RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Bell County >> Straight Creek >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Straight Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Straight 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 Straight Creek:
    • 36.773141, -83.667973
    • 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 Straight 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 Bell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bell County
    • Since Straight Creek is near Knox County and also Harlan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harlan 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 Straight Creek

Communities Also Named Straight Creek ...

We found five communities that are also named Straight Creek.

There are two communities within Kentucky that are also named Straight Creek.

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

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Carter County
      • This Straight Creek is located in Carter County and lies 111 miles [178.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Straight Creek that is located in Bell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carter County community of Straight Creek.
    • Morgan County
      • This Straight Creek is located in Morgan County and lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Straight Creek that is located in Bell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Straight Creek.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Jackson 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 Straight Creek [Jackson County].
    • Ohio
      • Brown County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Brown County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brown County community of Straight Creek.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Elk County
      • This Straight Creek is located in Elk County and lies 433 miles [696.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Straight Creek that is located in Bell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elk County community of Straight Creek.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Straight 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.

  • Blanche
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Blanche is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blanche
  • Ferndale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Ferndale is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
  • Flat Lick
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Flat Lick is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Lick
  • Fourmile
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Fourmile is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
  • Ivy Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivy Grove is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Grove
  • Kettle Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Kettle Island is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Island
  • Miracle
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Miracle is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miracle
  • Oaks
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Oaks is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oaks
  • Old Flat Lick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Old Flat Lick is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Flat Lick
  • Pogue
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pogue is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pogue

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

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

  • Pineville, which is the Seat of Bell County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 118 miles [189.9 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Straight Creek to Frankfort, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 390 miles [627.6 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,269 miles [10,089 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,982 miles [11,236.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,857 miles [7,816.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Straight 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 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 Straight 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>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 Straight Creek, 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 Straight 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 Straight Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7731, Longitude: -83.6680       In this case, the coordinates for Straight Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.903 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.704 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.206 degrees.