RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smiths Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smiths Creek 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 Smiths Creek:
    • 38.458690, -83.186012
    • 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 Smiths Creek
  • 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 Carter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carter County
    • Since Smiths Creek is near Lewis County and also Greenup County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lewis County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenup 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 Smiths Creek

Communities Also Named Smiths Creek ...

We found three communities that are also named Smiths Creek.

Within Kentucky, the name Smiths Creek is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Saint Clair County
      • This Smiths Creek is located in Saint Clair County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the north of the Smiths Creek that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Clair County community of Smiths Creek.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Smiths Creek lies 1,036 miles [1,667.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Smiths Creek that is located in Carter County.
    • Virginia
      • Washington 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 Virginia community of Smiths Creek [Washington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smiths Creek ...

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.

  • Boone Furnace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Boone Furnace is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boone Furnace
  • Brushart
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Brushart is located in Greenup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushart
  • Carter
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Carter is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter
  • Charlotte Furnace
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Charlotte Furnace is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlotte Furnace
  • Harris
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Harris is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Iron Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Iron Hill is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Hill
  • Poplar
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Poplar is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
  • Reeder
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Reeder is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeder
  • Rose Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Rose Hill is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Smoky Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Smoky Valley is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoky Valley
  • Tannery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Tannery is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannery
  • Upper Bruce
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Upper Bruce is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Bruce
  • Wolf
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Wolf is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf

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

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

  • Grayson, which is the Seat of Carter County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Smiths Creek to Grayson, with an average speed<3> 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 93 miles [149.7 km] to the west (W). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 332 miles [534.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,172 miles [9,932.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,890 miles [11,088.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,765 miles [7,668.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Smiths Creek) 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 Smiths Creek 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 Smiths Creek 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 Smiths Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4587, Longitude: -83.1860       In this case, the coordinates for Smiths Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.611 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.613 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.506 degrees.