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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ben Franklin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ben Franklin 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 Ben Franklin:
- 33.476774, -95.768851
- 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 Ben Franklin
- 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 Delta County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Delta County
- Since Ben Franklin is near Lamar County and also Fannin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Lamar County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fannin 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 Ben Franklin
Communities Also Named Ben Franklin ...
We found two communities that are also named Ben Franklin.
Within Texas, the name Ben Franklin is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Maricopa 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 Arizona community of Ben Franklin [Maricopa County].
- Minnesota
- Murray 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 Minnesota community of Ben Franklin [Murray County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ben Franklin ...
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.
- Cooper
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Crossroads
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Crossroads is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
- High
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- High is located in Lamar County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High
- Howland
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Howland is located in Lamar County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howland
- Jot-Em-Down
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Jot-Em-Down is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jot-Em-Down
- Jot-Em-Down has also been known as:
- Mohegan
- Muddig Prairie
- Mount Joy
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Mount Joy is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Joy
- Mount Joy Crossing
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Mount Joy Crossing is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Joy Crossing
- Noble
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Noble is located in Lamar County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
- Pecan Gap
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Petty
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Pleasant Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Pleasant Grove is located in Fannin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
- Price
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Price is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price
How Far From Ben Franklin 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 Ben Franklin to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Ben Franklin and extending to:
- Cooper, which is the Seat of Delta County, lies just to the South Southeast.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 250 miles [402.3 km]<3> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Ben Franklin to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,106 miles [1,779.9 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 6,909 miles [11,119 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,642 miles [12,298.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,521 miles [8,885.2 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 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 Ben Franklin 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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- Ben Franklin) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Ben Franklin 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 Ben Franklin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4768, Longitude: -95.7689 In this case, the coordinates for Ben Franklin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.341 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.871 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.115 degrees. |
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