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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ragsdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale:
    • 34.940367, -92.895171
    • 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 Ragsdale
  • 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 Perry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perry County
    • Since Ragsdale is near Saline County and also Conway County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saline County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Conway 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 Ragsdale

Communities Also Named Ragsdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Ragsdale.

Within Arkansas, the name Ragsdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Dougherty County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Dougherty County and lies 555 miles [893.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Ragsdale that is located in Perry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dougherty County community of Ragsdale.
    • Indiana
      • Knox County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Knox County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ragsdale that is located in Perry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Ragsdale.
    • Kentucky
      • Graves 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 Kentucky community of Ragsdale [Graves County].
    • Tennessee
      • Coffee County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Coffee County and lies 389 miles [626 km]<1> to the east of the Ragsdale that is located in Perry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coffee County community of Ragsdale.
    • Texas
      • Fannin 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 Texas community of Ragsdale [Fannin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ragsdale ...

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.

  • Cherry Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • Divide ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Divide is located in Conway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Divide
  • Homewood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Homewood is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Nimrod
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Nimrod is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nimrod
  • Oak Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Oak Grove is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Reform
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Reform is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reform
  • Rocky Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Crossing is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Crossing
  • Rocky Ford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Sweet Home
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sweet Home is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
  • Williams Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Williams Junction is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Junction

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

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

  • Perryville, which is the Seat of Perry County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Ragsdale to Little Rock, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 915 miles [1,472.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,724 miles [10,821.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,455 miles [11,997.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,332 miles [8,581 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ragsdale) 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 Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9404, Longitude: -92.8952       In this case, the coordinates for Ragsdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.601 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.029 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.614 degrees.