RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Ellis County >> Sand Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sand Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sand Lake 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 Sand Lake:
    • 32.429585, -96.492765
    • 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 Sand Lake
  • 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 Ellis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ellis County
    • Since Sand Lake is near Kaufman County and also Navarro County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kaufman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Navarro 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 Sand Lake

Communities Also Named Sand Lake ...

We found ten communities that are also named Sand Lake.

Within Texas, the name Sand Lake is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • 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 Alaska community of Sand Lake.
    • Florida
      • Orange County
      • This Sand Lake is located in Orange County and lies 934 miles [1,503.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Sand Lake.
    • Michigan
      • Iosco County
      • This Sand Lake is located in Iosco County and lies 1,071 miles [1,723.6 km]<2> to the northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iosco County community of Sand Lake.
      • Kent County
      • This Sand Lake is located in Kent County and lies 957 miles [1,540.1 km] to the northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Sand Lake.
      • Lenawee 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 Michigan community of Sand Lake [Lenawee County].
      • Van Buren 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 Michigan community of Sand Lake [Van Buren County].
    • New York
      • Rensselaer County
      • This Sand Lake is located in Rensselaer County and lies 1,434 miles [2,307.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rensselaer County community of Sand Lake.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Sand Lake lies 2,146 miles [3,453.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
    • Ontario
      • This Sand Lake lies 1,229 miles [1,977.9 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Polk County
      • This Sand Lake is located in Polk County and lies 917 miles [1,475.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Sand Lake that is located in Ellis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Sand Lake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sand Lake ...

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.

  • Combine
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Combine is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Combine
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,537 people
  • Cottonwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottonwood is located in Kaufman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 209 people
  • Crisp
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Crisp is located in Ellis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Grays Prairie
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Grays Prairie is located in Kaufman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Prairie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
  • India
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • India is located in Ellis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for India
  • Lively
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Lively is located in Kaufman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lively
  • Scurry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Styx
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Styx is located in Kaufman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Styx
  • Walnut Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Walnut Springs is located in Ellis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Springs

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

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

  • Waxahachie, which is the Seat of Ellis County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Sand Lake to Waxahachie, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 166 miles [267.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,176 miles [1,892.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 67 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,991 miles [11,250.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,724 miles [12,430.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,602 miles [9,015.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Sand Lake 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sand Lake) 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>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 Sand Lake 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 Sand Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.4296, Longitude: -96.4928       In this case, the coordinates for Sand Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.694 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.152 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.563 degrees.