RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Bexar County >> Castle Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Castle Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Castle Hills 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 Castle Hills:
    • 29.522842, -98.519709
    • 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 Castle Hills
  • 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 Bexar County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bexar County
    • Since Castle Hills is near Comal County and also Guadalupe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Comal County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Guadalupe 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 Castle Hills

Communities Also Named Castle Hills ...

We found one communities that are also named Castle Hills.

Within Texas, the name Castle Hills is unique.

Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Castle Hills in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Castle Hills is located in New Castle County and lies 1,475 miles [2,373.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Castle Hills that is located in Bexar County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Castle Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Castle Hills ...

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.

  • Converse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Cross Mountain
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cross Mountain is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Mountain
  • Dominion
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Dominion is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion
  • Grey Forest
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Grey Forest is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grey Forest
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 575 people
  • Kirby
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Leon Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Leon Springs is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon Springs
  • Leon Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Live Oak
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Longhorn
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Longhorn is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longhorn
  • Shorts Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Shorts Corner is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorts Corner
  • Universal City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Valley Hi
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Valley Hi is located in Bexar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Hi

How Far From Castle Hills 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 city such as Castle Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • San Antonio, which is the Seat of Bexar County, lies just to the South.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 69 miles [111 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Castle Hills to Austin, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,382 miles [2,224.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three full days, a buggy would take 54 days and walking would take 79 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,222 miles [11,622.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,952 miles [12,797.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,828 miles [9,379.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Castle Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Castle Hills 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 Castle Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.5228, Longitude: -98.5197       In this case, the coordinates for Castle Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.616 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.874 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.71 degrees.