RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Kay County >> Blackwell >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blackwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackwell 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 Blackwell:
    • 36.804318, -97.283051
    • 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 Blackwell
  • 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 Kay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kay County
    • Since Blackwell is near Grant County and also Sumner County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumner 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 Blackwell

Communities Also Named Blackwell ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Blackwell.

Within Oklahoma, the name Blackwell is unique.

Beyond Oklahoma, we know of sixteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fifteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison 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 Alabama community of Blackwell [Madison County].
    • Arkansas
      • Conway County
      • This Blackwell is located in Conway County and lies 271 miles [436.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Conway County community of Blackwell.
    • Georgia
      • Cobb 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 Georgia community of Blackwell [Cobb County].
      • Jasper County
      • This Blackwell is located in Jasper County and lies 803 miles [1,292.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Blackwell.
    • Idaho
      • Kootenai County
      • This Blackwell is located in Kootenai County and lies 1,243 miles [2,000.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kootenai County community of Blackwell.
    • Kentucky
      • Henry 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 Blackwell [Henry County].
    • Maine
      • Somerset 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 Maine community of Blackwell [Somerset County].
    • Missouri
      • Macon County
      • Although located in Macon County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Blackwell.
      • Saint Francois County
      • This Blackwell is located in Saint Francois County and lies 374 miles [601.9 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Francois County community of Blackwell.
    • North Carolina
      • Caswell County
      • This Blackwell is located in Caswell County and lies 986 miles [1,586.8 km]<2> to the east of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caswell County community of Blackwell.
    • Ontario
      • This Blackwell lies 899 miles [1,446.8 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Tioga County
      • This Blackwell is located in Tioga County and lies 1,111 miles [1,788 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tioga County community of Blackwell.
    • Tennessee
      • Grainger 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 Tennessee community of Blackwell [Grainger County].
    • Texas
      • Nolan County
      • This Blackwell is located in Nolan County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nolan County community of Blackwell.
    • Virginia
      • Washington County
      • This Blackwell is located in Washington County and lies 851 miles [1,369.6 km]<2> to the east of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Blackwell.
    • Wisconsin
      • Forest County
      • This Blackwell is located in Forest County and lies 750 miles [1,207 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Blackwell that is located in Kay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forest County community of Blackwell.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackwell ...

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.

  • Braman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Cross ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Deer Creek
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Grainville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Grainville is located in Kay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grainville
  • Kildare
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Kildare is located in Kay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kildare
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 94 people
  • Old Bliss
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Old Bliss is located in Noble County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Bliss
  • Polk
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Polk is located in Kay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk
  • Salt Fork
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • White Eagle
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)

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

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

  • Newkirk, which is the Seat of Kay County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blackwell to Newkirk, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Oklahoma City, which is the State Capital of Oklahoma, lies 93 miles [149.7 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,110 miles [1,786.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 63 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,788 miles [10,924.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,533 miles [12,123.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,422 miles [8,725.9 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 Blackwell 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Blackwell) 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 Blackwell 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 Blackwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8043, Longitude: -97.2831       In this case, the coordinates for Blackwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.712 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.894 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.37 degrees.