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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Travis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Travis 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 Travis:
    • 37.436082, -83.858957
    • 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 Travis
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Travis is near Owsley County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Owsley 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 Travis

Communities Also Named Travis ...

We found six communities that are also named Travis.

Within Kentucky, the name Travis is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Kalamazoo 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 Michigan community of Travis [Kalamazoo County].
    • New York
      • Richmond County
      • This Travis is located in Richmond County and lies 562 miles [904.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Travis that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Travis.
    • North Carolina
      • Anson County
      • This Travis is located in Anson County and lies 271 miles [436.1 km]<2> to the southeast of the Travis that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anson County community of Travis.
      • Tyrrell County
      • This Travis is located in Tyrrell County and lies 430 miles [692 km] to the east southeast of the Travis that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tyrrell County community of Travis.
    • Tennessee
      • Davidson County
      • This Travis is located in Davidson County and lies 174 miles [280 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Travis that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davidson County community of Travis.
    • Texas
      • Falls County
      • This Travis is located in Falls County and lies 865 miles [1,392.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Travis that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Falls County community of Travis.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Travis ...

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.

  • Elias
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Elias is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elias
  • Gray Hawk
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gray Hawk is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Hawk
  • Herd
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Herd is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herd
  • Hickory Flat
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hickory Flat is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Flat
  • Huff
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Huff is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huff
  • Island City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Island City is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
  • Mildred
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mildred is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
  • Oak Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Grove is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Sparks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sparks is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
  • Sturgeon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sturgeon is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon
  • Travellers Rest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Travellers Rest is located in Owsley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Travellers Rest
  • Turkey Foot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Turkey Foot is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Foot
  • Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Union is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Wind Cave
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Wind Cave is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wind Cave

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

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

  • McKee, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the West.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Travis 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 383 miles [616.4 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 6,246 miles [10,052 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,962 miles [11,204.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,837 miles [7,784.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Travis 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Travis) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Travis 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 Travis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4361, Longitude: -83.8590       In this case, the coordinates for Travis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.025 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.939 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.10 degrees.