RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Comal County >> Spring Branch >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spring Branch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spring Branch 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 Spring Branch:
    • 29.889939, -98.425296
    • 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 Spring Branch
  • 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 Comal County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Comal County
    • Since Spring Branch is near Kendall County and also Blanco County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kendall County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blanco 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 Spring Branch

Communities Also Named Spring Branch ...

We found eight communities that are also named Spring Branch.

There is one other community in Texas that is also named Spring Branch.

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

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Smith County
      • Although located in Smith County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smith County community of Spring Branch.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Appling County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Appling County and lies 961 miles [1,546.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Comal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Appling County community of Spring Branch.
      • Effingham County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Effingham County and lies 1,024 miles [1,648 km] to the east northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Comal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Effingham County community of Spring Branch.
    • Kansas
      • Butler 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 Spring Branch [Butler County].
    • Maryland
      • Caroline County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Caroline County and lies 1,426 miles [2,294.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Comal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caroline County community of Spring Branch.
    • Missouri
      • Jackson 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 Missouri community of Spring Branch [Jackson County].
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Spring Branch [Aiken County].
      • Marion County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Marion County and lies 1,151 miles [1,852.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Comal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Spring Branch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spring Branch ...

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.

  • Buffalo Springs
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Buffalo Springs is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Springs
  • Cranes Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Cranes Mill is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranes Mill
  • Fourth Crossing
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Fourth Crossing is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourth Crossing
  • Honey Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Honey Creek is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honey Creek
  • Second Crossing
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Second Crossing is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Second Crossing
  • Silver Hills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Silver Hills is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hills
  • Startzville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Startzville is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Startzville
  • Third Crossing
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Third Crossing is located in Comal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Third Crossing
  • Twin Sisters
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Twin Sisters is located in Blanco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Sisters

How Far From Spring Branch to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Spring Branch to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • New Braunfels, which is the Seat of Comal County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Spring Branch to New Braunfels, 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 48 miles [77.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,363 miles [2,193.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 54 days and walking would take 78 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,199 miles [11,585.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,929 miles [12,760.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,806 miles [9,343.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Spring Branch) 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 Spring Branch 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 Spring Branch, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Spring Branch 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 Spring Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8899, Longitude: -98.4253       In this case, the coordinates for Spring Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.613 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.916 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.644 degrees.