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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Goodwater, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Goodwater 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 Goodwater:
    • 37.075360, -84.373270
    • 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 Goodwater
  • 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 Pulaski County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski County
    • Since Goodwater is near Laurel County and also Rockcastle County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurel 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 Goodwater

Communities Also Named Goodwater ...

We found seven communities that are also named Goodwater.

Within Kentucky, the name Goodwater is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Coosa County
      • This Goodwater is located in Coosa County and lies 292 miles [469.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coosa County community of Goodwater.
    • Arizona
      • Navajo County
      • This Goodwater is located in Navajo County and lies 1,430 miles [2,301.4 km]<1> to the west of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Navajo County community of Goodwater.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Goodwater is located in Hillsborough County and lies 637 miles [1,025.2 km]<1> to the south of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Goodwater.
    • Kansas
      • Gove 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 Goodwater [Gove County].
    • Mississippi
      • Clarke County
      • This Goodwater is located in Clarke County and lies 438 miles [704.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clarke County community of Goodwater.
    • Oklahoma
      • McCurtain County
      • This Goodwater is located in McCurtain County and lies 613 miles [986.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCurtain County community of Goodwater.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Goodwater lies 1,285 miles [2,068 km]<1> to the northwest of the Goodwater that is located in Pulaski County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Goodwater ...

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.

  • Acorn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Acorn is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acorn
  • Baldrock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Baldrock is located in Laurel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baldrock
  • Drum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Drum is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drum
  • Hail
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hail is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hail
  • Mount Victory
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Victory is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Victory
  • Piney Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Piney Grove is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Poplarville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Poplarville is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplarville
  • Sandy Gap
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Sandy Gap is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Gap
  • Sinking Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Sinking Valley is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinking Valley
  • Stab
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Stab is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stab
  • Whetstone
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Whetstone is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whetstone

How Far From Goodwater to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Goodwater to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Somerset, which is the Seat of Pulaski County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Goodwater to Somerset, 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 82 miles [132 km] to the north northwest (NNW). 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 418 miles [672.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,284 miles [10,113.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,000 miles [11,265.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,875 miles [7,845.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Goodwater) 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 Goodwater 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 Goodwater 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 Goodwater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0754, Longitude: -84.3733       In this case, the coordinates for Goodwater have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.336 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.244 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.422 degrees.