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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elias, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elias 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 Elias:
    • 37.389532, -83.831033
    • 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 Elias
  • 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 Elias is near Owsley County and also Clay 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 Clay 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 Elias

Communities Also Named Elias ...

We found one communities that are also named Elias.

Within Kentucky, the name Elias is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, there is another community also named Elias in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Clay 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 Elias [Clay County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elias ...

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.

  • Blake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Blake is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake
  • Gray Hawk
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Gray Hawk is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Hawk
  • Herd
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Herd is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herd
  • Hickory Flat
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hickory Flat is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Flat
  • Huff
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Huff is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huff
  • Island City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Island City is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
  • Mildred
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mildred is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
  • Oak Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Oak Grove is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Sourwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sourwood is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sourwood
  • Sturgeon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sturgeon is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon
  • Travellers Rest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Travellers Rest is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travellers Rest
  • Union
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Union is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Vine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Vine is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vine

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Elias and extending to:

  • McKee, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Elias to McKee, 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 79 miles [127.1 km] to the northwest (NW). 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 383 miles [616.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, 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 6,247 miles [10,053.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,838 miles [7,786 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 Elias 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- Elias) 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 Elias 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 Elias. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3895, Longitude: -83.8310       In this case, the coordinates for Elias have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.008 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.913 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.101 degrees.