RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Fresno County >> Sentinel >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sentinel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sentinel 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 Sentinel:
    • 36.964117, -119.492910
    • 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 Sentinel
  • 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 Fresno County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fresno County
    • Since Sentinel is near Madera County and also Nevada County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madera County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nevada 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 Sentinel

Communities Also Named Sentinel ...

We found six communities that are also named Sentinel.

Within California, the name Sentinel is unique.

Beyond California, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Sentinel is located in Maricopa County and lies 454 miles [730.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Sentinel that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Sentinel.
    • Kentucky
      • Menifee 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 Kentucky community of Sentinel [Menifee County].
    • Missouri
      • Polk County
      • This Sentinel is located in Polk County and lies 1,433 miles [2,306.2 km]<1> to the east of the Sentinel that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Sentinel.
    • Ohio
      • Ashtabula County
      • This Sentinel is located in Ashtabula County and lies 2,078 miles [3,344.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Sentinel that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashtabula County community of Sentinel.
    • Oklahoma
      • Washita County
      • This Sentinel is located in Washita County and lies 1,138 miles [1,831.4 km]<1> to the east of the Sentinel that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washita County community of Sentinel.
    • Virginia
      • Warren 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 Virginia community of Sentinel [Warren County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sentinel ...

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.

  • Avocado
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Avocado is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avocado
  • Big Bunch
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Big Bunch is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Bunch
  • Big Sandy Rancheria
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Big Sandy Rancheria is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sandy Rancheria
  • Elk
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Elk is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk
  • Gordon
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Gordon is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
  • Indian Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Indian Springs is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Marshall Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Marshall Junction is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Junction
  • Meadow Lakes
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadow Lakes is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lakes
  • Pineridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pineridge is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineridge
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Riverbend
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Riverbend is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbend
    • Rock Haven
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Rock Haven is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Haven
    • Shaver Lake
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Sparkville ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Sparkville is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkville
    • Tollhouse
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Trimmer
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Trimmer is located in Fresno County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trimmer

How Far From Sentinel to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Sentinel 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<4> community of Sentinel once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sentinel and extending to:

  • Fresno, which is the Seat of Fresno County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sentinel to Fresno, with an average speed<5> 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 6 hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,295 miles [3,693.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,409 miles [11,923.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,178 miles [13,161.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,198 miles [9,974.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'

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- Sentinel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Sentinel 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>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 Sentinel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Sentinel 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 Sentinel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9641, Longitude: -119.4929       In this case, the coordinates for Sentinel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.658 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.044 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.387 degrees.