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[kphoger]

I would say that Alaska is NOT physically connected to the rest of the US.  To reach it without entering Canada, you have to travel in international waters, and therefore leave the US.

You can say that if you like, and I'd say the meaning of "orphan" in the OP is rather vague.  But Alaska does not meet the definition of a true excalve, which invariably includes such phrases like "territory of another state", "alien territory", "foreign territory", etc.  For example, the Oxford Dictionary defines it thusly:

a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others, as viewed by the home territory

You'd be hard pressed to convince me that international waters constitute "foreign territory".  Therefore I maintain that Alaska in a pene-enclave only.

[NE2]

Go high enough in the atmosphere and you can jump to enclaves without entering foreign territory.

[agentsteel53]

Go high enough in the atmosphere and you can jump to enclaves without entering foreign territory.

where is that limit set?  I know commercial aviation is still considered to be within each country's airspace (much to the unhappiness of KAL 007).

[NE2]

Go high enough in the atmosphere and you can jump to enclaves without entering foreign territory.

where is that limit set?  I know commercial aviation is still considered to be within each country's airspace (much to the unhappiness of KAL 007).

Wikipedia says that there's no agreement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspace

[silverback1065]

There is a little piece of Iowa across the Missouri River only accessible from Omaha, NE.

That's the city of Carter Lake. Interestingly, the route to Omaha's Eppley Airport from downtown takes one through that little piece of Iowa. There is also a piece of Nebraska that sits on the east side of the Missouri River at the DeSoto bend National Wildlife Refuge just South of US 30. There is also another such piece of Nebraska land called McKissick's Island on the east side of the Missouri River in the NW corner of Missouri.

I believe the tiny piece of the road that goes to that airport is an Iowa state highway.  I think it's SR 165.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Kanatakon, QC.

Saint-Régis? Don't count on me for trying this one.

[route56]

St. Joseph, Mo., is separated from its airport by the Missouri River. A flood in 1951 changed the course of the river, cutting off land routes from St. Joseph proper. The only way there by land is to go through Elwood, Kansas. K-238, before it was decommissioned, led to the state line. I went up there after it was decommissioned when Elwood annexed a part of U.S. 36.

Are you sure K-238 has been turned back.... I do not see a Rural Resolution or City Connecting link resolution on the KDOT sit indicating that the road has been turned back.

[apeman33]

St. Joseph, Mo., is separated from its airport by the Missouri River. A flood in 1951 changed the course of the river, cutting off land routes from St. Joseph proper. The only way there by land is to go through Elwood, Kansas. K-238, before it was decommissioned, led to the state line. I went up there after it was decommissioned when Elwood annexed a part of U.S. 36.

Are you sure K-238 has been turned back.... I do not see a Rural Resolution or City Connecting link resolution on the KDOT sit indicating that the road has been turned back.

Last time I drove by, the shields were gone. I don't remember when that was but I do remember seeing Elwood City Limit signs on U.S. 36 and figured that was the reason.

[HighwayMaster]

I drive I-684 through Connecticut fairly often.

looks like not only I-684, but a business in Connecticut as well, can only be accessed from New York

http://goo.gl/maps/99i16

An animation studio owned by 20th Century Fox.  Cool!
This was formerly the site of Greenwich American Can.

It's Blue Sky Studios. They did the Ice Age series.

[DandyDan]

There is a little piece of Iowa across the Missouri River only accessible from Omaha, NE.

That's the city of Carter Lake. Interestingly, the route to Omaha's Eppley Airport from downtown takes one through that little piece of Iowa. There is also a piece of Nebraska that sits on the east side of the Missouri River at the DeSoto bend National Wildlife Refuge just South of US 30. There is also another such piece of Nebraska land called McKissick's Island on the east side of the Missouri River in the NW corner of Missouri.

I believe the tiny piece of the road that goes to that airport is an Iowa state highway.  I think it's SR 165.

And the odd fact about Iowa 165 is that it does not connect to any of the other roads in Carter Lake.  There are a couple businesses and a piece of public art which is connected to Iowa 165, but none of it connects to the main part of Carter Lake.  The other odd fact is that until the 2011 flood, there used to be a road between Abbott Drive (IA 165) and the river which didn't connect to either Abbott Drive or the main part of Carter Lake, called Freedom Park Road (at least in the Omaha portion of the road; I don't know that Carter Lake ever officially named it).

One other thing I noticed that relates to Nebraska is that the only road which goes to Panorama Point (Nebraska's highest point), according to the Delorme Nebraska atlas, goes through Colorado.

[froggie]

Knotts Island, NC and the tiny piece of Virginia Beach, VA on Knotts Island have been mentioned by a couple people, but on the other (west) side of the North Landing River from Knotts Island, there is a piece of Currituck County, NC cut off by the Northwest River...it can only be reached by a couple roads from southwestern Virginia Beach (namely Blackwater Rd/Former SR 614).

[Alps]

As per the title, I can now say that I've visited the two most notorious state orphans lately: Point Roberts, WA and Angle Inlet, MN.

[agentsteel53]

US-160 and NM-597 at the Four Corners area.  one cannot get to these two by road except from other states.  597 is, in fact, the Four Corners access road, and it branches off from 160.

[Grzrd]

A little off-topic because it is not part of a particular state, but nevertheless interesting because it is not an embassy, other type of diplomatic mission, or a military base, is Runnymede.

[kphoger]

Downloadable Google Earth file for all 8000 US/Canadian boundary markers, as advertised on his YouTube about the border.

YouTube:

Webpage for the download:
http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/canada-the-united-states-bizarre-borders-part-2

[TheKnightoftheInterstate]

Turns out Maine was a pene-exclave of Massachusetts until 1820, and Westmoreland County, CT was a pene-exclave in the Wyoming Valley of PA untill 1784.

And those are the reason I love obscure colonial history

[Alps]

Turns out Maine was a pene-exclave of Massachusetts until 1820, and Westmoreland County, CT was a pene-exclave in the Wyoming Valley of PA untill 1784.

And those are the reason I love obscure colonial history

The term "pene-exclave" is something I've only seen in this thread and one paragraph of the Wikipedia exclave article. It's not a real thing. Please define and restate.

[NE2]

The term "pene-exclave" is something I've only seen in this thread and one paragraph of the Wikipedia exclave article. It's not a real thing. Please define and restate.

It's used occasionally in the real world.
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22pene%20exclave%22&tbm=bks
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22pene-exclave%22

Similarly, the term 'pene-exclave' is used to describe small outliers which are physically connected to the homeland, but are easily accessible, i.e. by wheeled traffic, only by passing through the territory of another country.

"Physical connection" appears to include water.

[Quillz]

The Arizona Strip is the only "orphan" I've visited recently, and even then, something like a decade ago.

[TheKnightoftheInterstate]

Turns out Maine was a pene-exclave of Massachusetts until 1820, and Westmoreland County, CT was a pene-exclave in the Wyoming Valley of PA untill 1784.

And those are the reason I love obscure colonial history

The term "pene-exclave" is something I've only seen in this thread and one paragraph of the Wikipedia exclave article. It's not a real thing. Please define and restate.

I was referring to Maine being part of Massachusetts and Westmoreland County being claimed and settled by Connecticut settlers.

[FightingIrish]

Hyder, Alaska is accessible by road only via Stewart BC.  It might be possible to hike there from other places in southeast Alaska, but it'd be a long and difficult hike at best.  I drove there in 1994, got "Hyderized", walked around town a few hours until my blood alcohol dropped below Canada's legal limit. 

In a way, all of southeast Alaska is orphaned from the rest of Alaska, since the roads between the two are all through Canada, and there are no through roads in the skinny strip of Alaska connecting the two.  But there is an auto ferry connection allowing drivers to bypass Canada, and connect to other ferries taking them to most other communities in southeast Alaska (but not Hyder).

Hyder is near the top of my dream road trip list. Just 'cuz I like the idea of boasting that I drove to Alaska.

But I absolutely detest Everclear, but when in Rome...

[Avalanchez71]

There is an orphaned part of Tennessee that is on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River.  The community is called Reverie, TN.  The area is far from the bridge and the children attend schools in Arkansas.  I spoke with a Tipton County Constable about the area and he advised me that he files over the area every now then in his plane.  He owns his own plane and patrols in his plane.

[Pete from Boston]

Ellis Island is accessible by car from New Jersey, so I guess that counts.  Never driven that bridge, though.  Judging by the signage on the mainland side, it doesn't look like it's public access.

are there welcome signs for NY and NJ on that bridge?

Doesn't appear so.

But the bridge is most definitely not open to the general public.

That bridge was built in order to facilitate the renovations of the north half of the island from derelict abandoned buildings into the modern museum complex.  When those renovations were completed in 1990, there was some debate about whether to keep the temporary bridge, which was only planned to be kept during the construction, and whether that bridge compromised the site's historical integrity as an island.  Ultimately it was kept--though as pointed out, as a non-public road.  I've never seen any vehicle on it.

[Pete from Boston]

Turns out Maine was a pene-exclave of Massachusetts until 1820, and Westmoreland County, CT was a pene-exclave in the Wyoming Valley of PA untill 1784.

And those are the reason I love obscure colonial history

Colonial and early post-colonial political geography is a mine of oddities.  For instance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counties_in_New_York#Defunct_counties

Dukes County, NY, anyone? 

Or Cle[a]veland, Connecticut?

[NE2]

St. Joseph, Mo., is separated from its airport by the Missouri River. A flood in 1951 changed the course of the river, cutting off land routes from St. Joseph proper. The only way there by land is to go through Elwood, Kansas. K-238, before it was decommissioned, led to the state line. I went up there after it was decommissioned when Elwood annexed a part of U.S. 36.

Are you sure K-238 has been turned back.... I do not see a Rural Resolution or City Connecting link resolution on the KDOT sit indicating that the road has been turned back.

Last time I drove by, the shields were gone. I don't remember when that was but I do remember seeing Elwood City Limit signs on U.S. 36 and figured that was the reason.

It's also gone from the 2013 official map, but https://idmweb.ksdot.org/publiclib/publicdoc.asp?ID=003707237 hasn't been updated. The same is true of K-221, except that there doesn't seem to be any connecting link resolution for Solomon at all.