RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Grimes County >> Cotton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cotton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cotton 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 Cotton:
    • 30.831581, -95.894673
    • 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 Cotton
  • 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 Grimes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grimes County
    • Since Cotton is near Madison County and also Walker County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker 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 Cotton

Communities Also Named Cotton ...

We found eight communities that are also named Cotton.

There is one other community in Texas that is also named Cotton.

Beyond Texas, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Fannin 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 Texas community of Cotton [Fannin County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Elmore County
      • This Cotton is located in Elmore County and lies 593 miles [954.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elmore County community of Cotton.
    • Georgia
      • Mitchell County
      • This Cotton is located in Mitchell County and lies 700 miles [1,126.5 km]<2> to the east of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mitchell County community of Cotton.
    • Idaho
      • Bonneville County
      • This Cotton is located in Bonneville County and lies 1,241 miles [1,997.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bonneville County community of Cotton.
    • Michigan
      • Kalkaska County
      • This Cotton is located in Kalkaska County and lies 1,123 miles [1,807.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kalkaska County community of Cotton.
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Cotton is located in Saint Louis County and lies 1,142 miles [1,837.9 km]<2> to the north of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Cotton.
    • South Carolina
      • York County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Cotton [York County].
    • West Virginia
      • Roane County
      • This Cotton is located in Roane County and lies 980 miles [1,577.2 km]<2> to the northeast of the Cotton that is located in Grimes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Cotton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cotton ...

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.

  • Channey Crossing
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Channey Crossing is located in Brazos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Channey Crossing
  • Cottonwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cottonwood is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
  • Cross
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Cross is located in Grimes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross
  • Cross Roads
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Cross Roads is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Democrat Crossing
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Democrat Crossing is located in Brazos County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Democrat Crossing
  • Dingerville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Dingerville is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dingerville
  • George
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • George is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George
  • Jenkins
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jenkins is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Keith
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Keith is located in Grimes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keith
  • Mossy Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Mossy Grove is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mossy Grove

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

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

  • Anderson, which is the Seat of Grimes County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cotton to Anderson, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 116 miles [186.7 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,201 miles [1,932.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 47 days and walking would take 69 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,052 miles [11,349.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,778 miles [12,517.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,654 miles [9,099.2 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Cotton 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cotton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Cotton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Cotton 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 Cotton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.8316, Longitude: -95.8947       In this case, the coordinates for Cotton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.085 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.232 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.472 degrees.