RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Lee County >> Belle Point >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Belle Point, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Belle Point 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 Belle Point:
    • 37.562586, -83.747973
    • 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 Belle Point
  • 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 Lee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Since Belle Point is near Owsley County and also Estill County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Owsley County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Estill 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 Belle Point

Communities Also Named Belle Point ...

We found two communities that are also named Belle Point.

Within Kentucky, the name Belle Point is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Saint John the Baptist Parish
      • This Belle Point is located in Saint John the Baptist Parish and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Belle Point that is located in Lee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint John the Baptist Parish community of Belle Point.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Belle Point.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Belle Point ...

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.

  • Chestnut Gap
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Gap is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Gap
  • Crystal
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Crystal is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal
  • Evelyn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Evelyn is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evelyn
  • Fixer
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Fixer is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fixer
  • Harris
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Harris is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Levi
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Levi is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Levi
  • Lone
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Lone is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone
  • Lower Buffalo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lower Buffalo is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Buffalo
  • Pinnacle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pinnacle is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnacle
  • Shade
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Shade is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shade
  • Stay
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stay is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stay
  • Travellers Rest
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Travellers Rest is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travellers Rest
  • Willow
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Willow is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow
  • Yellow Rock
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Yellow Rock is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Rock

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Belle Point and extending to:

  • Beattyville, which is the Seat of Lee County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 75 miles [120.7 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Belle Point to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 375 miles [603.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 6 hours, 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 6,236 miles [10,035.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,952 miles [11,188.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Belle Point) 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 Belle Point 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 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 Belle Point 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 Belle Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5626, Longitude: -83.7480       In this case, the coordinates for Belle Point have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.958 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.88 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.016 degrees.