Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in New Birmingham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Birmingham and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for New Birmingham
- 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 New Birmingham:
- 31.773874, -95.118654
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on New Birmingham
- 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 Cherokee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
- Since New Birmingham is near Nacogdoches County and also Houston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Nacogdoches County
- eBird sighting report for Houston 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near New Birmingham ...
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.
- Circle
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - County Line
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for County Line have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
- County Line is located in Nacogdoches County
- Craft
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Dialville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dialville
- Dialville is located in Cherokee County
- Elm Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Java
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Lone Oak
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Redlawn
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Shady Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
- Shady Grove is located in Cherokee County
- Weeping Mary
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeping Mary
- Weeping Mary is located in Cherokee County
How Far From New Birmingham 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 New Birmingham 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<2> community of New Birmingham once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in New Birmingham and extending to:
- Rusk, which is the Seat of Cherokee County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<3> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from New Birmingham to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,128 miles [1,815.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 64 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,973 miles [11,222 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,700 miles [12,391.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,576 miles [8,973.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 New Birmingham, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- New Birmingham) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in New Birmingham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7739, Longitude: -95.1187 |
| <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 New Birmingham to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.706 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.909 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.037 degrees. |