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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McFadden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McFadden 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 McFadden:
    • 30.015491, -94.031010
    • 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 McFadden
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since McFadden is near Orange County and also Hardin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hardin 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 McFadden

Communities Also Named McFadden ...

We found two communities that are also named McFadden.

Within Texas, the name McFadden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Jackson County
      • This McFadden is located in Jackson County and lies 409 miles [658.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the McFadden that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of McFadden.
    • Wyoming
      • Carbon County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of McFadden [Carbon County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near McFadden ...

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.

  • Groves
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Groves is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groves
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,268 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Groves <3>
  • Hebert
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hebert is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebert
  • Lucas
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lucas is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucas
  • Nederland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Pear Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Pear Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pear Ridge
  • Pine Crest
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Pine Crest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Crest
  • Rose City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Rose City is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 489 people
  • Sunnyside
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunnyside is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Terry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Terry is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry

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

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

  • Beaumont, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 222 miles [357.3 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from McFadden to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,142 miles [1,837.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 45 days and walking would take 65 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,021 miles [11,299.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,738 miles [12,453.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,613 miles [9,033.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- McFadden) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 McFadden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 McFadden 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 McFadden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.0155, Longitude: -94.0310       In this case, the coordinates for McFadden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.773 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.586 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.781 degrees.