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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Graball, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Graball 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 Graball:
    • 30.265211, -96.134403
    • 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 Graball
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Graball is near Grimes County and also Waller County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grimes County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Waller 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 Graball

Communities Also Named Graball ...

We found six communities that are also named Graball.

Within Texas, the name Graball is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Henry County
      • This Graball is located in Henry County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<1> to the east of the Graball that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henry County community of Graball.
    • Georgia
      • Lincoln County
      • This Graball is located in Lincoln County and lies 832 miles [1,339 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Graball that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Graball.
    • Mississippi
      • Tallahatchie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Graball [Tallahatchie County].
    • Tennessee
      • Gibson County
      • This Graball is located in Gibson County and lies 576 miles [927 km]<1> to the northeast of the Graball that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gibson County community of Graball.
      • Marshall County
      • This Graball is located in Marshall County and lies 643 miles [1,034.8 km] to the northeast of the Graball that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Graball.
      • Sumner County
      • This Graball is located in Sumner County and lies 704 miles [1,133 km] to the northeast of the Graball that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumner County community of Graball.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Graball ...

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.

  • Cedar Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedar Creek is located in Waller County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
  • Daniels
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Daniels is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniels
  • Earlywine
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Earlywine is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earlywine
  • Goodwill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Goodwill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodwill
  • Lynn Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lynn Grove is located in Grimes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn Grove
  • Rock Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Rock Island is located in Waller County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
  • Rolling Hills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Rolling Hills is located in Waller County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills
  • Sandy Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Sandy Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Graball once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Graball and extending to:

  • Brenham, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Graball to Brenham, with an average speed<4> 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 95 miles [152.9 km] to the west (W). 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 1,234 miles [1,985.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 71 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,091 miles [11,411.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,816 miles [12,578.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,691 miles [9,158.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Graball) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Graball 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>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 Graball, 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 Graball 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 Graball. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.2652, Longitude: -96.1344       In this case, the coordinates for Graball have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.159 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.247 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.63 degrees.