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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hillgrove, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hillgrove 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 Hillgrove:
    • 37.879234, -86.163858
    • 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 Hillgrove
  • 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 Meade County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meade County
    • Since Hillgrove is near Breckinridge County and also Harrison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Breckinridge County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison 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 Hillgrove

Communities Also Named Hillgrove ...

We found five communities that are also named Hillgrove.

Within Kentucky, the name Hillgrove is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Los Angeles County
      • This Hillgrove is located in Los Angeles County and lies 1,789 miles [2,879.1 km]<1> to the west of the Hillgrove that is located in Meade County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Hillgrove.
    • Indiana
      • Harrison 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 Indiana community of Hillgrove [Harrison County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Hillgrove lies 1,205 miles [1,939.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hillgrove that is located in Meade County.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Hillgrove lies 1,152 miles [1,854 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Hillgrove that is located in Meade County.
    • Washington
      • Grays Harbor County
      • This Hillgrove is located in Grays Harbor County and lies 1,972 miles [3,173.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hillgrove that is located in Meade County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grays Harbor County community of Hillgrove.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hillgrove ...

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.

  • Big Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Big Spring is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Cedar Farm Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Farm Landing is located in Harrison County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Farm Landing
  • Corners
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Corners is located in Breckinridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corners
  • Haysville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Haysville is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysville
  • High Plains
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • High Plains is located in Breckinridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Plains
  • High Plains Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • High Plains Corner is located in Breckinridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Plains Corner
  • Lickskillet
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lickskillet is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lickskillet
  • Maples Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Maples Corner is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maples Corner
  • Rock Haven
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Rock Haven is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Haven

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

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

  • Brandenburg, which is the Seat of Meade County, lies just to the North.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Hillgrove 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 498 miles [801.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of 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 6,318 miles [10,167.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,041 miles [11,331.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,917 miles [7,913.1 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- Hillgrove) 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 Hillgrove 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 Hillgrove 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 Hillgrove. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8792, Longitude: -86.1639       In this case, the coordinates for Hillgrove have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.46 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.648 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.987 degrees.