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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Curlew, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Curlew 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 Curlew:
    • 37.577825, -88.086696
    • 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 Curlew
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Curlew is near Hardin County and also Gallatin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hardin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallatin 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 Curlew

Communities Also Named Curlew ...

We found seven communities that are also named Curlew.

Within Kentucky, the name Curlew is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Imperial County
      • This Curlew is located in Imperial County and lies 1,567 miles [2,521.8 km]<1> to the west of the Curlew that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Imperial County community of Curlew.
    • Florida
      • Pinellas County
      • This Curlew is located in Pinellas County and lies 726 miles [1,168.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Curlew that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pinellas County community of Curlew.
    • Iowa
      • Palo Alto County
      • This Curlew is located in Palo Alto County and lies 511 miles [822.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Curlew that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Palo Alto County community of Curlew.
    • Kansas
      • Atchison 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 Curlew [Atchison County].
    • North Dakota
      • Morton 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 North Dakota community of Curlew [Morton County].
    • Texas
      • Floyd 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 Texas community of Curlew [Floyd County].
    • Washington
      • Ferry County
      • This Curlew is located in Ferry County and lies 1,706 miles [2,745.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Curlew that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ferry County community of Curlew.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Curlew ...

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.

  • Caseyville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Caseyville is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caseyville
  • Cave in Rock Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cave in Rock Ferry is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave in Rock Ferry
  • Cave-In-Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cave-In-Rock is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave-In-Rock
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 278 people
    • Cave-In-Rock has also been known as:
    • Cave-In-Rock village
  • Hazel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hazel is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
  • Lamb
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lamb is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lamb
  • Loves Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Loves Corner is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loves Corner
  • Rock Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Rock Creek is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
  • Saline Landing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Saline Landing is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline Landing
  • Saline Rocks Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Saline Rocks Ferry is located in Gallatin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline Rocks Ferry
  • Saline Tip Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Saline Tip Ferry is located in Hardin County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline Tip Ferry
  • Spring Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Spring Grove is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove

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

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

  • Morganfield, which is the Seat of Union County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Curlew to Morganfield, 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 180 miles [289.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 605 miles [973.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,408 miles [10,312.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,135 miles [11,482.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,011 miles [8,064.4 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- Curlew) 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 Curlew 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 Curlew 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 Curlew. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5778, Longitude: -88.0867       In this case, the coordinates for Curlew have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.668 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.994 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.923 degrees.