RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Jackson County >> Big Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Big Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Hill 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 Big Hill:
    • 37.515096, -84.181250
    • 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 Big Hill
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Big Hill is near Madison County and also Rockcastle County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockcastle 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 Big Hill

Communities Also Named Big Hill ...

We found eight communities that are also named Big Hill.

Within Kentucky, the name Big Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Calhoun County
      • This Big Hill is located in Calhoun County and lies 533 miles [857.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Big Hill that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Big Hill.
    • Colorado
      • Jefferson 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 Colorado community of Big Hill [Jefferson County].
    • Indiana
      • Fulton County
      • This Big Hill is located in Fulton County and lies 266 miles [428.1 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Big Hill that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Big Hill.
    • Kansas
      • Labette 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 Kansas community of Big Hill [Labette County].
      • Montgomery County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Big Hill [Montgomery County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Big Hill lies 1,343 miles [2,161.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Big Hill that is located in Jackson County.
    • Texas
      • Limestone County
      • This Big Hill is located in Limestone County and lies 823 miles [1,324.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Big Hill that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Big Hill.
    • Virginia
      • Washington County
      • This Big Hill is located in Washington County and lies 152 miles [244.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Big Hill that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Big Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Hill ...

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.

  • Bighill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bighill is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bighill
  • Climax
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Climax is located in Rockcastle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
  • Clover Bottom
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Clover Bottom is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Bottom
  • Hugh
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hugh is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hugh
  • Kerby Knob
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Kerby Knob is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerby Knob
  • Rice Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Rice Hill is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Hill
  • Sandgap
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sandgap is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandgap
  • Sinking Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sinking Valley is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinking Valley
  • Threelinks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Threelinks is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Threelinks

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

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

  • McKee, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Big Hill to McKee, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 60 miles [96.6 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 399 miles [642.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,255 miles [10,066.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,973 miles [11,222 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,848 miles [7,802.1 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- Big Hill) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Big Hill 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 Big Hill 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 Big Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5151, Longitude: -84.1813       In this case, the coordinates for Big Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.223 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.178 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.216 degrees.