RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Pulaski County >> Sinking Valley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sinking Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sinking Valley 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 Sinking Valley:
    • 37.182304, -84.407161
    • 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 Sinking Valley
  • 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 Pulaski County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski County
    • Since Sinking Valley is near Rockcastle County and also Laurel County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockcastle County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurel 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 Sinking Valley

Communities Also Named Sinking Valley ...

We found two communities that are also named Sinking Valley.

There is one other community in Kentucky that is also named Sinking Valley.

Beyond Kentucky, there is another community also named Sinking Valley in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Jackson County
      • This Sinking Valley is located in Jackson County and lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Sinking Valley that is located in Pulaski County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Sinking Valley.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Blair 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 Pennsylvania community of Sinking Valley [Blair County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sinking Valley ...

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.

  • Acorn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Acorn is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acorn
  • Coin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Coin is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coin
  • Level Green
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Level Green is located in Rockcastle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Green
  • Mark
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mark is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mark
  • Plato
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Plato is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plato
  • Sandy Gap
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy Gap is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Gap
  • Shopville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Shopville is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shopville
  • Stab
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Stab is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stab
  • Valley Oak
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Valley Oak is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Oak
  • Walnut Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Walnut Grove is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
  • Whetstone
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Whetstone is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whetstone

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

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

  • Somerset, which is the Seat of Pulaski County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sinking Valley to Somerset, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 74 miles [119.1 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 417 miles [671.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,280 miles [10,106.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,997 miles [11,260.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,872 miles [7,840.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Sinking Valley) 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 Sinking Valley 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 Sinking Valley 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 Sinking Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1823, Longitude: -84.4072       In this case, the coordinates for Sinking Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.358 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.285 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.407 degrees.