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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hays, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hays 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 Hays:
    • 30.121428, -97.872422
    • 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 Hays
  • 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 Hays County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hays County
    • Since Hays is near Travis County and also Bastrop County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Travis County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bastrop 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 Hays

Communities Also Named Hays ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named Hays.

Within Texas, the name Hays is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of fifteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fifteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Hays lies 1,552 miles [2,497.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
    • Colorado
      • Otero County
      • This Hays is located in Otero County and lies 639 miles [1,028.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Otero County community of Hays.
    • Indiana
      • Lake 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 Indiana community of Hays [Lake County].
    • Kansas
      • Ellis County
      • This Hays is located in Ellis County and lies 610 miles [981.7 km]<1> to the north of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ellis County community of Hays.
    • Kentucky
      • Warren County
      • This Hays is located in Warren County and lies 825 miles [1,327.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Hays.
    • Mississippi
      • Jefferson 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 Hays [Jefferson County].
      • Scott County
      • This Hays is located in Scott County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Hays.
      • Washington County
      • This Hays is located in Washington County and lies 466 miles [750 km] to the east northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Hays.
    • Montana
      • Blaine County
      • This Hays is located in Blaine County and lies 1,360 miles [2,188.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blaine County community of Hays.
    • North Carolina
      • Wilkes County
      • This Hays is located in Wilkes County and lies 1,054 miles [1,696.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilkes County community of Hays.
    • Ohio
      • Jefferson County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Jefferson County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Hays.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Hays is located in Allegheny County and lies 1,231 miles [1,981.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Hays.
      • Fayette County
      • This Hays is located in Fayette County and lies 1,221 miles [1,965 km] to the northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Hays.
    • Tennessee
      • Fayette County
      • This Hays is located in Fayette County and lies 595 miles [957.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hays that is located in Hays County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Hays.
    • West Virginia
      • Tyler 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 West Virginia community of Hays [Tyler County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hays ...

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.

  • Carl
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Carl is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
  • Cedar Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Valley is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Valley
  • Flatrock Ford
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Flatrock Ford is located in Hays County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatrock Ford
  • Ford Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ford Oaks is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford Oaks
  • Hays City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hays City is located in Hays County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays City
  • Mountain City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Mountain City is located in Hays County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 858 people
  • Onion Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Onion Creek is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onion Creek
  • Pleasant Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Shady Hollow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Shady Hollow is located in Travis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Hollow
  • Sunset Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • San Marcos, which is the Seat of Hays County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Hays to San Marcos, with an average speed<5> 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 12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,327 miles [2,135.6 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 52 days and walking would take 76 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,166 miles [11,532.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,895 miles [12,705.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,772 miles [9,289.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hays) 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 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 Hays 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 Hays, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Hays 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 Hays. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1214, Longitude: -97.8724       In this case, the coordinates for Hays have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.281 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.553 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.386 degrees.