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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sparksville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sparksville 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 Sparksville:
    • 37.008445, -85.402552
    • 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 Sparksville
  • 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 Adair County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adair County
    • Since Sparksville is near Metcalfe County and also Cumberland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Metcalfe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland 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 Sparksville

Communities Also Named Sparksville ...

We found one communities that are also named Sparksville.

Within Kentucky, the name Sparksville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Jackson County
      • This Sparksville is located in Jackson County and lies 130 miles [209.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Sparksville that is located in Adair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Sparksville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sparksville ...

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.

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

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

  • Columbia, which is the Seat of Adair County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Sparksville to Frankfort, with an average speed<2>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 5 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 473 miles [761.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,329 miles [10,185.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,047 miles [11,341 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,922 miles [7,921.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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 from Point A (ie- Sparksville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Sparksville 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 Sparksville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0084, Longitude: -85.4026    
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.968 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.96 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.883 degrees.