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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDowell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDowell 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 McDowell:
    • 37.455934, -82.736269
    • 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 McDowell
  • 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 Floyd County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Floyd County
    • Since McDowell is near Knott County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knott County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike 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 McDowell

Communities Also Named McDowell ...

We found eight communities that are also named McDowell.

Within Kentucky, the name McDowell is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Sumter County
      • This McDowell is located in Sumter County and lies 449 miles [722.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the McDowell that is located in Floyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumter County community of McDowell.
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa 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 Arizona community of McDowell [Maricopa County].
    • Illinois
      • Livingston County
      • This McDowell is located in Livingston County and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the McDowell that is located in Floyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of McDowell.
    • Missouri
      • Barry County
      • This McDowell is located in Barry County and lies 609 miles [980.1 km]<1> to the west of the McDowell that is located in Floyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barry County community of McDowell.
    • Ohio
      • Wayne County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Wayne County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of McDowell.
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton 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 McDowell [Hamilton County].
    • Virginia
      • Highland County
      • This McDowell is located in Highland County and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the McDowell that is located in Floyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of McDowell.
    • West Virginia
      • McDowell County
      • This McDowell is located in McDowell County and lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<1> to the east of the McDowell that is located in Floyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of McDowell.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDowell ...

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.

  • Beaver
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Beaver is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
  • Betty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Betty is located in Knott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Betty
  • Blue Moon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Blue Moon is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Moon
  • Drift
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Drift is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drift
  • Eastern
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Eastern is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastern
  • Hueysville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hunter
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hunter is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Jacks Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Jacks Creek is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Creek
  • Maytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Maytown is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maytown
  • Midas
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Midas is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midas
  • Minnie
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Minnie is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnie
  • Porter Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Porter Junction is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Junction
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Price
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Price is located in Floyd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price
    • Printer
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Printer is located in Floyd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Printer
    • Raven
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Raven is located in Knott County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven
    • Teaberry
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Teaberry is located in Floyd County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Teaberry

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

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

  • Prestonsburg, which is the Seat of Floyd County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from McDowell to Prestonsburg, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 127 miles [204.4 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 324 miles [521.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,199 miles [9,976.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,912 miles [11,123.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,788 miles [7,705.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McDowell) 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 McDowell 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>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 McDowell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 McDowell 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 McDowell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4559, Longitude: -82.7363       In this case, the coordinates for McDowell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.341 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.159 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.614 degrees.