RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> Baxter County >> Arkana >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Arkana, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arkana and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Arkana:
    • 36.238402, -92.316546
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Arkana
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Baxter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baxter County
    • Since Arkana is near Izard County and also Marion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Izard County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Arkana

Communities Also Named Arkana ...

We found two communities that are also named Arkana.

There is one other community in Arkansas that is also named Arkana.

Beyond Arkansas, there is another community also named Arkana in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Arkansas ...
    • Lafayette County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Arkana [Lafayette County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Bossier Parish
      • This Arkana is located in Bossier Parish and lies 235 miles [378.2 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Arkana that is located in Baxter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bossier Parish community of Arkana.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arkana ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Advance
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Advance is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Advance
  • Hopewell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hopewell is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Lone Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lone Rock is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Rock
  • Nelsons Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Nelsons Ferry is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelsons Ferry
  • Old Joe
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Old Joe is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Joe
  • Salesville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Shady Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Shady Grove is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Sycamore Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sycamore Heights is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Heights
  • Sycamore Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sycamore Spring is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Spring
  • Traceys Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Traceys Ferry is located in Baxter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Traceys Ferry

How Far From Arkana to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Arkana to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Arkana and extending to:

  • Mountain Home, which is the Seat of Baxter County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 103 miles [165.8 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Arkana to Little Rock, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 855 miles [1,376 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,636 miles [10,679.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,369 miles [11,859.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,248 miles [8,445.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Arkana could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Arkana) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Arkana to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Arkana. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2384, Longitude: -92.3165       In this case, the coordinates for Arkana have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.327 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.883 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.124 degrees.