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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Twist, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Twist 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 Twist:
    • 35.376196, -90.507327
    • 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 Twist
  • 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 Cross County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cross County
    • Since Twist is near Crittenden County and also Poinsett County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crittenden County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Poinsett 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 Twist

Communities Also Named Twist ...

We found one communities that are also named Twist.

Within Arkansas, the name Twist is unique.

Beyond Arkansas, there is another community also named Twist in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Texas
      • Hartley 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 Texas community of Twist [Hartley County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Twist ...

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.

  • Arthur ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Arthur is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
  • Black Oak
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Black Oak is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Oak
  • Boat Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Boat Run is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boat Run
  • Coldwater
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Coldwater is located in Cross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
  • Fortune
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fortune is located in Cross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortune
  • Joyland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Joyland is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joyland
  • Love Place
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Love Place is located in Cross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Place
  • Poindexter
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Poindexter is located in Crittenden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poindexter
  • Three Forks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Three Forks is located in Crittenden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks
  • Twist Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Twist Ferry is located in Cross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twist Ferry
  • Yellow Banks
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Yellow Banks is located in Poinsett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Banks

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Twist and extending to:

  • Wynne, which is the Seat of Cross County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Twist to Wynne, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 779 miles [1,253.7 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 6,610 miles [10,637.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,336 miles [11,806.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,212 miles [8,387.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Twist 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Twist) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Twist 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 Twist. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3762, Longitude: -90.5073       In this case, the coordinates for Twist have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.096 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.341 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.477 degrees.