RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> DeWitt County >> Steen >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Steen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Steen and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Steen:
    • 29.321911, -97.312767
    • 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 Steen
  • 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 DeWitt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeWitt County
    • Since Steen is near Gonzales County and also Lavaca County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gonzales County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lavaca 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 Steen

Communities Also Named Steen ...

We found two communities that are also named Steen.

Within Texas, the name Steen is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Rock County
      • This Steen is located in Rock County and lies 981 miles [1,578.8 km]<1> to the north of the Steen that is located in DeWitt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rock County community of Steen.
    • Oklahoma
      • Garfield 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 Oklahoma community of Steen [Garfield County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Steen ...

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.

  • Cheapside
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cheapside is located in Gonzales County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheapside
  • Concrete
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Concrete is located in DeWitt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concrete
  • Edgar
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Edgar is located in DeWitt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgar
  • Glaze City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Glaze City is located in Gonzales County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glaze City
  • Pearl City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Pearl City is located in DeWitt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl City
  • Petersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Petersville is located in DeWitt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersville
  • Pilgrim
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Pilgrim is located in Gonzales County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrim
  • Sample
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sample is located in Gonzales County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sample
  • Summerville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Summerville is located in Gonzales County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
  • Sweet Home
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)

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

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

  • Cuero, which is the Seat of DeWitt County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Steen to Cuero, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 70 miles [112.7 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,330 miles [2,140.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 52 days and walking would take 76 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,186 miles [11,564.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,912 miles [12,733.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,787 miles [9,313.3 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Steen) 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 Steen 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'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 Steen 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 Steen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.3219, Longitude: -97.3128       In this case, the coordinates for Steen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.784 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.864 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.209 degrees.