RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Clay County >> Wild Cat >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wild Cat, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wild Cat 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 Wild Cat:
    • 37.234535, -83.690750
    • 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 Wild Cat
  • 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 Clay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Since Wild Cat is near Owsley County and also Letcher 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 Letcher 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 Wild Cat

Communities Also Named Wild Cat ...

We found four communities that are also named Wild Cat.

There is one other community in Kentucky that is also named Wild Cat.

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

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Whitley 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 Wild Cat [Whitley County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Carroll 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 Indiana community of Wild Cat [Carroll County].
    • Kansas
      • Nemaha 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 Kansas community of Wild Cat [Nemaha County].
    • South Carolina
      • Lancaster 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 South Carolina community of Wild Cat [Lancaster County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wild Cat ...

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 Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Creek is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
  • Bishop Bend
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Bishop Bend is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop Bend
  • Burning Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Burning Springs is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burning Springs
  • Chestnutburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnutburg is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnutburg
  • Fall Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Fall Rock is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fall Rock
  • Flatwoods
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatwoods is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Hector
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hector is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hector
  • Jacks Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jacks Creek is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Creek
  • Littleton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Littleton is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mistletoe
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Mistletoe is located in Owsley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mistletoe
    • Mouth of Hector
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Mouth of Hector is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mouth of Hector
    • Peabody
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Peabody is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
    • Red Star
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Red Star is located in Letcher County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Star
    • Sourwood
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Sourwood is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sourwood
    • Whoopflarea
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Whoopflarea is located in Owsley County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whoopflarea

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Wild Cat and extending to:

  • Manchester, which is the Seat of Clay County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Wild Cat 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 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 379 miles [609.9 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 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,839 miles [7,787.6 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 Wild Cat 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wild Cat) 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 Wild Cat 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 Wild Cat. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2345, Longitude: -83.6907       In this case, the coordinates for Wild Cat have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.921 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.791 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.085 degrees.