Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Watkins, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Watkins and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Watkins
- 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 Watkins:
- 32.539581, -96.027748
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Watkins
- 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 Van Zandt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Van Zandt County
- Since Watkins is near Kaufman County and also Henderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Kaufman County
- eBird sighting report for Henderson 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Watkins ...
We found 26 communities that share the name Watkins.
There are two communities within Texas that are also named Watkins.
Beyond Texas, we know of another 24 communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Texas ...
- Pecos County
- Terrell County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Boone County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Watkins [Boone County].
- White 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 Arkansas community of Watkins [White County].
- Colorado
- Adams County
- This Watkins is located in Adams County and lies 689 miles [1,108.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Watkins that is located in Van Zandt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Watkins.
- Arapahoe 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 Colorado community of Watkins [Arapahoe County].
- Florida
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Dade County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Dade County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dade County community of Watkins.
- Miller County
- This Watkins is located in Miller County and lies 436 miles [701.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Watkins that is located in Van Zandt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miller County community of Watkins.
- Montana
- Madison County
- This Watkins is located in Madison County and lies 1,218 miles [1,960.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the Watkins that is located in Van Zandt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Watkins.
- McCone County
- This Watkins is located in McCone County and lies 1,139 miles [1,833 km] to the north northwest of the Watkins that is located in Van Zandt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCone County community of Watkins.
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Davidson County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Watkins [Davidson County].
- DeKalb County
- This Watkins is located in DeKalb County and lies 625 miles [1,005.8 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Watkins that is located in Van Zandt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Watkins.
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Watkins ...
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.
- Big Rock
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast) - Cartwright
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cartwright have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartwright
- Cartwright is located in Kaufman County
- Cedar Grove
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
- Cedar Grove is located in Kaufman County
- Elmo
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmo have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmo
- Elmo is located in Kaufman County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elmo <5>
- Frog
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest) - Fruitvale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitvale
- Fruitvale is located in Van Zandt County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 437 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fruitvale <5>
- Gun Barrel City
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gun Barrel City
- Gun Barrel City is located in Henderson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,309 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gun Barrel City <5>
- Holly Springs
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
- Holly Springs is located in Van Zandt County
- Martins Mill
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martins Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Mill
- Martins Mill is located in Van Zandt County
- Oak Grove
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west) - Prairieville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairieville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairieville
- Prairieville is located in Kaufman County
- Tundra
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tundra
- Tundra is located in Van Zandt County
- Wise
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
How Far From Watkins 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 Watkins to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Watkins and extending to:
- Canton, which is the Seat of Van Zandt County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Watkins to Canton, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 186 miles [299.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,148 miles [1,847.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 45 days and walking would take 66 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,968 miles [11,213.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,699 miles [12,390.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,577 miles [8,975.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Watkins. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
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 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 Watkins 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 from Point A (ie- Watkins) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Watkins. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5396, Longitude: -96.0277 In this case, the coordinates for Watkins have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Watkins, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Watkins to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.399 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.82 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.344 degrees. |