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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nina, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nina 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 Nina:
    • 26.281459, -98.581411
    • 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 Nina
  • 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 Starr County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Starr County
    • Since Nina is near Hidalgo County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hidalgo 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 Nina

Communities Also Named Nina ...

We found five communities that are also named Nina.

Within Texas, the name Nina is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Garrard County
      • This Nina is located in Garrard County and lies 1,138 miles [1,831.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Nina that is located in Starr County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garrard County community of Nina.
    • New York
      • Tompkins 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 New York community of Nina [Tompkins County].
    • North Carolina
      • Cherokee 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 North Carolina community of Nina [Cherokee County].
    • Tennessee
      • 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 Tennessee community of Nina [Jefferson County].
    • West Virginia
      • Doddridge County
      • This Nina is located in Doddridge County and lies 1,368 miles [2,201.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Nina that is located in Starr County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Doddridge County community of Nina.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nina ...

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.

  • Chihuahua
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Chihuahua is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chihuahua
    • Chihuahua has also been known as:
    • Chihuahua Colonia
  • Citrus City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Citrus City is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus City
  • Crow
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Crow is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow
  • Havana
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Havana is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
    • Lakeview has also been known as:
    • Lakeview Colonia
  • Manuel Garcia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Manuel Garcia is located in Starr County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manuel Garcia
    • Manuel Garcia has also been known as:
    • Manuel Garcia Colonia
  • Mikes
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mikes is located in Starr County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mikes
    • Mikes has also been known as:
    • Mikes Colonia
  • Ratcliff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Ratcliff is located in Starr County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ratcliff

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

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

  • Rio Grande City, which is the Seat of Starr County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Nina to Rio Grande City, with an average speed<3> 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 279 miles [449 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,520 miles [2,446.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 60 days and walking would take 87 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,397 miles [11,904.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,116 miles [13,061.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,992 miles [9,643.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Nina) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Nina 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>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.
<4>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 Nina 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 Nina. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.2815, Longitude: -98.5814       In this case, the coordinates for Nina have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.069 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.813 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.91 degrees.