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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ball, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ball 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 Ball:
    • 35.520087, -94.266876
    • 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 Ball
  • 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 Crawford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford County
    • Since Ball is near Sebastian County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sebastian County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Ball

Communities Also Named Ball ...

We found eight communities that are also named Ball.

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

Beyond Arkansas, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Arkansas ...
    • Pike County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Ball [Pike County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Ball is located in Hillsborough County and lies 865 miles [1,392.1 km]<2> to the southeast of the Ball that is located in Crawford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Ball.
    • Illinois
      • White County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Ball [White County].
    • Kansas
      • Gove County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Ball [Gove County].
    • Louisiana
      • Rapides Parish
      • This Ball is located in Rapides Parish and lies 302 miles [486 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Ball that is located in Crawford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rapides Parish community of Ball.
    • North Carolina
      • Ashe County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Ball [Ashe County].
    • Ohio
      • Knox County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Knox County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Ball.
    • Oklahoma
      • Oklahoma County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Ball [Oklahoma County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ball ...

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.

  • Catcher
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Catcher is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catcher
  • Cedarville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Dean Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Dean Springs is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dean Springs
  • Deans Market
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Deans Market is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans Market
  • Dripping Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Dripping Springs is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dripping Springs
  • Dyer
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Dyer is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyer
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 893 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dyer <4>
  • Figure Five
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Figure Five is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Figure Five
  • Furry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Furry is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furry
  • Graphic ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Graphic is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graphic
  • Hobbtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hobbtown is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbtown
  • Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Meadows is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
  • Oak Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Oak Grove is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove

How Far From Ball to ...

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

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

  • Van Buren, which is the Seat of Crawford County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 125 miles [201.2 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Ball to Little Rock, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 974 miles [1,567.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,746 miles [10,856.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,482 miles [12,041.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,362 miles [8,629.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Ball, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ball) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ball 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Ball 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 Ball. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5201, Longitude: -94.2669       In this case, the coordinates for Ball have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.554 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.214 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.141 degrees.