RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Smith County >> Pine Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pine Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pine Springs 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 Pine Springs:
    • 32.398203, -95.266895
    • 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 Pine Springs
  • 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 Smith County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith County
    • Since Pine Springs is near Wood County and also Henderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wood County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson 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 Pine Springs

Communities Also Named Pine Springs ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Pine Springs.

There are two communities within Texas that are also named Pine Springs.

Beyond Texas, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Bowie County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Bowie County and lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bowie County community of Pine Springs.
    • Culberson 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 Texas community of Pine Springs [Culberson County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Lamar County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Lamar County and lies 424 miles [682.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lamar County community of Pine Springs.
    • Arizona
      • Apache County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Apache County and lies 828 miles [1,332.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Apache County community of Pine Springs.
    • Kentucky
      • Grayson County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Grayson County and lies 621 miles [999.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grayson County community of Pine Springs.
      • Rowan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Pine Springs [Rowan County].
    • Minnesota
      • Washington County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Washington County and lies 881 miles [1,417.8 km]<1> to the north of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Pine Springs.
    • Mississippi
      • Lauderdale County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Lauderdale County and lies 378 miles [608.3 km]<1> to the east of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Pine Springs.
    • New Mexico
      • Torrance County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Torrance County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Torrance County community of Pine Springs.
    • Oklahoma
      • Atoka County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Pine Springs [Atoka County].
    • Ontario
      • This Pine Springs lies 1,242 miles [1,998.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
    • Tennessee
      • Knox County
      • This Pine Springs is located in Knox County and lies 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Pine Springs that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Pine Springs.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pine Springs ...

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.

  • Chapel Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Hide-A-Way Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hide-A-Way Lake is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hide-A-Way Lake
  • Hideaway
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hideaway is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,208 people
  • New Harmony
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • New Harmony is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Harmony
  • Red Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Red Springs is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Springs
  • Sand Flat
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Sand Flat is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Flat
  • Shady Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Shady Grove is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Swan
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Swan is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan
  • Waters Bluff
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Waters Bluff is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waters Bluff
  • Wood Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wood Springs is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Springs

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

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

  • Tyler, which is the Seat of Smith County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Pine Springs 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 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,114 miles [1,792.8 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 6,946 miles [11,178.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,675 miles [12,351.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,552 miles [8,935.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Pine Springs) 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 Pine Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Pine Springs 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.
<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 Pine Springs 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 Pine Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3982, Longitude: -95.2669       In this case, the coordinates for Pine Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.881 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.194 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.027 degrees.