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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vivian, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vivian 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 Vivian:
    • 34.051191, -99.926212
    • 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 Vivian
  • 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 Foard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Foard County
    • Since Vivian is near Hardeman County and also Cottle County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hardeman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cottle 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 Vivian

Communities Also Named Vivian ...

We found nine communities that are also named Vivian.

Within Texas, the name Vivian is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, seven are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Mohave County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Mohave County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mohave County community of Vivian.
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • This Vivian is located in Caddo Parish and lies 351 miles [564.9 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caddo Parish community of Vivian.
    • Manitoba
      • This Vivian lies 1,106 miles [1,779.9 km]<2> to the north of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
    • Minnesota
      • Waseca County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Vivian [Waseca County].
    • Nevada
      • Elko County
      • This Vivian is located in Elko County and lies 995 miles [1,601.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elko County community of Vivian.
    • Oklahoma
      • McIntosh County
      • This Vivian is located in McIntosh County and lies 253 miles [407.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McIntosh County community of Vivian.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Vivian.
    • South Dakota
      • Lyman County
      • This Vivian is located in Lyman County and lies 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<2> to the north of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyman County community of Vivian.
    • West Virginia
      • McDowell County
      • This Vivian is located in McDowell County and lies 1,057 miles [1,701.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Vivian that is located in Foard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of Vivian.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vivian ...

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.

  • Acme ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Acme is located in Hardeman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acme
  • Chalk
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Hackberry
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Hackberry is located in Cottle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
  • Jacobs ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Jacobs is located in Cottle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs
  • Margaret
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Margaret is located in Foard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margaret
  • Medicine Mound ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Medicine Mound is located in Hardeman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Medicine Mound
  • Punkin Center
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Punkin Center is located in Hardeman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punkin Center
  • Wheatland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Wheatland is located in Hardeman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland

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

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

  • Crowell, which is the Seat of Foard County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Vivian to Crowell, 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 south southeast (SSE). 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 1,310 miles [2,108.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 52 days and walking would take 75 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,029 miles [11,312.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,774 miles [12,511 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,662 miles [9,112.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Vivian, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vivian) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Vivian 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Vivian 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 Vivian. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0512, Longitude: -99.9262       In this case, the coordinates for Vivian have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.24 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.349 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.974 degrees.