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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ida, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ida 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 Ida:
    • 35.588133, -91.927924
    • 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 Ida
  • 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 Cleburne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cleburne County
    • Since Ida is near Stone County and also Independence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stone County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Independence 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 Ida

Communities Also Named Ida ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Ida.

Within Arkansas, the name Ida is unique.

Beyond Arkansas, we know of thirteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these thirteen communities, twelve are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Ida is located in Hillsborough County and lies 764 miles [1,229.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Ida.
    • Kansas
      • Harper 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 Kansas community of Ida [Harper County].
      • Republic 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 Kansas community of Ida [Republic County].
    • Kentucky
      • Clinton County
      • This Ida is located in Clinton County and lies 385 miles [619.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Ida.
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • This Ida is located in Caddo Parish and lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caddo Parish community of Ida.
    • Michigan
      • Monroe County
      • This Ida is located in Monroe County and lies 626 miles [1,007.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Ida.
    • Missouri
      • Livingston 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 Missouri community of Ida [Livingston County].
    • North Carolina
      • Scotland 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 North Carolina community of Ida [Scotland County].
    • Ohio
      • Lawrence County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Ida [Lawrence County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Ida.
    • South Dakota
      • Hyde 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 South Dakota community of Ida [Hyde County].
    • Texas
      • Grayson County
      • This Ida is located in Grayson County and lies 294 miles [473.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grayson County community of Ida.
    • Virginia
      • Page County
      • This Ida is located in Page County and lies 771 miles [1,240.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ida that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Page County community of Ida.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ida ...

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.

  • Almond
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Almond is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almond
  • Bluetip ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Bluetip is located in Stone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluetip
  • Bothersome ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Bothersome is located in Stone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bothersome
  • Cedar Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Independence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Everett ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Everett is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everett
  • Fivemile
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Fivemile is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivemile
  • Floral
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Floral is located in Independence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floral
  • Hickory Flat
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hickory Flat is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Flat
  • Libby ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Libby is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libby
  • Lower Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lower Ferry is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Ferry
  • Rainbow Island
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Rainbow Island is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Island
  • Tumbling Shoals
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Wolf Bayou
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Wolf Bayou is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Bayou

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

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

  • Heber Springs, which is the Seat of Cleburne County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 61 miles [98.2 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Ida to Little Rock, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 848 miles [1,364.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,655 miles [10,710.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,385 miles [11,885 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,262 miles [8,468.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Ida) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Ida 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 Ida, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Ida 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 Ida. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5881, Longitude: -91.9279       In this case, the coordinates for Ida have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.025 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.446 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.068 degrees.