RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Maury County >> Poplar Creek >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Poplar Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Poplar Creek 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 Poplar Creek:
    • 35.676182, -87.209176
    • 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 Poplar Creek
  • 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 Maury County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Maury County
    • Since Poplar Creek is near Hickman County and also Lewis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hickman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lewis 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 Poplar Creek

Communities Also Named Poplar Creek ...

We found six communities that are also named Poplar Creek.

Within Tennessee, the name Poplar Creek is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Colbert County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Poplar Creek [Colbert County].
      • Lawrence County
      • This Poplar Creek is located in Lawrence County and lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<2> to the south of the Poplar Creek that is located in Maury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Poplar Creek.
      • Limestone County
      • This Poplar Creek is located in Limestone County and lies 60 miles [96.6 km] to the south of the Poplar Creek that is located in Maury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Poplar Creek.
    • British Columbia
      • This Poplar Creek lies 1,801 miles [2,898.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the Poplar Creek that is located in Maury County.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Poplar Creek [Cook County].
    • Mississippi
      • Montgomery County
      • This Poplar Creek is located in Montgomery County and lies 208 miles [334.7 km]<2> to the southwest of the Poplar Creek that is located in Maury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Poplar Creek.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Poplar Creek ...

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.

  • Cartersville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cartersville is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartersville
  • Chapel Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,461 people
  • Chartersville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chartersville is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chartersville
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,494 people
  • Duck River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Duck River is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck River
  • Gordon Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gordon Ferry is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon Ferry
  • Greenfield Bend
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Greenfield Bend is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield Bend
    • Estimated population in 2014: 15,035 people
  • Kettle Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Kettle Mills is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Mills
  • Lovetown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lovetown is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovetown
  • Poplar Top
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Poplar Top is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Top
  • Sawdust
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Sawdust is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawdust
    • Estimated population in 2014: 7,053 people
  • Shady Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Shady Grove is located in Hickman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Water Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Water Valley is located in Maury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Water Valley

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

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

  • Columbia, which is the Seat of Maury County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Poplar Creek to Columbia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 41 miles [66 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 601 miles [967.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,465 miles [10,404.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,183 miles [11,559.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,058 miles [8,140.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Poplar Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Poplar Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Poplar Creek 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.
<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 Poplar Creek 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 Poplar Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6762, Longitude: -87.2092       In this case, the coordinates for Poplar Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.041 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.007 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.987 degrees.