Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Spears, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spears and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Spears
- 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 Spears:
- 37.873121, -84.438336
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Spears
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Since Spears is near Madison County and also Jessamine County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Madison County
- eBird sighting report for Jessamine 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Spears ...
We found five communities that share the name Spears.
Within Kentucky, the name Spears is unique.
Beyond Kentucky, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Michigan
- New Mexico
- Tennessee
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Spears ...
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.
- Blue Grass
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blue Grass have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Grass
- Blue Grass is located in Madison County
- Blueberry Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blueberry Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry Hill
- Blueberry Hill is located in Fayette County
- Catnip ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Centerville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Fayette County
- Cottonburg
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottonburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonburg
- Cottonburg is located in Madison County
- Crow Valley
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Valley
- Crow Valley is located in Madison County
- Ford
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford
- Ford is located in Clark County
- Gamesway
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Hootentown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hootentown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hootentown
- Hootentown is located in Clark County
- Jonestown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Little Hickman
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Hickman
- Little Hickman is located in Jessamine County
- Locust Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Locust Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
- Locust Grove is located in Clark County
- Continue List (9 more) ...
- Million
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Pink
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Pricetown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Redhouse
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redhouse
- Redhouse is located in Madison County
- Stoneybrook
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stoneybrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneybrook
- Stoneybrook is located in Fayette County
- Stringtown
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
- Stringtown is located in Madison County
- Union Mills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills
- Union Mills is located in Jessamine County
- Vineyard
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineyard
- Vineyard is located in Jessamine County
- Walnut Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walnut Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hill
- Walnut Hill is located in Fayette County
- Million
How Far From Spears 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 Spears to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Spears and extending to:
- Lexington, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spears to Lexington, with an average speed<5> 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 32 miles [51.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 406 miles [653.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,249 miles [10,056.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,968 miles [11,213.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,844 miles [7,795.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Spears. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Kentucky: https://kentucky.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Spears) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spears. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8731, Longitude: -84.4383 In this case, the coordinates for Spears have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Spears 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 Spears, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Spears to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.384 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.414 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.227 degrees. |