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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lida, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lida 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 Lida:
    • 37.082312, -83.934649
    • 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 Lida
  • 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 Laurel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurel County
    • Since Lida is near Clay County and also Knox County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox 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 Lida

Communities Also Named Lida ...

We found five communities that are also named Lida.

Within Kentucky, the name Lida is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Liberty County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Lida [Liberty County].
    • Iowa
      • Warren 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 Iowa community of Lida [Warren County].
    • Kansas
      • Chase 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 Lida [Chase County].
    • Minnesota
      • Otter Tail 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 Minnesota community of Lida [Otter Tail County].
    • Nevada
      • Esmeralda County
      • This Lida is located in Esmeralda County and lies 1,834 miles [2,951.5 km]<3> to the west northwest of the Lida that is located in Laurel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Esmeralda County community of Lida.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lida ...

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.

  • Boreing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Boreing is located in Laurel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boreing
  • Bush
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Bush is located in Laurel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
  • Crane Nest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Crane Nest is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane Nest
  • Deer Lick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Deer Lick is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Lick
  • Hooker
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hooker is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
  • Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lake is located in Laurel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
  • Maplesville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Maplesville is located in Laurel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplesville
  • Pigeonroost
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Pigeonroost is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeonroost
  • Portersburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Portersburg is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portersburg
  • Upper Horse Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Upper Horse Creek is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Horse Creek
  • Urban
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Urban is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urban

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

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

  • London, which is the Seat of Laurel County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<3> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Lida to Frankfort, with an average speed<4>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 6 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 395 miles [635.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,265 miles [10,082.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,980 miles [11,233.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,856 miles [7,815 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Lida, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Lida 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lida) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Lida 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 Lida. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0823, Longitude: -83.9346       In this case, the coordinates for Lida have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.068 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.938 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.232 degrees.