RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Texas





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rock Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock Island 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 Rock Island:
    • 29.531074, -96.575250
    • 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 Rock Island
  • 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

Communities Also Named Rock Island ...

We found 21 communities that share the name Rock Island.

There are five communities within Texas that are also named Rock Island.

Beyond Texas, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, nineteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Liberty County
      • This Rock Island is located in Liberty County and lies 118 miles [189.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of Rock Island.
    • Marion County
      • This Rock Island is located in Marion County and lies 256 miles [412 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Rock Island.
    • Polk 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 Texas community of Rock Island [Polk County].
    • Waller County
      • This Rock Island is located in Waller County and lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waller County community of Rock Island.
    • Washington County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Washington County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Rock Island.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • This Rock Island is located in Broward County and lies 1,027 miles [1,652.8 km]<1> to the east of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of Rock Island.
      • Collier County
      • This Rock Island is located in Collier County and lies 958 miles [1,541.8 km] to the east of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Collier County community of Rock Island.
    • Idaho
      • Washington 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 Idaho community of Rock Island [Washington County].
    • Illinois
      • Rock Island County
      • This Rock Island is located in Rock Island County and lies 891 miles [1,433.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rock Island County community of Rock Island.
    • Indiana
      • Marion 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 Indiana community of Rock Island [Marion County].
    • Kansas
      • Brown 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 Kansas community of Rock Island [Brown County].
      • Grant County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rock Island [Grant County].
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Massachusetts
      • Norfolk County
      • This Rock Island is located in Norfolk County and lies 1,670 miles [2,687.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk County community of Rock Island.
    • Nevada
      • Storey County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Storey County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Storey County community of Rock Island.
    • Oklahoma
      • Canadian 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 Oklahoma community of Rock Island [Canadian County].
      • Le Flore County
      • This Rock Island is located in Le Flore County and lies 408 miles [656.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Le Flore County community of Rock Island.
    • Quebec
      • This Rock Island lies 1,706 miles [2,745.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
    • Tennessee
      • Warren County
      • This Rock Island is located in Warren County and lies 769 miles [1,237.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Rock Island.
    • Virginia
      • Buckingham 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 Virginia community of Rock Island [Buckingham County].
    • Washington
      • Douglas County
      • This Rock Island is located in Douglas County and lies 1,759 miles [2,830.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rock Island that is located in Colorado County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Rock Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock Island ...

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.

  • Bonus
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonus
    • Bonus is located in Wharton County
  • Columbus
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Eagle Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Elm Grove
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
    • Elm Grove is located in Wharton County
  • Hackberry ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hackberry have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
    • Hackberry is located in Lavaca County
  • Helms
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Helms have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helms
    • Helms is located in Colorado County
  • Hillcrest
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
    • Hillcrest is located in Colorado County
  • Nada
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Provident City ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Provident City have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Provident City
    • Provident City is located in Colorado County
  • Sublime
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sublime have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sublime
    • Sublime is located in Lavaca County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sublime <4>

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

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

  • Columbus, which is the Seat of Colorado County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Rock Island to Columbus, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 86 miles [138.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,285 miles [2,068 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 51 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,147 miles [11,502 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,870 miles [12,665.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,746 miles [9,247.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rock Island. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rock Island) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rock Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.5311, Longitude: -96.5752       In this case, the coordinates for Rock Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Rock Island 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>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 Rock Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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.
<7>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 Rock Island to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.335 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.36 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.881 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024