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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Higdon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Higdon 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 Higdon:
    • 37.432701, -86.159696
    • 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 Higdon
  • 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 Grayson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grayson County
    • Since Higdon is near Hardin County and also Edmonson 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 Edmonson 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 Higdon

Communities Also Named Higdon ...

We found five communities that are also named Higdon.

Within Kentucky, the name Higdon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jackson County
      • This Higdon is located in Jackson County and lies 181 miles [291.3 km]<1> to the south of the Higdon that is located in Grayson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Higdon.
    • Georgia
      • Fannin County
      • This Higdon is located in Fannin County and lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Higdon that is located in Grayson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fannin County community of Higdon.
    • Mississippi
      • Marshall County
      • This Higdon is located in Marshall County and lies 257 miles [413.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Higdon that is located in Grayson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Higdon.
    • Missouri
      • Madison County
      • This Higdon is located in Madison County and lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<1> to the west of the Higdon that is located in Grayson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Higdon.
    • Tennessee
      • McMinn 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 Tennessee community of Higdon [McMinn County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Higdon ...

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.

  • Dug Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Dug Hill is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dug Hill
  • Fragrant
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Fragrant is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fragrant
  • Hilltop
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hilltop is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Horntown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Horntown is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horntown
  • Iberia
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Iberia is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iberia
  • Lone Oak
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Lone Oak is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
  • Pearman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pearman is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearman
  • Rock Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Rock Creek is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
  • Royal
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Royal is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal
  • Snap
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Snap is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snap
  • Spike
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Spike is located in Grayson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spike

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

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

  • Leitchfield, which is the Seat of Grayson County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Higdon to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 505 miles [812.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,339 miles [10,201.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,061 miles [11,363.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,936 miles [7,943.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Higdon) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Higdon 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 Higdon 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 Higdon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4327, Longitude: -86.1597       In this case, the coordinates for Higdon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.448 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.571 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.102 degrees.