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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fentress, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fentress 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 Fentress:
    • 29.755946, -97.777334
    • 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 Fentress
  • 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 Caldwell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
    • Since Fentress is near Guadalupe County and also Hays County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Guadalupe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hays 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 Fentress

Communities Also Named Fentress ...

We found six communities that are also named Fentress.

Within Texas, the name Fentress is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Telfair 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 Georgia community of Fentress [Telfair County].
    • Mississippi
      • Choctaw County
      • This Fentress is located in Choctaw County and lies 559 miles [899.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Fentress that is located in Caldwell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Choctaw County community of Fentress.
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville 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 South Carolina community of Fentress [Greenville County].
    • Virginia
      • Chesapeake City
      • This Fentress is located in Chesapeake City and lies 1,331 miles [2,142 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Fentress that is located in Caldwell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chesapeake City community of Fentress.
      • Norfolk City
      • 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 Virginia community of Fentress [Norfolk City].
      • Virginia Beach City
      • This Fentress is located in Virginia Beach City and lies 1,338 miles [2,153.3 km] to the east northeast of the Fentress that is located in Caldwell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Virginia Beach City community of Fentress.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fentress ...

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.

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

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

  • Lockhart, which is the Seat of Caldwell County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Fentress to Lockhart, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 35 miles [56.3 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,336 miles [2,150.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 53 days and walking would take 76 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,181 miles [11,556.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,909 miles [12,728.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,786 miles [9,311.7 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 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 Fentress 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fentress) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Fentress 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 Fentress. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7559, Longitude: -97.7773    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.16 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.364 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.374 degrees.