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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Thrall, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Thrall 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 Thrall:
    • 30.588206, -97.298236
    • 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 Thrall
  • 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 Williamson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Williamson County
    • Since Thrall is near Milam County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Milam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Thrall

Communities Also Named Thrall ...

We found three communities that are also named Thrall.

Within Texas, the name Thrall is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Wright County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Thrall [Wright County].
    • Kansas
      • Greenwood County
      • This Thrall is located in Greenwood County and lies 515 miles [828.8 km]<2> to the north of the Thrall that is located in Williamson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenwood County community of Thrall.
    • Washington
      • Kittitas County
      • This Thrall is located in Kittitas County and lies 1,672 miles [2,690.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Thrall that is located in Williamson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kittitas County community of Thrall.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Thrall ...

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.

  • Circleville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Circleville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Circleville
  • Elm Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Elm Grove is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
  • Frame Switch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Frame Switch is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frame Switch
  • Friendship ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Friendship is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Hare
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hare is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hare
  • Liberty Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty Hill is located in Milam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hill
  • Structure
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Structure is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Structure
  • Type
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Type is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Type

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

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

  • Georgetown, which is the Seat of Williamson County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Thrall to Georgetown, with an average speed<3> 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 34 miles [54.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,280 miles [2,060 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,119 miles [11,456.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,848 miles [12,630.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,725 miles [9,213.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Thrall 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Thrall) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Thrall 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 Thrall. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.5882, Longitude: -97.2982       In this case, the coordinates for Thrall have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.972 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.246 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.099 degrees.