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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Stephenson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stephenson 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 Stephenson:
    • 34.103163, -93.673239
    • 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 Stephenson
  • 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Since Stephenson is near Hempstead County and also Howard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hempstead County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard 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 Stephenson

Communities Also Named Stephenson ...

We found eight communities that are also named Stephenson.

Within Arkansas, the name Stephenson is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Warrick 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 Indiana community of Stephenson [Warrick County].
    • Michigan
      • Menominee County
      • This Stephenson is located in Menominee County and lies 844 miles [1,358.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Stephenson that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Menominee County community of Stephenson.
    • Mississippi
      • Amite County
      • This Stephenson is located in Amite County and lies 247 miles [397.5 km]<2> to the southeast of the Stephenson that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Amite County community of Stephenson.
    • Nebraska
      • Keya Paha County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Keya Paha County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Keya Paha County community of Stephenson.
    • Tennessee
      • Coffee County
      • This Stephenson is located in Coffee County and lies 448 miles [721 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Stephenson that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coffee County community of Stephenson.
      • Madison 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 Tennessee community of Stephenson [Madison County].
    • Virginia
      • Frederick County
      • This Stephenson is located in Frederick County and lies 930 miles [1,496.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Stephenson that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Stephenson.
    • West Virginia
      • Wyoming County
      • This Stephenson is located in Wyoming County and lies 730 miles [1,174.8 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Stephenson that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming County community of Stephenson.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Stephenson ...

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.

  • Ball ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Ball is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball
  • Highland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Highland is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Hopewell ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Hopewell is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Maxwell ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Maxwell is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
  • Nathan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Nathan is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathan
  • Pike City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Pike City is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike City
  • Pleasant Home ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Home is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Home
  • Stanley ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Stanley is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley

How Far From Stephenson to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Stephenson to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Stephenson once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Stephenson and extending to:

  • Murfreesboro, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Stephenson to Little Rock, with an average speed<4>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 most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 979 miles [1,575.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,797 miles [10,938.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,527 miles [12,113.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,404 miles [8,696.9 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 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 Stephenson 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Stephenson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Stephenson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Stephenson 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 Stephenson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1032, Longitude: -93.6732       In this case, the coordinates for Stephenson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.029 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.419 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.093 degrees.