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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Trace, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Trace 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 Trace:
    • 38.327667, -82.725091
    • 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 Trace
  • 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 Boyd County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boyd County
    • Since Trace is near Lawrence County and also Carter County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carter 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 Trace

Communities Also Named Trace ...

We found four communities that are also named Trace.

There are two communities within Kentucky that are also named Trace.

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

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Campbell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Trace [Campbell County].
    • Lewis County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Trace [Lewis County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Clark County
      • This Trace is located in Clark County and lies 648 miles [1,042.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Trace that is located in Boyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Trace.
    • West Virginia
      • Mingo County
      • This Trace is located in Mingo County and lies 41 miles [66 km]<2> to the southeast of the Trace that is located in Boyd County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mingo County community of Trace.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Trace ...

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.

  • Big Sandy
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Sandy is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sandy
  • Bolton ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Bolton is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
  • Boltsfork
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Boltsfork is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boltsfork
  • Cannonsburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cannonsburg is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannonsburg
  • Cloverdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Cloverdale is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Grant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Grant is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
  • Meads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Meads is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meads
  • Music
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Music is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Music
  • Princess
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Princess is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princess
  • Rush
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Sandy Furnace
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Furnace is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Furnace
  • Savage Branch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Savage Branch is located in Boyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage Branch
  • Williams Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Williams Creek is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Creek

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

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

  • Catlettsburg, which is the Seat of Boyd County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 116 miles [186.7 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Trace 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 309 miles [497.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,159 miles [9,911.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,875 miles [11,064.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,751 miles [7,646 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Trace 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Trace) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Trace 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 Trace. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3277, Longitude: -82.7251       In this case, the coordinates for Trace have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.328 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.272 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.344 degrees.