RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Lawrence County >> Gaither >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gaither, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gaither 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 Gaither:
    • 37.153111, -93.884932
    • 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 Gaither
  • 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Since Gaither is near Jasper County and also Dade County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dade 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 Gaither

Communities Also Named Gaither ...

We found three communities that are also named Gaither.

Within Missouri, the name Gaither is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Boone County
      • This Gaither is located in Boone County and lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Gaither that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Gaither.
    • Maryland
      • Carroll County
      • This Gaither is located in Carroll County and lies 927 miles [1,491.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Gaither that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Gaither.
    • North Carolina
      • McDowell 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 North Carolina community of Gaither [McDowell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gaither ...

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.

  • Albatross
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Albatross is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Albatross
  • Call
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Call is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Call
  • Dry Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Dry Valley is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Valley
  • Grays Point
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Grays Point is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Point
  • Heatonville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Heatonville is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heatonville
  • Kings Point
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Kings Point is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Point
  • Opal
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Opal is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opal
  • Orange
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Orange is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Paris Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Paris Springs is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris Springs
  • Red Oak
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Oak is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Oak
  • Rescue
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rescue is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rescue
  • Round Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Round Grove is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Grove
  • Turnback ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Turnback is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnback

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Gaither once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Gaither and extending to:

  • Mount Vernon, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Gaither to Jefferson City, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 922 miles [1,483.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,648 miles [10,698.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,387 miles [11,888.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,269 miles [8,479.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Gaither) 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 Gaither 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 Gaither, 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 Gaither 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 Gaither. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1531, Longitude: -93.8849       In this case, the coordinates for Gaither have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.432 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.285 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.686 degrees.