Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ballard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballard and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ballard
- 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 Ballard:
- 37.914535, -83.720030
- 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 Ballard
- 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 Menifee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Menifee County
- Since Ballard is near Powell County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Powell County
- eBird sighting report for Montgomery 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 Ballard ...
We found eighteen communities that share the name Ballard.
There is one other community in Kentucky which is also named Ballard.
Beyond Kentucky, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Kentucky ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Utah
- Salt Lake County
- This Ballard is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,506 miles [2,423.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ballard that is located in Menifee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Ballard.
- Uintah County
- This Ballard is located in Uintah County and lies 1,410 miles [2,269.2 km] to the west northwest of the Ballard that is located in Menifee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Uintah County community of Ballard.
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballard ...
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.
- Crow
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Dog Trot
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Frenchburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchburg
- Frenchburg is located in Menifee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 547 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Frenchburg <5>
- Hill Top
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast) - Hope
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
- Hope is located in Montgomery County
- Judy
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Little Slate Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Slate Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Slate Creek
- Little Slate Creek is located in Bath County
- Lucky Stop
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lucky Stop have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucky Stop
- Lucky Stop is located in Montgomery County
- Means
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Peter Trace
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peter Trace have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peter Trace
- Peter Trace is located in Menifee County
- Rebelsville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rebelsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rebelsville
- Rebelsville is located in Menifee County
- Salt Lick Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Salt Lick Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Lick Creek
- Salt Lick Creek is located in Menifee County
- Stonequarry
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stonequarry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonequarry
- Stonequarry is located in Menifee County
How Far From Ballard 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 Ballard to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ballard and extending to:
- Frenchburg, which is the Seat of Menifee County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Ballard to Frankfort, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 367 miles [590.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,218 miles [10,006.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,936 miles [11,162.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,811 miles [7,742.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ballard. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Kentucky: https://kentucky.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- Ballard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ballard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9145, Longitude: -83.7200 In this case, the coordinates for Ballard 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 Ballard 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> | 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 Ballard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Ballard to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.941 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.912 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.901 degrees. |