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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plum, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plum 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 Plum:
    • 29.934946, -96.967483
    • 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 Plum
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Plum is near Bastrop County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bastrop County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Plum

Communities Also Named Plum ...

We found five communities that are also named Plum.

Within Texas, the name Plum is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Logan County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Logan County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of Plum.
    • Kentucky
      • Bourbon County
      • This Plum is located in Bourbon County and lies 932 miles [1,499.9 km]<2> to the northeast of the Plum that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bourbon County community of Plum.
    • Ohio
      • Adams County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Adams County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Plum.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Plum is located in Allegheny County and lies 1,211 miles [1,948.9 km]<2> to the northeast of the Plum that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Plum.
      • Venango 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 Pennsylvania community of Plum [Venango County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plum ...

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.

  • Colorado
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Colorado is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colorado
  • Cozy Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cozy Corner is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cozy Corner
  • Flower Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Flower Hill is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
  • Gay Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Gay Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay Hill
  • Joiner
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Joiner is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joiner
  • Lena
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lena is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
  • Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Park is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park
  • Prairie Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Prairie Valley is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Valley
  • Swiss Alp
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Swiss Alp is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swiss Alp

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

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

  • La Grange, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Plum to Austin, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,288 miles [2,072.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three full days, a buggy would take 51 days and walking would take 74 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,141 miles [11,492.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,867 miles [12,660.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,743 miles [9,242.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Plum, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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- Plum) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Plum 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 Plum 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 Plum. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.9349, Longitude: -96.9675       In this case, the coordinates for Plum have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.654 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.789 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.013 degrees.