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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Merle, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merle 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 Merle:
- 30.449373, -96.462702
- 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 Merle
- 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 Burleson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Burleson County
- Since Merle is near Brazos County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Brazos County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Merle
Communities Also Named Merle ...
We found four communities that are also named Merle.
Within Texas, the name Merle is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- San Diego 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 California community of Merle [San Diego County].
- Iowa
- Taylor 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 Iowa community of Merle [Taylor County].
- Manitoba
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Oregon
- Washington County
- This Merle is located in Washington County and lies 1,762 miles [2,835.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Merle that is located in Burleson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Merle.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Merle ...
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.
- Big Creek
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Big Creek is located in Burleson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
- Center Line
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Center Line is located in Burleson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Line
- Chances Store
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Chances Store is located in Burleson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chances Store
- Clay
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Gay Hill
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Harmony
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
- Harmony is located in Burleson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
- Independence
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Lyons
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Quarry
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Snook
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Spear
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Spear is located in Brazos County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spear
- Wicker
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Wicker is located in Brazos County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wicker
How Far From Merle 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 Merle 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<4> community of Merle once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Merle and extending to:
- Caldwell, which is the Seat of Burleson County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Merle to Caldwell, 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 four to five hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 77 miles [123.9 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,244 miles [2,002 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,094 miles [11,416.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,820 miles [12,585.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,696 miles [9,166.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'
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 Merle 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' (or 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- Merle) 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> | 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 Merle, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Merle 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 Merle. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4494, Longitude: -96.4627 In this case, the coordinates for Merle have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.401 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.555 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.752 degrees. |
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