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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Brookings:
    • 36.285065, -90.720670
    • 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 Brookings
  • 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 Clay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Since Brookings is near Greene County and also Randolph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph 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 Brookings

Communities Also Named Brookings ...

We found four communities that are also named Brookings.

Within Arkansas, the name Brookings is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Newaygo 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 Michigan community of Brookings [Newaygo County].
    • Oregon
      • Curry County
      • This Brookings is located in Curry County and lies 1,828 miles [2,941.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Brookings that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Curry County community of Brookings.
    • South Dakota
      • Brookings County
      • This Brookings is located in Brookings County and lies 638 miles [1,026.8 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Brookings that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brookings County community of Brookings.
    • Virginia
      • Goochland 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 Virginia community of Brookings [Goochland County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brookings ...

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.

  • Biggers
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Biggers is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggers
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 342 people
  • Biggers Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Biggers Ferry is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggers Ferry
  • Black Jack
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Black Jack is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Jack
  • Case
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Case is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Case
  • Evening Star
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Evening Star is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evening Star
  • Heelstring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Heelstring is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heelstring
  • Peach Orchard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Peach Orchard is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Orchard
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 123 people
  • Peru
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Peru is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
  • Rocky Ford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Serene
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Serene is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Serene

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

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

  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 137 miles [220.5 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Brookings to Little Rock, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 769 miles [1,237.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,573 miles [10,578.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,302 miles [11,751.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,180 miles [8,336.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Brookings 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 '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- Brookings) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Brookings 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 Brookings. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2851, Longitude: -90.7207       In this case, the coordinates for Brookings have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.293 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.691 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.393 degrees.