site & situation

Notes:

• Site: the physical character of a place
• Site characteristics: include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
• Site factors were always important when deciding to settle somewhere
• Certain cultures preferred certain site characteristics 
• For example, a hill to put the village on so it is easier to defend
• Humans can modify the characteristics of a site
• Land filling bays is one way that humans change the physical characteristics (site) of a place 
• Situation is the location of a place relative to other places
• Situation is a helpful way to find somethings location because you have an unfamiliar place and use its surroundings to better understand it
• It also helps you understand the importance of a place by knowing that, for example, the place is easily accessible to other places 

 
My home has physical characteristics that make it a unique site. First, my house is near the gunpowder river and there is a forest nearby. I enjoy the river and forest because I often go running or go on a hike with my brother. Down at the river, we find waterfalls and we wake up early and have a pic-nic and then we walk along the rocks in the river. Also, in my backyard we have a huge hill which is fun to go sledding on. There is also a flat part of my backyard which is where my brother and I play soccer together and practice our technical skills. At the bottom of the hill, in the middle of my backyard, there is this tree taller than my house! When I was younger my best friend and I would climb as far as we could… until we got too scared. Another characteristic of my home is the line of evergreen trees that my neighbors put along their driveway. They modified a characteristic of my home’s site. It basically separates my backyard from their driveway. Aside from my backyard, down the street there is an elementary school, I know the school isn’t a physical characteristic, but the school has big grass fields that I practice my sprints on. Even though, I live in a developed area, there are still some physical characteristics around the make my home a unique site and a preferred site for me.