RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Urbana, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Urbana 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 Urbana:
    • 33.159573, -92.445979
    • 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 Urbana
  • 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 Urbana ...

We found fifteen communities that share the name Urbana.

Within Arkansas, the name Urbana is unique.

Beyond Arkansas, we know of another fifteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Champaign County
      • This Urbana is located in Champaign County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Champaign County community of Urbana.
    • Indiana
      • Wabash County
      • This Urbana is located in Wabash County and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wabash County community of Urbana.
    • Iowa
      • Benton County
      • This Urbana is located in Benton County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the north of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Urbana.
    • Kansas
      • Allen 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 Kansas community of Urbana [Allen County].
      • Nemaha County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Urbana [Nemaha County].
      • Neosho County
      • This Urbana is located in Neosho County and lies 346 miles [556.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Neosho County community of Urbana.
      • Shawnee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Urbana [Shawnee County].
    • Maryland
      • Frederick County
      • This Urbana is located in Frederick County and lies 940 miles [1,512.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Urbana.
    • Missouri
      • Dallas County
      • This Urbana is located in Dallas County and lies 325 miles [523 km]<1> to the north of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Urbana.
      • Henry 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 Missouri community of Urbana [Henry County].
    • Nebraska
      • Phelps 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 Nebraska community of Urbana [Phelps County].
    • New York
      • Steuben County
      • This Urbana is located in Steuben County and lies 1,048 miles [1,686.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Steuben County community of Urbana.
    • North Dakota
      • Barnes County
      • This Urbana is located in Barnes County and lies 1,001 miles [1,611 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barnes County community of Urbana.
    • Ohio
      • Champaign County
      • This Urbana is located in Champaign County and lies 679 miles [1,092.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Champaign County community of Urbana.
    • Texas
      • San Jacinto County
      • This Urbana is located in San Jacinto County and lies 232 miles [373.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Urbana that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Jacinto County community of Urbana.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Urbana ...

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.

  • El Dorado
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Lloyd Ford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lloyd Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lloyd Ford
    • Lloyd Ford is located in Calhoun County
  • Pigeon Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pigeon Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeon Hill
    • Pigeon Hill is located in Union County
  • Pleasant Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Union County
  • Sandy Bend
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandy Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Bend
    • Sandy Bend is located in Union County
  • Sawmill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawmill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawmill
    • Sawmill is located in Union County
  • Strong
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Union
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Union is located in Union County

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

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

  • El Dorado, which is the Seat of Union County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Urbana to El Dorado, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 109 miles [175.4 km] to the north (N). 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 945 miles [1,520.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,798 miles [10,940.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,521 miles [12,103.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,397 miles [8,685.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Urbana. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Union County: www.co.union.ar.us/

The official website for State of Arkansas: https://portal.arkansas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Urbana) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Urbana. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1596, Longitude: -92.4460       In this case, the coordinates for Urbana 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Urbana 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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.
<6>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 Urbana to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.143 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.262 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.703 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 09 Mar 2024