RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Bell County >> Balkan >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Balkan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balkan 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 Balkan:
    • 36.759253, -83.544359
    • 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 Balkan
  • 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 Bell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bell County
    • Since Balkan is near Harlan County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harlan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Balkan

Communities Also Named Balkan ...

We found one communities that are also named Balkan.

Within Kentucky, the name Balkan is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, there is another community also named Balkan in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis 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 Minnesota community of Balkan [Saint Louis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Balkan ...

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.

  • Black Snake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Black Snake is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Snake
  • Blanche
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Blanche is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanche
  • Cubage
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cubage is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cubage
  • Kettle Island
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Kettle Island is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Island
  • Layman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Layman is located in Harlan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Layman
  • Miracle
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Miracle is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle
  • Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Oaks is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oaks
  • Stoney Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Stoney Fork is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Fork
  • Straight Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Straight Creek is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Creek
  • Tacky Town
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Tacky Town is located in Harlan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tacky Town
  • Tuggleville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Tuggleville is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuggleville

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

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

  • Pineville, which is the Seat of Bell County, lies just to the West.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 123 miles [197.9 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Balkan to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 384 miles [618 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,264 miles [10,080.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,977 miles [11,228.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,853 miles [7,810.1 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 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 Balkan 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 '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- Balkan) 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 Balkan 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 Balkan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7593, Longitude: -83.5444       In this case, the coordinates for Balkan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.828 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.616 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.158 degrees.