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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Bayou, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Bayou 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 West Bayou:
    • 34.278431, -91.691240
    • 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 West Bayou
  • 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 Arkansas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arkansas County
    • Since West Bayou is near Jefferson County and also Lincoln County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln 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 West Bayou

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Bayou ...

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.

  • Cornerstone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cornerstone is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerstone
  • Cottondale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cottondale is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottondale
  • English
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • English is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English
  • Greenback Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Greenback Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenback Ferry
  • Lake Dick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Lake Dick is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Dick
  • Lodge Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Lodge Corner is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodge Corner
  • Moscow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Moscow is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • Noble Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Noble Lake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble Lake
  • Rob Roy
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Rob Roy is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rob Roy
  • Swan Lake
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Swan Lake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Lake
  • Sweden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Sweden is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweden

How Far From West Bayou 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 West Bayou 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<1> community of West Bayou once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Bayou and extending to:

  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 45 miles [72.4 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from West Bayou to Little Rock, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 871 miles [1,401.7 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 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,711 miles [10,800.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,437 miles [11,968.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,313 miles [8,550.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 West Bayou, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Bayou) 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 West Bayou 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 West Bayou. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2784, Longitude: -91.6912       In this case, the coordinates for West Bayou have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.766 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.971 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.195 degrees.