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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fitchburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fitchburg 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 Fitchburg:
    • 37.732583, -83.851864
    • 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 Fitchburg
  • 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 Estill County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Estill County
    • Since Fitchburg is near Powell County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Powell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Fitchburg

Communities Also Named Fitchburg ...

We found four communities that are also named Fitchburg.

Within Kentucky, the name Fitchburg is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Alameda 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 California community of Fitchburg [Alameda County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Worcester County
      • This Fitchburg is located in Worcester County and lies 717 miles [1,153.9 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Fitchburg that is located in Estill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Worcester County community of Fitchburg.
    • Michigan
      • Ingham County
      • This Fitchburg is located in Ingham County and lies 325 miles [523 km]<2> to the north of the Fitchburg that is located in Estill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ingham County community of Fitchburg.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dane County
      • This Fitchburg is located in Dane County and lies 466 miles [750 km]<2> to the northwest of the Fitchburg that is located in Estill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dane County community of Fitchburg.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fitchburg ...

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.

  • Cat Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cat Creek is located in Powell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cat Creek
  • Cow Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cow Creek is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cow Creek
  • Crystal
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Crystal is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal
  • Furnace
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Furnace is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace
  • Hemlock Lodge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hemlock Lodge is located in Powell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock Lodge
  • Marbleyard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Marbleyard is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marbleyard
  • Mountain Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Mountain Spring is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Spring
  • Pecks Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pecks Creek is located in Powell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecks Creek
  • Pilot
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Pilot is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot
  • Shade
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Shade is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shade
  • Sparks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sparks is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
  • Sweet Lick
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Sweet Lick is located in Estill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Lick

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

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

  • Irvine, which is the Seat of Estill County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 64 miles [103 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Fitchburg to Frankfort, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 377 miles [606.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 6,232 miles [10,029.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,949 miles [11,183.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,824 miles [7,763.5 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 Fitchburg 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Fitchburg) 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 Fitchburg 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 Fitchburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7326, Longitude: -83.8519       In this case, the coordinates for Fitchburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.022 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.978 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.011 degrees.