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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Swifton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Swifton and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Swifton:
    • 36.867848, -84.904948
    • 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 Swifton
  • 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 Wayne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Since Swifton is near Russell County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 Swifton

Communities Also Named Swifton ...

We found three communities that are also named Swifton.

Within Kentucky, the name Swifton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Jackson County
      • This Swifton is located in Jackson County and lies 353 miles [568.1 km]<1> to the west of the Swifton that is located in Wayne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Swifton.
    • Georgia
      • Upson 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 Georgia community of Swifton [Upson County].
    • Kansas
      • Nemaha County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Nemaha County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nemaha County community of Swifton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Swifton ...

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.

  • Alpha
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Alpha is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
  • Betsey
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Betsey is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Betsey
  • Cooper
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Cooper is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
  • Frisby
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Frisby is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frisby
  • Gapcreek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Gapcreek is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gapcreek
  • Indian Hills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Indian Hills is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Oil Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Oil Valley is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil Valley
  • Short Mountain
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Short Mountain is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Mountain
  • Stokes ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Stokes is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokes
  • Susie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Susie is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susie
  • Vinnie
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Vinnie is located in Pulaski County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinnie
  • Wait
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wait is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wait
  • Windy
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Windy is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy

How Far From Swifton to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Swifton to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Monticello, which is the Seat of Wayne County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Swifton to Frankfort, with an average speed<4>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 6 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 450 miles [724.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,315 miles [10,163 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,032 miles [11,316.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,907 miles [7,897.1 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Swifton) 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 Swifton 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 Swifton, 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 Swifton 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 Swifton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8678, Longitude: -84.9049       In this case, the coordinates for Swifton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.659 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.585 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.706 degrees.