The Minnesota Town Accessible by Land Only Through Canada

The Northwest Angle, a 123-square-mile peninsula jutting into Lake of the Woods, is the only part of the contiguous 48 states north of the 49th parallel. To drive there from Minnesota, you cross into Manitoba, drive 40 miles through Canada, and cross back. To call US Customs and declare your entry, you use a video kiosk mounted on a post at the road's end.

The anomaly traces to the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty placed the northern US boundary at the northernmost point of the Lake of the Woods, then west to the Mississippi River's source. The problem: the Mississippi's source is south of the lake. The line had to go somewhere, so the 1818 Convention of Commerce settled on a straight line west from the lake's northernmost point to the Rockies — a line that left the Angle dangling north of it.

About 120 people live in the Angle year-round, mostly at a resort community called Angle Inlet. There is a school, a small airstrip, and no Canadian customs facility between residents and the US proper. Residents drive through Manitoba under an honor system: they are required to call ahead to US Customs at the video kiosk upon re-entry, and Customs has the option to meet them at the crossing. In practice, the border is largely managed by phone.

Fishermen from Minnesota have argued since the 1990s to simply swap the Angle to Canada in exchange for equivalent water access. The proposal has never advanced.