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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Batavia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Batavia 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 Batavia:
    • 36.254569, -93.222948
    • 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 Batavia
  • 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 Boone County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boone County
    • Since Batavia is near Carroll County and also Newton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newton 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 Batavia

Communities Also Named Batavia ...

We found ten communities that are also named Batavia.

Within Arkansas, the name Batavia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Solano County
      • This Batavia is located in Solano County and lies 1,572 miles [2,529.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Solano County community of Batavia.
    • Illinois
      • Kane County
      • This Batavia is located in Kane County and lies 467 miles [751.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kane County community of Batavia.
    • Iowa
      • Jefferson County
      • This Batavia is located in Jefferson County and lies 332 miles [534.3 km]<1> to the north of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Batavia.
    • Michigan
      • Branch County
      • This Batavia is located in Branch County and lies 584 miles [939.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Branch County community of Batavia.
    • Minnesota
      • Big Stone County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Batavia [Big Stone County].
      • Todd County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Batavia [Todd County].
    • Montana
      • Flathead County
      • This Batavia is located in Flathead County and lies 1,353 miles [2,177.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Flathead County community of Batavia.
    • New York
      • Genesee County
      • This Batavia is located in Genesee County and lies 923 miles [1,485.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Genesee County community of Batavia.
    • Ohio
      • Clermont County
      • This Batavia is located in Clermont County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clermont County community of Batavia.
    • Wisconsin
      • Sheboygan County
      • This Batavia is located in Sheboygan County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Batavia that is located in Boone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sheboygan County community of Batavia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Batavia ...

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.

  • Coin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Coin is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coin
  • Francis
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Francis is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
  • Grubb Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Grubb Springs is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grubb Springs
  • Hill Top
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Hill Top is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Top
  • Lick Branch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lick Branch is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick Branch
  • Little Arkansaw
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Little Arkansaw is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Arkansaw
  • Prosperity
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Prosperity is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosperity
  • Red Bank
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Bank is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
  • Shaver ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Shaver is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaver

How Far From Batavia 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 Batavia to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Harrison, which is the Seat of Boone County, lies just to the East.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 117 miles [188.3 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Batavia to Little Rock, with an average speed<3>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 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 903 miles [1,453.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,670 miles [10,734.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,405 miles [11,917.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,285 miles [8,505.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Batavia) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Batavia 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>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.
<4>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 Batavia 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 Batavia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2546, Longitude: -93.2229       In this case, the coordinates for Batavia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.924 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.578 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.537 degrees.