Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Spear, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spear and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Spear
- 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 Spear:
- 30.601589, -96.336907
- 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 Spear
- 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 Brazos County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Brazos County
- Since Spear is near Burleson County and also Grimes County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Burleson County
- eBird sighting report for Grimes 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Spear ...
We found five communities that share the name Spear.
Within Texas, the name Spear is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Montana
- North Carolina
- Avery County
- This Spear is located in Avery County and lies 905 miles [1,456.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Spear that is located in Brazos County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Avery County community of Spear.
- Mitchell 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 North Carolina community of Spear [Mitchell County].
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Spear ...
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.
- Bryan
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryan
- Bryan is located in Brazos County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 88,165 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bryan <4>
- Chances Store
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chances Store have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chances Store
- Chances Store is located in Burleson County
- Fountain
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Harvey
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Peach Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peach Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Creek
- Peach Creek is located in Brazos County
- Reliance
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Snook
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Snook have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snook
- Snook is located in Burleson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 548 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Snook <4>
- Steep Hollow
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Steep Hollow have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steep Hollow
- Steep Hollow is located in Brazos County
- Wicker
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
How Far From Spear 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 Spear to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Spear and extending to:
- Bryan, which is the Seat of Brazos County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Spear to Austin, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,232 miles [1,982.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 70 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,081 miles [11,395.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,808 miles [12,565.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,684 miles [9,147.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Spear. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Brazos County: www.co.brazos.tx.us/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
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 Spear, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Spear) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spear. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.6016, Longitude: -96.3369 In this case, the coordinates for Spear have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Spear 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'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 Spear 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 319.341 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.504 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.684 degrees. |