RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> Searcy County >> Magic Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Magic Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Magic Springs 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 Magic Springs:
    • 35.815078, -92.859058
    • 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 Magic Springs
  • 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 Searcy County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Searcy County
    • Since Magic Springs is near Newton County and also Pope County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pope 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 Magic Springs

Curious and Interesting Names Near Magic Springs ...

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.

  • Bass
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bass is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bass
  • Ben Hur
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Ben Hur is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ben Hur
  • Dickey Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Dickey Junction is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickey Junction
  • Dry Creek ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Dry Creek is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Creek
  • Hall ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Hall is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall
  • Horn Mountain ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Horn Mountain is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horn Mountain
  • Raspberry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Raspberry is located in Pope County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raspberry
  • Slicker ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Slicker is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slicker
  • Snowball
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Snowball is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowball
  • Welcome Home
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Welcome Home is located in Searcy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome Home

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Magic Springs and extending to:

  • Marshall, which is the Seat of Searcy County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Magic Springs to Marshall, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 81 miles [130.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 892 miles [1,435.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,678 miles [10,747.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,411 miles [11,926.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,290 miles [8,513.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Magic Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Magic Springs 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 Magic Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8151, Longitude: -92.8591       In this case, the coordinates for Magic Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.65 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.202 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.448 degrees.