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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spring Gardens, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spring Gardens 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 Gardens:
    • 26.377291, -98.128342
    • 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 Gardens
  • 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 Hidalgo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hidalgo County
    • Since Spring Gardens is near Willacy County and also Cameron County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Willacy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cameron 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 Gardens

Communities Also Named Spring Gardens ...

We found two communities that are also named Spring Gardens.

Within Texas, the name Spring Gardens is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore City
      • This Spring Gardens is located in Baltimore City and lies 1,525 miles [2,454.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Spring Gardens that is located in Hidalgo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore City community of Spring Gardens.
    • New Jersey
      • Mercer 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 New Jersey community of Spring Gardens [Mercer County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spring Gardens ...

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.

  • Cottonwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cottonwood is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
    • Cottonwood has also been known as:
    • Cottonwood Colonia
  • Lull
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lull is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lull
  • Meadow Lands
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Meadow Lands is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lands
    • Meadow Lands has also been known as:
    • Meadow Lands Colonia
  • Merrill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Merrill is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrill
    • Merrill has also been known as:
    • Merrill Colonia
  • River Bend
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • River Bend is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bend
    • River Bend has also been known as:
    • River Bend Colonia
  • Sandy Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Sandy Ridge is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
    • Sandy Ridge has also been known as:
    • Sandy Ridge Colonia
  • Seminary Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Seminary Village is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminary Village
    • Seminary Village has also been known as:
    • Seminary Village Colonia
  • Summerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Summerwood is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerwood
    • Summerwood has also been known as:
    • Summerwood Colonia
  • Tower Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tower Heights is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Heights
    • Tower Heights has also been known as:
    • Tower Heights Colonia
  • Twin Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Twin Lake is located in Hidalgo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lake
    • Twin Lake has also been known as:
    • Twin Lake Colonia

How Far From Spring Gardens 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 Spring Gardens to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Edinburg, which is the Seat of Hidalgo County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 269 miles [432.9 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Spring Gardens to Austin, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,494 miles [2,404.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 85 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,374 miles [11,867.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,092 miles [13,022.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,967 miles [9,603 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 from Point A (ie- Spring Gardens) 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 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 Spring Gardens 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 Spring Gardens 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 Gardens. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.3773, Longitude: -98.1283       In this case, the coordinates for Spring Gardens have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.792 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.497 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.722 degrees.