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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dan 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 Dan:
    • 37.955362, -83.459629
    • 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 Dan
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Menifee County
    • Since Dan is near Morgan County and also Rowan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rowan 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 Dan

Communities Also Named Dan ...

We found seven communities that are also named Dan.

There are two communities within Kentucky that are also named Dan.

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

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Letcher 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 Kentucky community of Dan [Letcher County].
    • Ohio 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 Kentucky community of Dan [Ohio County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison 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 Alabama community of Dan [Madison County].
    • Texas
      • Wise 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 Texas community of Dan [Wise County].
    • Virginia
      • Franklin 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 Virginia community of Dan [Franklin County].
      • Spotsylvania County
      • This Dan is located in Spotsylvania County and lies 303 miles [487.6 km]<2> to the east of the Dan that is located in Menifee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spotsylvania County community of Dan.
    • West Virginia
      • McDowell County
      • This Dan is located in McDowell County and lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Dan that is located in Menifee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of Dan.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dan ...

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.

  • Artville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Artville is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Artville
  • Back
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Back is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Back
  • Big Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Big Woods is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Woods
  • Bonny
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bonny is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonny
  • Craft
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Craft is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craft
  • Flat Rock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Flat Rock is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Rock
  • Hickory Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Korea
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Korea is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Korea
  • Maytown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Maytown is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maytown
  • Mount Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Mount Hope is located in Rowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Trimble Bend
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Trimble Bend is located in Menifee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trimble Bend
  • Twentysix
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Twentysix is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twentysix
  • Woodsbend
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodsbend is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodsbend

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

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

  • Frenchburg, which is the Seat of Menifee County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Dan to Frenchburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 78 miles [125.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 353 miles [568.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,206 miles [9,987.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,923 miles [11,141.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,798 miles [7,721.6 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 Dan 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Dan) 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 Dan 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 Dan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9554, Longitude: -83.4596       In this case, the coordinates for Dan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.781 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.735 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.776 degrees.