RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Giles County >> Sexton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sexton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sexton 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 Sexton:
    • 35.044249, -87.201404
    • 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 Sexton
  • 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 Giles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Giles County
    • Since Sexton is near Lawrence County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale 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 Sexton

Communities Also Named Sexton ...

We found ten communities that are also named Sexton.

Within Tennessee, the name Sexton is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Washington 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 Arkansas community of Sexton [Washington County].
    • Indiana
      • Rush County
      • This Sexton is located in Rush County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Sexton that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rush County community of Sexton.
    • Iowa
      • Kossuth County
      • This Sexton is located in Kossuth County and lies 666 miles [1,071.8 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Sexton that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kossuth County community of Sexton.
    • Kansas
      • Barber 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 Kansas community of Sexton [Barber County].
      • Wallace County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Sexton [Wallace County].
      • Wilson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Sexton [Wilson County].
    • North Carolina
      • Madison County
      • This Sexton is located in Madison County and lies 263 miles [423.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sexton that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Sexton.
      • Martin 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 North Carolina community of Sexton [Martin County].
    • Texas
      • Sabine County
      • This Sexton is located in Sabine County and lies 455 miles [732.3 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Sexton that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sabine County community of Sexton.
    • Virginia
      • Surry 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 Virginia community of Sexton [Surry County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sexton ...

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.

  • Fall River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Fall River is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fall River
  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Five Points is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Good Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Good Springs is located in Limestone County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Springs
  • Gourdsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Gourdsville is located in Limestone County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gourdsville
  • Grassy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Grassy is located in Lauderdale County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy
  • Idaho
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Idaho is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idaho
  • Lester
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lester is located in Limestone County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 134 people
  • Minnow Ford
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Minnow Ford is located in Giles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnow Ford
  • Minor Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Minor Hill is located in Giles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor Hill
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Oak Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Peach
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Peach is located in Giles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach
    • Scarce Grease
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Scarce Grease is located in Limestone County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scarce Grease
    • Shady Grove ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Shady Grove is located in Lawrence County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Sugar ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sugar is located in Lauderdale County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar
    • Union Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Union Hill is located in Limestone County (AL)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

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

  • Pulaski, which is the Seat of Giles County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Sexton to Pulaski, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 620 miles [997.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,495 miles [10,452.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,211 miles [11,605 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,086 miles [8,185.1 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 Sexton, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sexton) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Sexton 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 Sexton 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 Sexton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.0442, Longitude: -87.2014       In this case, the coordinates for Sexton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.005 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.878 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.127 degrees.