Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blackland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackland and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blackland
- 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 Blackland:
- 31.479059, -96.886380
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Blackland
- 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 McLennan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McLennan County
- Since Blackland is near Falls County and also Limestone County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Falls County
- eBird sighting report for Limestone 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Blackland ...
We found six communities that share the name Blackland.
There is one other community in Texas which is also named Blackland.
Beyond Texas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Texas ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Illinois
- Mississippi
- New Brunswick
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Oklahoma
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackland ...
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.
- Battle
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Ben Hur
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Downs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west) - Downsville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Downsville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downsville
- Downsville is located in McLennan County
- Elk
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk
- Elk is located in McLennan County
- Hallsburg
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Lake Creek
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Creek
- Lake Creek is located in McLennan County
- Little Elm
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Elm have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Elm
- Little Elm is located in Limestone County
- Mart
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mart have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mart
- Mart is located in McLennan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,983 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mart <5>
- Otto
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otto have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otto
- Otto is located in Falls County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Otto <5>
- Rocky Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Hill
- Rocky Hill is located in Falls County
How Far From Blackland 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 Blackland to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blackland and extending to:
- Waco, which is the Seat of McLennan County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blackland to Waco, with an average speed<6> 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 five to six hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 97 miles [156.1 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,228 miles [1,976.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 70 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,056 miles [11,355.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,787 miles [12,532 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,664 miles [9,115.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blackland. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for McLennan County: www.co.mclennan.tx.us/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blackland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blackland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.4791, Longitude: -96.8864 In this case, the coordinates for Blackland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blackland 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Blackland to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.827 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.189 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.836 degrees. |