RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> San Jacinto County >> Shepherd >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shepherd, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shepherd 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 Shepherd:
    • 30.490848, -95.001925
    • 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 Shepherd
  • 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 San Jacinto County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Jacinto County
    • Since Shepherd is near Liberty County and also Polk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Liberty County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk 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 Shepherd

Communities Also Named Shepherd ...

We found ten communities that are also named Shepherd.

Within Texas, the name Shepherd is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Shepherd is located in Hillsborough County and lies 789 miles [1,269.8 km]<1> to the east of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Shepherd.
    • Georgia
      • Coffee 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 Georgia community of Shepherd [Coffee County].
      • Wayne 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 Georgia community of Shepherd [Wayne County].
    • Illinois
      • Pike County
      • This Shepherd is located in Pike County and lies 670 miles [1,078.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Shepherd.
    • Indiana
      • Boone County
      • This Shepherd is located in Boone County and lies 812 miles [1,306.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Shepherd.
    • Michigan
      • Isabella County
      • This Shepherd is located in Isabella County and lies 1,062 miles [1,709.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Isabella County community of Shepherd.
    • Mississippi
      • Calhoun County
      • This Shepherd is located in Calhoun County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Shepherd.
    • Montana
      • Chouteau 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 Montana community of Shepherd [Chouteau County].
      • Yellowstone County
      • This Shepherd is located in Yellowstone County and lies 1,285 miles [2,068 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yellowstone County community of Shepherd.
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Shepherd is located in Hamilton County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Shepherd that is located in San Jacinto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Shepherd.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shepherd ...

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.

  • Africa ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Africa is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Africa
  • Big Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Big Creek is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
  • Drews Landing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Drews Landing is located in San Jacinto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drews Landing
  • Hightower
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Hightower is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightower
  • Keno
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Keno is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keno
  • Lake Water Wheel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Lake Water Wheel is located in San Jacinto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Water Wheel
  • Liberty Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Liberty Hill is located in San Jacinto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hill
  • Pelican
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pelican is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelican
  • Rose Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Rose Hill is located in San Jacinto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Seaman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Seaman is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaman

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

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

  • Coldspring, which is the Seat of San Jacinto County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Shepherd to Coldspring, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 164 miles [263.9 km] to the west (W). 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 1,170 miles [1,882.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 67 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,035 miles [11,321.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,757 miles [12,483.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,632 miles [9,063.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shepherd) 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 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 Shepherd 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 Shepherd 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 Shepherd. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4908, Longitude: -95.0019       In this case, the coordinates for Shepherd have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.459 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.453 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.131 degrees.