Panhandles of the US Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alabama

The Florida Panhandle is the extension of the state's northwestern boundary, approximately 200 miles long and between 50 and 100 miles wide. The state of Alabama lies to its north and west and Georgia to its north.

Throughout much of its history the people living in the Florida Panhandle have had much more in common with their compatriots in Alabama, and travel to it was much easier than to eastern or southern Florida. People in Alabama Territory had requested Congress include the Panhandle in 1811 while Florida was still a Spanish possession. They repeated the request when Alabama was granted statehood in 1819. In 1822, 1826, and 1840 residents of western Florida added their voice by requesting that they incorporated into Alabama. In 1869 and 1873 the request was thwarted by the Alabama legislature balking at the proposed price, and in 1901 a final negotiation failed.

The state capital of Tallahassee and the important naval air base at Pensacola are the two most important cities in the region.

Answer: West

The Nebraska Panhandle is the western extension of the state, approximately 100 miles east to west and 125 miles north to south. It is about 2/3 the north-to-south length of the rest of the state.

The largest city in the Nebraska Panhandle is Scotts Bluff. It's also the location of the geographical feature Chimney Rock and the whimsical Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge using abandoned automobiles instead of monoliths.

The region of the Nebraska Panhandle differs from the rest of the state in that is more pasture land than agricultural, and many residents feel more in common with the neighboring state of Wyoming to its west.

Answer: Idaho

The Idaho Panhandle is comprised of the ten northernmost counties of the state, forming a slender upward pointing (on maps) region of the state. The largest city of this area is Coeur d'Alene, situated on a beautiful lake of the same name. The University of Idaho campus at Moscow is also located in the panhandle.

The Idaho Panhandle observes Pacific Time, due to its proximity to Spokane, Washington, whereas the rest of the state observes Mountain Time.

The term "chimney" is used for the area due to its resemblance to a chimney on a house.

Answer: Juneau

The Alaska Panhandle is the southeast portion of the state, a relatively narrow strip of land adjacent to British Columbia. The area was long disputed, first between the British Government and Russia and then with the US. An arbitration panel of three Americans, two Canadians, and one Englishman arbitrated the boundary dispute - leading to an alienation between Canada and England after the question was resolved in favor of the USA.

The major cities in the Panhandle are Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Skagway.

Answer: Antietam

Many disputes among the American colonies centered around borders and how far to the west the colonies extended. Maryland ended with control of the mountainous region to the west of the coastal region of Baltimore and Annapolis. At its narrowest, it shrinks to a one-mile by two-mile strip of land between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania. Bull Run is in Virginia, and Shiloh is in Tennessee.

Answer: Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Panhandle is a strip of land 166 miles long and 34 miles wide in the northwestern part of the state. This land was originally a part of the Republic of Texas, prior to its statehood. When Texas applied to enter the Union as a slave state, it was forced to yield this area because it was in a region where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1850.

The panhandle was referred to as the "Public Land Strip" afterwards. Surprisingly when Kansas, to the north, joined the US, the strip was not made a part of the new state. Settlers set up the Cimarron territory in the general area, but unsuccessful in incorporating it into another state. Finally the Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlers and the Panhandle became part of the 48th state; and became neglected again.

It contains less than one percent of the state's population and is one of the poorer regions of the state.

Answer: Amarillo

The Texas Panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to the Oklahoma Panhandle. The panhandle is about the size of the state of West Virginia.

About 72 percent of the residents of the Texas Panhandle live in the greater Amarillo area. The availability of nearby railroads contributed to the city's growth as a major cattle marketing center in the late 19th century. Although meat packing is still a major industry for Amarillo, it also has some defense industry plants.

Answer: New York

The Connecticut Panhandle is a small strip in the southwestern part of the state that juts into New York. The area, all in Fairfield County, contains some of the more exclusive neighborhoods in the country - including Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan, and Darien.

This area was long disputed between New York and Connecticut, dating back to when the colonies were under the control of Britain and Holland. The dispute continued until 1683 when the two colonies agreed to an exchange of other disputed territories to resolve the issue.

Answer: Virginia

West Virginia has a Northern Panhandle and an Eastern Panhandle. The Northern Panhandle was originally a disputed area between Virginia and Pennsylvania, which was resolved in the 1780s. When West Virginia split from Virginia during the Civil War, this area joined the new state. The long, narrow extension lies close to the city of Pittsburgh; and its major city is Wheeling.

The Eastern Panhandle is a small area in the northeastern part of the state, which borders Virginia and Maryland. West Virginia was formed from areas of the state which remained loyal to the Union, resulting in irregular boundaries such as the panhandle.

Some residents of the Eastern Panhandle wish to rejoin Virginia due to economic conditions and perceived neglect by the state government. A bill was introduced and rejected in 2011 which would have allowed the residents to vote on this.

Answer: Salient

A panhandle is a continuous narrow extension of a state's border that does not follow normal rules of using geographical features (rivers or mountains) or shapes defined by latitude and longitude lines.

An enclave is a country that is totally enclosed by another country, such as San Marino, Vatican City or Lesotho.

An exclave is a region that belongs to one country, but is not connected to it by land (not counting islands). A familiar case to Americans is the state of Alaska, which is part of the USA, but not connected by land to it. Another well-known example is the Russian area of Kaliningrad, which is surrounded by Poland and Lithuania. West Berlin, before the reunification of Germany, was an exclave of West Germany.


An isthmus is a narrow strip of land, like a panhandle, but it is surrounded by water between the connecting regions. Generally an isthmus connects two parts of the same country.

People may be aware of "salient" as a military term for a protrusion into enemy territory. In a geographical sense it is an extension of a country's boundary into another's.