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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lofton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lofton 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 Lofton:
    • 34.400647, -93.231294
    • 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 Lofton
  • 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 Garland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garland County
    • Since Lofton is near Hot Spring County and also Clark County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hot Spring County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark 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 Lofton

Communities Also Named Lofton ...

We found four communities that are also named Lofton.

Within Arkansas, the name Lofton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Nassau 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 Florida community of Lofton [Nassau County].
    • Louisiana
      • Winn Parish
      • This Lofton is located in Winn Parish and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<2> to the south of the Lofton that is located in Garland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winn Parish community of Lofton.
    • Tennessee
      • Rutherford County
      • This Lofton is located in Rutherford County and lies 406 miles [653.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Lofton that is located in Garland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutherford County community of Lofton.
    • Virginia
      • Augusta County
      • This Lofton is located in Augusta County and lies 820 miles [1,319.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Lofton that is located in Garland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Augusta County community of Lofton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lofton ...

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.

  • Bear
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Bear is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear
  • Cross Roads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cross Roads is located in Hot Spring County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Hempwallace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hempwallace is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hempwallace
  • Kaiser Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Kaiser Ferry is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kaiser Ferry
  • Oak Bower
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Bower is located in Hot Spring County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Bower
  • Pettyview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Pettyview is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pettyview
  • Pleasant Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Royal
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Sunshine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Sunshine is located in Garland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
  • Wayside ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wayside is located in Hot Spring County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayside

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

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

  • Hot Springs, which is the Seat of Garland County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lofton to Hot Springs, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 59 miles [95 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 947 miles [1,524 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,765 miles [10,887.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,495 miles [12,062 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,372 miles [8,645.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Lofton 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 '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- Lofton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Lofton 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 Lofton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4006, Longitude: -93.2313       In this case, the coordinates for Lofton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.77 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.156 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.851 degrees.