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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Otwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otwell 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 Otwell:
    • 35.725910, -90.837894
    • 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 Otwell
  • 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 Craighead County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Craighead County
    • Since Otwell is near Poinsett County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Poinsett County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Otwell

Communities Also Named Otwell ...

We found two communities that are also named Otwell.

Within Arkansas, the name Otwell is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Pike County
      • This Otwell is located in Pike County and lies 279 miles [449 km]<1> to the northeast of the Otwell that is located in Craighead County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Otwell.
    • Oklahoma
      • Kingfisher 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 Oklahoma community of Otwell [Kingfisher County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Otwell ...

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.

  • Buffalolick ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Buffalolick is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalolick
  • Cash
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Cash is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cash
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 359 people
  • Credit ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Credit is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Credit
  • Fisher
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Fisher is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
  • Greenfield
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenfield is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Herman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Herman is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herman
  • Nemo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Nemo is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nemo
  • Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Ridge is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
  • Three Way
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Three Way is located in Craighead County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Way
  • Weiner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Weiner is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weiner
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 662 people

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

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

  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 105 miles [169 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Otwell to Little Rock, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 788 miles [1,268.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,606 miles [10,631.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,333 miles [11,801.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,210 miles [8,384.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Otwell) 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 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 Otwell 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 Otwell 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 Otwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7259, Longitude: -90.8379       In this case, the coordinates for Otwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.332 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.661 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.555 degrees.