Longest driving times to county seats

[index]

Here's some examples of western-level driving times to the county seat in counties out east:

If you live in Ocracoke and for whatever reason the NC 45 ferry isn't running, you'll have to drive four and a half plus hours to Swan Quarter, three if the ferry is running:

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If you're one of the handful of people living on the Monroe County mainland in Florida, it's four plus hours to Key West:

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[JayhawkCO]

Angle Inlet, MN to Baudette, MN is two hours plus two border crossings.

[Flint1979]

Michigan doesn't have any really huge counties compared to other states. Marquette is the largest in land area but there isn't any point in Marquette County that is further away from Marquette as some points in Chippewa County are away from Sault Ste. Marie.

For Chippewa County, it'd be about 75 miles and 2 hours to go from a point on Drummond Island to Sault Ste. Marie.

The most ultimate in Michigan would probably be if you were on Isle Royale trying to get back to the Keweenaw County seat in Eagle River which would probably take about 3.5 hours.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Angle Inlet, MN to Baudette, MN is two hours plus two border crossings.

Ely, MN is about 2 hours to Duluth in St. Louis County.

Allagash, ME is over 2 1/2 hoyrs ro Houlton (Aroostook County)

[bassoon1986]

2 hours and 14 minutes from Grand Isle, La to Gretna, La in Jefferson Parish.


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[Max Rockatansky]

The drive from Monroe County Pinecrest noted in the original post is absolute slog to Key West.  I did a couple times when I lived down on Cudjoe Key.

[SkyPesos]

Not the absolute longest driving time, but possibly one of the longest relative to distance: Kelleys Island, OH to the Erie County seat in Sandusky. 1 hour 15 minute drive (including a ferry) for a 10 mile straight line distance.

[Flint1979]

The drive from Monroe County Pinecrest noted in the original post is absolute slog to Key West.  I did a couple times when I lived down on Cudjoe Key.

I'm willing to bet that San Bernardino County doesn't even have an extent like that.

[Max Rockatansky]

The drive from Monroe County Pinecrest noted in the original post is absolute slog to Key West.  I did a couple times when I lived down on Cudjoe Key.

I'm willing to bet that San Bernardino County doesn't even have an extent like that.

Madera County has one thought from Devils Postpile to the county seat of Madera.  That's probably a close to five hour drive under the best conditions along the most direct route.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I'm guessing the longest drive times to county seats would be in Maine due to its sheer size and rural nature. Per Google Maps, it is over 2 hours and 101 miles from Madawaska on the northern edge of the county to Houlton, the county seat. I think the times might even be greater from the rural north woods to the county seats of Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, and Piscataquis Counties.

[Bruce]

Not the absolute longest driving time, but possibly one of the longest relative to distance: Kelleys Island, OH to the Erie County seat in Sandusky. 1 hour 15 minute drive (including a ferry) for a 10 mile straight line distance.

A slightly longer one in Island County: the shortest straightline distance from county seat Coupeville to Camano Island is 7 miles, while the drive is 61 miles (1 hr 30 min without traffic on Deception Pass) or 77 miles (2+ hours and a ferry).

[JKRhodes]

Fredonia, Arizona to Flagstaff Arizona is 194 miles, a roughly 3 hour 19 minute drive.

[vdeane]

The seat of Alaska's North Slope Borough is Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow), which isn't connected by road to any of the other communities.  I wonder how long the flights are...

[JKRhodes]

Coconino County, Arizona is the second largest in the lower 48 states, second only to San Bernardino County, California in area.

the small village of Parker Dam, CA (with a post office and small neighborhood) is located 214 miles or a 3 hr and 46 min trip from San Bernardino.

[1995hoo]

I'm guessing the longest drive times to county seats would be in Maine due to its sheer size and rural nature. Per Google Maps, it is over 2 hours and 101 miles from Madawaska on the northern edge of the county to Houlton, the county seat. I think the times might even be greater from the rural north woods to the county seats of Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, and Piscataquis Counties.

From Estcourt Station, Maine, to the county seat in Houlton is 175 miles and takes an estimated two hours 46 minutes (presumably not including time spent at the border crossings) via the most direct route, almost all of it in Canada because Estcourt Station doesn't have any real roads linking it to the rest of the United States (just some privately-owned logging roads).

[Dirt Roads]

The longest one in West Virginia should be no surprise.  That narrow southern tip of Randolph County is up in the part of the World that we call the "Birthplace of All Rivers".  I doubt that any folks still live along Zeph Christian Road on the south side of the South Branch of the Gauley River in that tip anymore.  To get out, you go down the river into Webster County.  The shortest route to Elkins takes you through Webster Springs (their county seat) and then onto WV-15 back over Rich Mountain to get to US-219 and on up to the your own county seat.  That is about 83 miles and takes 2hr 5min.  If you want to stay on the west side of Randolph County, you would head up to Pickens and Helvetia and on up to Norton, which runs 95 miles and takes 2hr 55min.

In comparison, you could head down to Cowen and catch Corridor L at Birch River, run up to I-79 and take Corridor H on over to Elkins.  Sounds crazy, since that run is about 130 miles but only takes about 2-1/2 hours.  That way, you miss the county seat in Webster but catch the edge of three other county seats (Sutton, Weston and Buckhannon) along the way.

[Scott5114]

The drive from Monroe County Pinecrest noted in the original post is absolute slog to Key West.  I did a couple times when I lived down on Cudjoe Key.

I've never been there, so it's possible I'm missing something, but looking at it on a map it's hard for me to understand how it makes sense to administer mainland Monroe County and the Keys as the same unit. It seems like it'd make more sense to make it part of Dade County, since that's where the only roads accessing Monroe County come from.

[Max Rockatansky]

The drive from Monroe County Pinecrest noted in the original post is absolute slog to Key West.  I did a couple times when I lived down on Cudjoe Key.

I've never been there, so it's possible I'm missing something, but looking at it on a map it's hard for me to understand how it makes sense to administer mainland Monroe County and the Keys as the same unit. It seems like it'd make more sense to make it part of Dade County, since that's where the only roads accessing Monroe County come from.

The hook was that there was a real estate boom during the early 20th century along what is now the Everglades Loop Road.  The real estate boom went bust when the Tamiami Trail was ultimately built to the north where it is presently part of US 41.  Monroe County wanted the Loop Road to take off so it could take advantage of the tax revenue from real estate.  Pinecrest is the only community that did much of anything, but that was due to Al Capone's Gator Hook Lodge.  Chevelier essentially doesn't even have a trace to find because nobody ever constructed much of anything where the community was supposed to be. 

[cockroachking]

Google Maps says it takes 4 hours and 8 minutes without traffic to drive from some random cottage on Gull Lake in the northeast corner of the Town of Webb to the Herkimer County offices in Herkimer. The first 19 miles to get to CR-10, which isn't even paved, is listed as taking 1 hour and 44 minutes, for an average speed of 11 mph, on one lane gravel roads.

[JayhawkCO]

Personally, I think this exercise is better done between cities or CDPs to county seats vs. trying to find the most remote 4WD road. I could say driving from Lake Como in Colorado to Alamosa might take 7 hours if you don't have a highly-modded Wrangler and no fear of body damage. But others may disagree.

[Rothman]

Personally, I think this exercise is better done between cities or CDPs to county seats vs. trying to find the most remote 4WD road. I could say driving from Lake Como in Colorado to Alamosa might take 7 hours if you don't have a highly-modded Wrangler and no fear of body damage. But others may disagree.

Those poor people in Gull Lake just don't count.

[JayhawkCO]

Personally, I think this exercise is better done between cities or CDPs to county seats vs. trying to find the most remote 4WD road. I could say driving from Lake Como in Colorado to Alamosa might take 7 hours if you don't have a highly-modded Wrangler and no fear of body damage. But others may disagree.

Those poor people in Gull Lake just don't count.

They're not clean cut enough for me.

[NWI_Irish96]

Longest time I can get in Indiana is 42 minutes, from the northeastern corner of Newton County to Kentland.

[jp the roadgeek]

The drive from Fishers Island, NY to the Suffolk County seat of Riverhead is 56 miles, but takes almost 2 hours and 56 minutes; as it involves taking 2 ferries; first to New London, CT, then to Orient Point, then down NY 25.

[Sctvhound]

South Carolina doesn't really have any "large" counties, with Charleston County being the largest at 1,358 square miles, but going from McClellanville to downtown Charleston is a 45-50 mile drive that takes an hour plus with no traffic.

Colleton County sticks out as Edisto Beach is a part of it (only the town itself), and it is a 47 mile drive, 57 minutes to Walterboro.

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