RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Wayne County >> Head Ford >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Head Ford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Head Ford 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 Head Ford:
    • 37.306163, -90.465950
    • 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 Head Ford
  • 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 Head Ford is near Madison County and also Iron County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iron 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 Head Ford

Curious and Interesting Names Near Head Ford ...

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.

  • Bounds
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bounds is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bounds
  • Cascade
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Cascade is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade
  • Coldwater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Coldwater is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
  • French Mills
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • French Mills is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Mills
  • Marsh Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Marsh Creek is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh Creek
  • Minimum
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Minimum is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minimum
  • Missionary Acres
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Missionary Acres is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Missionary Acres
  • Rings
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Rings is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rings
  • Twelvemile
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Twelvemile is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twelvemile
  • Vulcan
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Vulcan is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan
  • Wide Ford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Wide Ford is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wide Ford
  • Zion
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Zion is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

How Far From Head Ford 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 Head Ford 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<1> community of Head Ford once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Head Ford and extending to:

  • Greenville, which is the Seat of Wayne County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Head Ford to Greenville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 127 miles [204.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 737 miles [1,186.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,513 miles [10,481.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,244 miles [11,658.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,122 miles [8,243.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Head Ford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Head Ford) 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 Head Ford 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 Head Ford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3062, Longitude: -90.4660       In this case, the coordinates for Head Ford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.187 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.707 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.066 degrees.