RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
Quarter for
Arizona

The Commemorative Quarter for Arizona





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Continental, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Continental 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 Continental:
    • 31.852307, -110.974813
    • 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 Continental
  • 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 Pima County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • eBird sighting report for Pima County
    • Since Continental is near Santa Cruz County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • eBird sighting report for Santa Cruz 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 Continental ...

We found two communities that share the name Continental.

Within Arizona, the name Continental is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ohio
      • Putnam County
      • This Continental is located in Putnam County and lies 1,606 miles [2,584.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Continental that is located in Pima County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Continental.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia 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 Pennsylvania community of Continental [Philadelphia County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Continental ...

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.

  • Casa Blanca ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Casa Blanca. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casa Blanca
    • Casa Blanca is located in Santa Cruz County
  • Greaterville ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greaterville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greaterville
    • Greaterville is located in Pima County
  • Green Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Kentucky Camp ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentucky Camp
    • Kentucky Camp is located in Santa Cruz County
  • Littletown
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Littletown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littletown
    • Littletown is located in Pima County
  • Mountain View
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain View have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
    • Mountain View is located in Pima County
  • Twin Buttes ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Buttes have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Buttes
    • Twin Buttes is located in Pima County
  • Vail
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)

How Far From Continental 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 Continental 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<6> community of Continental once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Continental and extending to:

  • Tucson, which is the Seat of Pima County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Continental to Tucson, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 127 miles [204.4 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,959 miles [3,152.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 77 days and walking would take 112 days.
  • The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,512 miles [12,089.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,274 miles [13,315.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,197 miles [9,973.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>

The official website for Pima County: www.co.pima.az.us/

The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Continental) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Continental. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8523, Longitude: -110.9748       In this case, the coordinates for Continental 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 Continental 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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>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 Continental, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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.
<8>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 Continental to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.039 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.431 degrees.
<11>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.599 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024