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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Verbena, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Verbena 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 Verbena:
    • 33.274815, -101.195690
    • 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 Verbena
  • 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 Garza County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garza County
    • Since Verbena is near Crosby County and also Dickens County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crosby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickens 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 Verbena

Communities Also Named Verbena ...

We found four communities that are also named Verbena.

Within Texas, the name Verbena is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Chilton County
      • This Verbena is located in Chilton County and lies 850 miles [1,367.9 km]<1> to the east of the Verbena that is located in Garza County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chilton County community of Verbena.
    • Georgia
      • Montgomery 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 Georgia community of Verbena [Montgomery County].
    • Kansas
      • Labette 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 Verbena [Labette County].
    • Virginia
      • Page County
      • This Verbena is located in Page County and lies 1,309 miles [2,106.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Verbena that is located in Garza County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Page County community of Verbena.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Verbena ...

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.

  • Close City
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Close City is located in Garza County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Close City
    • Close City has also been known as:
    • Ragtown
  • Fullerville
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Fullerville is located in Scurry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullerville
  • Graham
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Graham is located in Garza County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
  • Grassland
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Grassland is located in Lynn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassland
  • Hackberry
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Hackberry is located in Garza County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
  • Justiceburg
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Polar
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Polar is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polar
  • Post
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Post is located in Garza County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,123 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Post <3>
  • Savage ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Savage is located in Crosby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage
  • Spur
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Spur is located in Dickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spur
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,167 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spur <3>

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Verbena once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Verbena and extending to:

  • Post, which is the Seat of Garza County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Verbena to Post, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 290 miles [466.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,398 miles [2,249.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 55 days and walking would take 80 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,116 miles [11,452.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,862 miles [12,652.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,751 miles [9,255.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- Verbena) 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 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 Verbena 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>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 Verbena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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.
<6>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 Verbena 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 Verbena. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2748, Longitude: -101.1957       In this case, the coordinates for Verbena have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.025 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.184 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.648 degrees.