RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Van Buren County >> Sparkman >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sparkman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sparkman 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 Sparkman:
    • 35.806178, -85.513032
    • 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 Sparkman
  • 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 Van Buren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
    • Since Sparkman is near White County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for White County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Sparkman

Communities Also Named Sparkman ...

We found three communities that are also named Sparkman.

Within Tennessee, the name Sparkman is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Dallas County
      • This Sparkman is located in Dallas County and lies 435 miles [700.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Sparkman that is located in Van Buren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Sparkman.
    • Florida
      • Charlotte County
      • This Sparkman is located in Charlotte County and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Sparkman that is located in Van Buren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charlotte County community of Sparkman.
    • North Carolina
      • Onslow 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 Sparkman [Onslow County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sparkman ...

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.

  • Bone Cave
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Bone Cave is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bone Cave
  • Campaign
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Campaign is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campaign
  • Cedar Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Denny Ferry
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Denny Ferry is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denny Ferry
  • Goodbars
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Goodbars is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodbars
  • Greenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Gum Spring
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Gum Spring is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Spring
  • Harmony
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Harmony is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Heads ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Heads is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heads
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Hodge Ferry
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Hodge Ferry is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hodge Ferry
    • Joppa
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Joppa is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa
    • Methodist ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Methodist is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Methodist
    • Rock Island
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sweetgum
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Sweetgum is located in Van Buren County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetgum
    • Young ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Young is located in White County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young

How Far From Sparkman to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Sparkman to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Van Buren County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Sparkman to Nashville, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 511 miles [822.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,390 miles [10,283.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,104 miles [11,432.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,979 miles [8,012.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Sparkman) 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 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 Sparkman 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>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 Sparkman 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 Sparkman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8062, Longitude: -85.5130       In this case, the coordinates for Sparkman have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.004 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.831 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.238 degrees.