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.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ball
- 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:
- 34.007055, -93.708515
- 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.
- 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pike County
- Since Ball is near Hempstead County and also Howard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hempstead County
- eBird sighting report for Howard 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ball ...
We found eight communities that share the name Ball.
There is one other community in Arkansas which is also named Ball.
Beyond Arkansas, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Arkansas ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
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.
- Billstown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billstown
- Billstown is located in Pike County
- Chapel Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chapel Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill is located in Howard County
- Highland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
- Highland is located in Pike County
- Hopewell ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast) - Maxwell ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast) - Nathan
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathan
- Nathan is located in Pike County
- Pike City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike City
- Pike City is located in Pike County
- Pleasant Home ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Home have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Home
- Pleasant Home is located in Pike County
- Pump Springs ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pump Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pump Springs
- Pump Springs is located in Howard County
- Reed
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Stanley ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Temperanceville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Temperanceville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temperanceville
- Temperanceville is located in Howard County
- Unity
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Ball to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories 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 and using the location of where the historic community of Ball once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Ball and extending to:
- Murfreesboro, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 96 miles [154.5 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). 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 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 three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 983 miles [1,582 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,803 miles [10,948.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,533 miles [12,123.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,410 miles [8,706.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Arkansas: https://portal.arkansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ball) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ball. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0071, Longitude: -93.7085 In this case, the coordinates for Ball have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.043 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.422 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.123 degrees. |