Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sylvia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sylvia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sylvia
- 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 Sylvia:
- 36.107850, -92.602386
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Sylvia
- 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 Marion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Marion County
- Since Sylvia is near Searcy County and also Baxter County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Searcy County
- eBird sighting report for Baxter 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Sylvia ...
We found five communities that share the name Sylvia.
Within Arkansas, the name Sylvia is unique.
Beyond Arkansas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Kansas
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sylvia ...
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.
- Buffalo City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buffalo City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo City
- Buffalo City is located in Baxter County
- Evening Star
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evening Star have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evening Star
- Evening Star is located in Searcy County
- Gilbert
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilbert have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
- Gilbert is located in Searcy County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilbert <4>
- Hand Valley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hand Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hand Valley
- Hand Valley is located in Marion County
- Harriet
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harriet have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harriet
- Harriet is located in Searcy County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harriet <4>
- Keystone ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east) - Lone Pine
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Pine
- Lone Pine is located in Searcy County
- Ralph
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Rocky Ford
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
- Rocky Ford is located in Marion County
- Rush ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush
- Rush is located in Marion County
- Tomahawk
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Yellville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yellville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellville
- Yellville is located in Marion County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,154 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yellville <4>
- Zack
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
How Far From Sylvia 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 Sylvia 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<5> community of Sylvia once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sylvia and extending to:
- Yellville, which is the Seat of Marion County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sylvia to Yellville, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 96 miles [154.5 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 872 miles [1,403.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,654 miles [10,708.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,387 miles [11,888.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,266 miles [8,474.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Arkansas: https://portal.arkansas.gov/
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- Sylvia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sylvia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1078, Longitude: -92.6024 In this case, the coordinates for Sylvia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Sylvia 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Sylvia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Sylvia to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.504 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.071 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.278 degrees. |