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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 Nickel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nickel 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 Nickel:
- 29.5555145, -97.218877
- 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 Nickel
- 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 Gonzales County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Gonzales County
- Since Nickel is near Lavaca County and also Fayette County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Lavaca County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette 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 Nickel
Communities Also Named Nickel ...
We found four communities that are also named Nickel.
Within Texas, the name Nickel is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Porter 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 Indiana community of Nickel [Porter County].
- Kansas
- Kiowa 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 Kansas community of Nickel [Kiowa County].
- Louisiana
- La Salle Parish
- This Nickel is located in La Salle Parish and lies 343 miles [552 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Nickel that is located in Gonzales County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the La Salle Parish community of Nickel.
- Wisconsin
- Marathon 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 Wisconsin community of Nickel [Marathon County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Nickel ...
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.
- Colony
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Colony is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
- Comanche Crossing
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Comanche Crossing is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche Crossing
- Elm Grove
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Elm Grove is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
- Glaze City
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Glaze City is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glaze City
- Little New York
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Little New York is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little New York
- Pearl City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Pearl City is located in DeWitt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl City
- Petersville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Petersville is located in DeWitt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersville
- Sandy Fork
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Sandy Fork is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Fork
- Saturn
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Saturn is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saturn
- Summerville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Summerville is located in Gonzales County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
- Sweet Home
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Nickel 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 Nickel 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 Nickel once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Nickel and extending to:
- Gonzales, which is the Seat of Gonzales County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Nickel to Gonzales, 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 58 miles [93.3 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,316 miles [2,117.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 52 days and walking would take 75 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,170 miles [11,539 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,896 miles [12,707.4 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> | 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 Nickel 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Nickel) 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 Nickel, 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 Nickel 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 Nickel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.5555, Longitude: -97.2189 In this case, the coordinates for Nickel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.76 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.865 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.151 degrees. |
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