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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sturgeon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sturgeon 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 Sturgeon:
    • 37.419255, -83.784920
    • 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 Sturgeon
  • 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 Owsley County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Owsley County
    • Since Sturgeon is near Jackson County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Sturgeon

Communities Also Named Sturgeon ...

We found eight communities that are also named Sturgeon.

Within Kentucky, the name Sturgeon is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Kootenai County
      • This Sturgeon is located in Kootenai County and lies 1,810 miles [2,912.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kootenai County community of Sturgeon.
    • Michigan
      • Baraga 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 Michigan community of Sturgeon [Baraga County].
      • Dickinson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Sturgeon [Dickinson County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Sturgeon is located in Saint Louis County and lies 849 miles [1,366.3 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Sturgeon.
    • Missouri
      • Boone County
      • This Sturgeon is located in Boone County and lies 476 miles [766 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Sturgeon.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Sturgeon is located in Allegheny County and lies 280 miles [450.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Sturgeon.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Sturgeon lies 1,242 miles [1,998.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
    • Texas
      • Cooke County
      • This Sturgeon is located in Cooke County and lies 781 miles [1,256.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Sturgeon that is located in Owsley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cooke County community of Sturgeon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sturgeon ...

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.

  • Blake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Blake is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake
  • Elias
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elias is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elias
  • Herd
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Herd is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herd
  • Hickory Flat
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Flat is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Flat
  • Island City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Island City is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
  • Levi
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Levi is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Levi
  • Major
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Major is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Major
  • Sourwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Sourwood is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sourwood
  • Travellers Rest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Travellers Rest is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travellers Rest
  • Union
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Union is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Booneville, which is the Seat of Owsley County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Sturgeon to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>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 380 miles [611.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,244 miles [10,048.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,960 miles [11,201 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,835 miles [7,781.2 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- Sturgeon) 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 Sturgeon 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 Sturgeon 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 Sturgeon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4193, Longitude: -83.7849       In this case, the coordinates for Sturgeon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.979 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.885 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.073 degrees.