provides access north toward Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada 🇨🇦, and south toward the communities of Brattleboro, Northampton, and Springfield, just to name a few.

Along the southern edge of the county are the following specific points of interest, including amenities accessible to the general public as well as higher educational and related institutions, from west to east:

• ART, etc.
• Chandler Music Hall ~ Chandler Center for the Arts
• Whale Dance
• Vermont State University Randolph
• Historic Braley Covered Bridge
• Historic Gifford Covered Bridge
• Historic Hyde-Kingsbury Covered Bridge
• Tunbridge World’s Fair
• Tunbridge General Store
• Justin Smith Morrill Homestead
• Barrett Memorial Hall
• The Experimental Balloon and Airship Museum at Post Mills Airport
• Vermontasaurus at Post Mills Airport
• Thetford Green
• Hughes Barn Museum

Hype for the Future 59P: Winterville Plantation

Located in Aroostook County, Winterville Plantation, known in French as Plantation de la Ville d’Hiver, is a relatively larger plantation in the State of Maine, located along State Route 11 moderately west of the easterly border of the State and modestly south of the Saint John River also defining the border with Canada. As an extremely remote rural community, not much is available nor accessible, though the Saint Froid Lakefront Cabins may be available for rental on select occasions within Winterville Plantation (Plantation de la Ville d’Hiver).

Hype for the Future 58L: Northern Maine, the Epicenter of Rugged Individualism

Overview

Located within the northeastern extremity of New England is the epicenter of rugged individualism, especially approaching the Québec side of the international border in particular. Mount Katahdin, the highest natural point within the State of Maine, is accessible via either the world-famous Appalachian Trail for hikers or unpaved roads for general travelers, in which case an SUV 🚙 or a light truck 🛻 is recommended. Legal load limits exist on such unpaved roads, preventing larger vehicles holding higher capacities from accessing the northern roadway of the State of Maine, whose road network is interestingly similar to the road network of Alaska even in spite of being located in the contiguous United States.

Rugged Individualism

Although society has often been engineered into believing in personal responsibility and self-reliance, especially by way of capitalism and the maintenance of the associated order. Hyper-individualism, however, is more or less a relative characteristic, rather than an inherent reality or trait, in society, as the true definition of hyper-individualism can be best experienced within the northern portions of the State of Maine, with the west-central region notable for tourism and access to the Canadian Province of Québec while the northwestern region is notable for the logging and timber industries.

The rough terrain, rocky soil, and cold temperate conditions associated with the northwestern portion of the State of Maine and the Aroostook Valley in particular have the region effectively settled more similarly to sub-Arctic settlements, even though the region is geographically located in more of a temperate zone, nowhere near the Arctic Circle.

Hype for the Future 54L: Traffic Network in Vermont

Overview

Of the fourteen (14) counties in the State of Vermont, Lamoille is the only county lacking any of the United States Numbered Highways (2, 4, 5, 7, and 302) associated with the State, though all ten (10) towns in the County are served by state routes such as Routes 12, 15, 100, 108, 109, and 118. The legal load limits are often 24,000 pounds on county-maintained and lesser routes, though many of the state routes can not actually be identified as truck routes in any meaningful way, often resulting in the creation of the occasional bypass routes specifically to serve truck traffic.

While Interstate Highways and United States Highways often exist to serve the truck traffic throughout the State of Vermont, most of the commercial traffic does not actually connect to Vermont at the beginning nor at the end, often having the State as a middle ground, typically between the southern New England states and New York to the south and Québec to the north, though the traffic from New York bound to Québec, Canada, will often be routed through the Plattsburgh area en route to Montréal.

Truck traffic is significantly less frequent in the east-west direction, especially since the State of Vermont maintains a localist culture and a preference for businesses in Vermont to stay rurally bound within the State of Vermont. However, the United States Highways of the east-west direction—Routes 2, 4, and 302—may occasionally seem to serve commercial purposes, though only in limited circumstances (Montpelier to Barre on Route 302, Montpelier to Burlington on Route 2, and around Rutland on Route 4).

Adirondack Park: Locations of Interest

Not quite within the Adirondack Park, Plattsburgh is a city in Northern New York largely associated with south of Montréal in culture and identity alike. The City of Plattsburgh is located at the mouth of the Saranac River into Lake Champlain. However, the Saranac Lakes and the Upper Saranac are located within the Adirondack Park, and Saranac Lake is a village and community located within the Park. Tupper Lake is further to the west, and Lake Placid is further to the east. But further south is Hamilton County, New York, the smallest and least densely populated county in the State of New York, with approximately six thousand people. Also of interest further to the northeast is Ticonderoga, the origin of the General Henry Knox Cannon Trail, located at least slightly south of the City of Plattsburgh. Also, the sources of numerous rivers, including the mighty Hudson River, are physically located within the Park. While the true source of the Hudson River may appear underrated and minuscule, the Hudson River is also associated with Lake Tear of the Clouds, which is also located within the Adirondack Park. For additional information, please check back on the novaTop blog or with external resources for more information.

Discovering Western Alabama with Geospatial Analysis Data

Using tiles with map data from OpenStreetMap contributors, novaTopFlex (as geoTopFlex) has been able to identify rural settlement patterns in the western stretches of the State of Alabama. With QGIS to create polygons of land area dependent on the context of a certain setting, numerous regions had been interpreted as quite rural, particularly based on their road networks and highway color codes. The state-maintained road network density in these parts of Alabama (and into neighboring Mississippi for that matter) is quite low, with few if any settlements existing in specific locations more distant from these primary routes. And even unincorporated communities, while representing a greater percentage per capita than the national average, may not necessarily correlate with significantly lower densities, either.

So far, novaTopFlex has covered much of the region south to (and including) parts of Demopolis and is aspiring to cover the U.S. 84 corridor and more southerly counties along the Mississippi state line. Also, U.S. 45 crosses a diagonal portion of the state line in order to approach Mobile and the Gulf Coast within the State of Alabama. For more information about the urbanized areas along the Gulf Coast, please stay tuned to the novaTopFlex publication!