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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shawneetown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shawneetown 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 Shawneetown:
    • 38.018689, -84.510217
    • 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 Shawneetown
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Shawneetown is near Jessamine County and also Woodford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jessamine County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford 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 Shawneetown

Communities Also Named Shawneetown ...

We found four communities that are also named Shawneetown.

Within Kentucky, the name Shawneetown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Gallatin County
      • This Shawneetown is located in Gallatin County and lies 201 miles [323.5 km]<1> to the west of the Shawneetown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gallatin County community of Shawneetown.
    • Kansas
      • Johnson 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 Shawneetown [Johnson County].
    • Missouri
      • Cape Girardeau County
      • This Shawneetown is located in Cape Girardeau County and lies 282 miles [453.8 km]<1> to the west of the Shawneetown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cape Girardeau County community of Shawneetown.
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Franklin County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Shawneetown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shawneetown ...

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.

  • Blueberry Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Blueberry Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry Hill
  • Chevy Chase
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Chevy Chase is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chevy Chase
  • Colony
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Colony is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
  • Fairway
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fairway is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway
  • Gamesway
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Gamesway is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gamesway
  • Garden Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Garden Springs is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Springs
  • Gardenside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Gardenside is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardenside
  • Holiday Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Idle Hour
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Idle Hour is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idle Hour
  • Indian Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Indian Hills is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Jonestown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jonestown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Liberty Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty Heights is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Heights
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Open Gates
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Open Gates is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Open Gates
    • Pine Meadows
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Pine Meadows is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Meadows
    • Rockwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rockwood is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwood
    • Shadeland
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Shadeland is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadeland
    • Stoneybrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Stoneybrook is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneybrook
    • Twin Oaks
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Twin Oaks is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Oaks

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

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

  • Lexington, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Shawneetown to Frankfort, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 408 miles [656.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,245 miles [10,050.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,965 miles [11,209.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,840 miles [7,789.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shawneetown) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Shawneetown 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 Shawneetown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Shawneetown 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 Shawneetown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0187, Longitude: -84.5102       In this case, the coordinates for Shawneetown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.43 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.487 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.217 degrees.